What causes "ConstructorResult did not define any ColumnResults" in hibernate/hibernate-orm?

Add at least one @ColumnResult whose name matches a column of the native query and whose type matches a constructor parameter.

hibernate/hibernate-orm · error · IllegalArgumentException

ConstructorResult did not define any ColumnResults

Error message

ConstructorResult did not define any ColumnResults

What it means

While interpreting a @SqlResultSetMapping's @ConstructorResult, Hibernate reads constructorResult.columns() and immediately throws this IllegalArgumentException when the array is empty. A constructor result maps each constructor argument from a column, so at least one @ColumnResult is required for the mapping to be meaningful.

Source

Thrown at hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/boot/query/SqlResultSetMappingDescriptor.java:243

		private final String mappingName;

		private final Class<?> targetJavaType;
		private final List<ArgumentDescriptor> argumentResultDescriptors;

		public ConstructorResultDescriptor(
				ConstructorResult constructorResult,
				String mappingName) {
			this.mappingName = mappingName;
			targetJavaType = constructorResult.targetClass();
			argumentResultDescriptors = interpretArguments( constructorResult, mappingName );
		}

		private static List<ArgumentDescriptor> interpretArguments(
				ConstructorResult constructorResult,
				String mappingName) {
			final var columnResults = constructorResult.columns();
			if ( isEmpty( columnResults ) ) {
				throw new IllegalArgumentException( "ConstructorResult did not define any ColumnResults" );
			}

			final List<ArgumentDescriptor> argumentResultDescriptors = arrayList( columnResults.length );
			for ( var columnResult : columnResults ) {
				final var argumentResultDescriptor =
						new JpaColumnResultDescriptor( columnResult, mappingName );
				argumentResultDescriptors.add( new ArgumentDescriptor(argumentResultDescriptor) );
			}
			return argumentResultDescriptors;
		}

		@Nonnull
		@Override
		public ResultMemento resolve(@Nonnull ResultSetMappingResolutionContext resolutionContext) {
			BOOT_QUERY_LOGGER.tracef(
					"Generating InstantiationResultMappingMemento for JPA ConstructorResult(%s) for ResultSet mapping `%s`",
					targetJavaType.getName(),
					mappingName

View on GitHub (pinned to fad1729dce)

Solutions

Add at least one @ColumnResult whose name matches a column of the native query and whose type matches a constructor parameter.
Verify every constructor parameter of targetClass has a matching @ColumnResult (count and order).
If the constructor result is not needed, delete the whole @ConstructorResult entry from @SqlResultSetMapping(classes = ...).

Example fix

// before
@SqlResultSetMapping(classes = {
    @ConstructorResult(targetClass = OrderTotal.class, columns = {})
})

// after
@SqlResultSetMapping(classes = {
    @ConstructorResult(
        targetClass = OrderTotal.class,
        columns = { @ColumnResult(name = "orderId"), @ColumnResult(name = "total") }
    )
})

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// reflectively check annotation usage at startup or in a test:
for ( SqlResultSetMapping m : mappings ) {
    for ( ConstructorResult c : c.classes() ) {
        if ( c.columns().length == 0 ) {
            throw new IllegalStateException( "ConstructorResult for " + c.targetClass().getName() + " has no columns" );
        }
    }
}

Type guard

static boolean hasColumns(ConstructorResult c) {
    return c.columns() != null && c.columns().length > 0;
}

Try / catch

catch ( IllegalArgumentException e ) {
    if ( "ConstructorResult did not define any ColumnResults".equals( e.getMessage() ) ) {
        // add @ColumnResult entries matching the target constructor's parameters
    }
}

Prevention

Write @ConstructorResult from the constructor signature outward: one @ColumnResult per parameter, in order.
Keep a small unit test that builds the EntityManagerFactory for annotated entities so empty annotations fail in CI.

When it happens

Trigger: @ConstructorResult(targetClass = OrderTotal.class, columns = {}); a @SqlResultSetMapping built reflectively or generated where the columns array was never populated.

Common situations: Annotation scaffolding left half-finished; refactoring that removed columns but kept the constructor result; tools that generate @SqlResultSetMapping skeletons.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hibernate/hibernate-orm@fad1729dce (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8bd92243d6dab48e. Report an issue: GitHub.