I've just started using HQL in 7.0.2 and I'm impressed by the support, especially the static analysis that a String parameter to a Spring method is HQL. I am seeing one little problem with it, though: String hql = "select r.roleName from Application app inner join app.accounts acc inner join acc.roles r " + "where app.appName = :appName group by r.roleName order by r.roleName"; return (Collection<String>) getHibernateTemplate().findByNamedParam( hql, "appName", appName); IDEA shows an error on the r.roleName following order by: "Orderable attribute of the entity being selected expected". But it doesn't really seem to be an error. It works as you'd expect, and there are similar examples from the Hibernate documentation (chapter 14, HQL): select count(payment), status.name from Payment as payment join payment.currentStatus as status where payment.status.name <> PaymentStatus.AWAITING_APPROVAL or payment.statusChanges[ maxIndex(payment.statusChanges) ].user <> :currentUser group by status.name, status.sortOrder order by status.sortOrder