Case-insensitive search using Hibernate

For the simple case you describe, look at Restrictions.ilike(), which does a case-insensitive search.

Criteria crit = session.createCriteria(Person.class);
crit.add(Restrictions.ilike('town', '%fran%');
List results = crit.list();

Criteria crit = session.createCriteria(Person.class);
crit.add(Restrictions.ilike('town', 'fran', MatchMode.ANYWHERE);
List results = crit.list();