jsf - How to call an action method of a UICommand Component which was rendered conditionally?

Question

action method is not called Please refer to this question - , One of my UICommand Component is rendered conditionally , it was said in the answer of the linked question - point 5 - that if the Component's or any of its parents rendered or disabled attributes are false - then the action method will not be called ? If thats the case- How do i achieve the same functionality? Is there a work around ? or a trick ? or any other approach ?

Thanks!

Answer 1

To the point, you'd like to retain the property responsible for the rendered condition in the subsequent request. There are several solutions for this problem:

1. Put bean in session scope. It's easy, but it hurts. It's bad for user experience since changes will be reflected in all tabs/windows the user has open in the same session.

2. Use <h:inputHidden> to transfer the property. In theory easy, but in practice it hurts as well. The value will namely get lost whenever a validation/conversion error has occurred in any of other inputs in the same form. This is an odditity in how JSF handles hidden input elements. A workaround is to use <h:inputHidden binding="#{bean.hidden}"> and do a hidden.getValue() and hidden.setValue() in bean.

3. If you're using <h:commandLink> instead of <h:commandButton>, then you can use <f:param> to transfer the property. It will be available as request parameter, you can check for it in bean's (post)constructor.

4. Use Tomahawk's <t:saveState>. The perfect solution as far. This will retain the value (or even a complete bean) in the subsequent request.

If you're already on JSF 2.0, the @ViewScoped would have solved this all. It behaves like the <t:saveState>.

See also:

• commandButton/commandLink/ajax action/listener method not invoked or input value not updated