a4j:include simulating frames

[lucab]

with the 'wizard navigation inside a modal panel'-example in mind i'm trying to simulate a classic frame-navigation-style using an a4j:include. So i have on the top of the page the menu (with rich:menuItem(s)) and i want to reload just the main-content part of the page (already said classic?). Using the same technique as in the wizard-style-navigation example i managed successfully to achieve that. The problem with this approach is that all steps in the navigation are kept in memory (so that coming back to already visited pages will show the old infos). I don't have beans in session scope so i think what is happening is something like a mega-forward between every page of the application. Although this can make sense in a wizard-like navigation it absolutely does not in my use case.
I tried out also the target attribute of rich:menuItem of h:form in team with a real html frame instead of an a4j:include but that seems to not work. So, how to refresh just a portion of the page so to not download again and again all the heavy stuff?

Currently i'm reRender-ing the a4j:include, this works but with the issues presented above. Notice that i don't need to reRender content that is already displayed on the page, i have to change that content entirely (all but the side panels and the top navigation menu)

I hope this time the always-helpful-shaykowsky won't be the only one to share his knowledge with me.

regards

[ilya_shaikovsky]

1) Did you placed your menu inside a4j:include and using navigation? Or your a4j:include el-binded to some page adress through the bean and jsut reRendered?

In general it'll be better if you paste your code(main parts) and explain what have you achieved and what you want to change.

2) menuItem - in server mode works the same as standard command link.. So if you still want to change the code to use real frame and links in menu - it should works ok.. should be also examined additionally with your examples.