rich:calendar and XMLGregorianCalendar

[r_nicolazzo]

Hi,
i use a "rich:calendar" component in a jsf page, the component value is a XMLGregorianCalendar object from a web-service!

rich:calendar don't accept XMLGregorianCalendar

<rich:calendar value="#{HouseBB.house.insertDate}" popup="true" label="insert date" datePattern="dd/MM/yyyy" showApplyButton="false"/>

have you a solution for use XMLGregorianCalendar in RichFaces component??

Thanks

[fabmars]

From my own experience:

- rich:calendar doesnt handle Calendar types and even less XMLCalendar types. Only java.util.Date.


- you don't wanna use XMLGregorianCalendar's elsewhere than in your WS layer. This is just an architectural advice, one could argue on, but personally I dont see the point in keeping "convenience/transport" (or how you wanna call them) classes in places you can't even manipulate them. Seriously, XMLGregorianCalendars are a pain in the ass, don't you think ? Better use adapters on your client-side like explained here: http://weblogs.java.net/blog/kohsuke/archive/2005/09/using_jaxb_20s.html


- Ayhow, you have to make and register a JSF converter anyway that will process date <> (XML)GregorianCalendar conversions. Check the JSF tutorial for how-to's.
Btw I had already posted about a simple Calendar converter a while ago: http://jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&t=131758
but my code has changed a bit since:

package org.mars.toolkit.jsf.converter;

import java.text.DateFormat;
import java.text.ParseException;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Calendar;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.GregorianCalendar;
import java.util.Locale;

import javax.faces.component.UIComponent;
import javax.faces.context.FacesContext;
import javax.faces.convert.Converter;
import javax.faces.convert.ConverterException;

import org.richfaces.component.UICalendar;


public class CalendarConverter implements Converter {

 public Object getAsObject(FacesContext context, UIComponent component, String value) {

 Calendar cal = null;
 if (value != null && value.length() > 0) {
 Locale locale = (Locale) ((UICalendar) component).getLocale();
 String pattern = ((UICalendar) component).getDatePattern();
 DateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat(pattern, locale);

 try {
 Date date = df.parse(value);
 cal = new GregorianCalendar();
 cal.setTime(date);
 }
 catch (ParseException e) {
 throw new ConverterException(e);
 }
 }
 return cal;
 }

 public String getAsString(FacesContext context, UIComponent component, Object value) {

 String result = null;

 if (value != null) {
 if (value instanceof String) {
 result = (String) value;
 }
 else {
 DateFormat df;
 if (component instanceof UICalendar) {
 Locale locale = (Locale) ((UICalendar) component).getLocale();
 String pattern = ((UICalendar) component).getDatePattern();
 df = new SimpleDateFormat(pattern, locale);
 }
 else {
 Locale locale = context.getViewRoot().getLocale();
 df = DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.DEFAULT, locale);
 }

 Date date = ((Calendar) value).getTime();
 result = df.format(date);
 }
 }
 return result;
 }

}

Hope this helps.

[r_nicolazzo]

Hi fabmars,
10q for you reply and architectural advice,
I agree about your assessment of XMLGregorianCalendars :o), there is no convenience is only about a justification graphics.

Try one of two directions