Drop Down Menu Using Seam and Facelets

[jcranwellward]

Can anyone tell how to implement a drop down menu from a database query using seam and facelets?

[cptnkirk]

Take a look at the Seam wiki. There are a couple third-party selectItems DataBinders there. These will let you take a list returned from your DB and use it within your JSF menu.

[denis-karpov]

http://wiki.jboss.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=SelectItems
Just added. This one is interesting that it is direct usage without custom annotations.

[yj4jboss]

Hello Denis,

I am trying to get your example of implementing SelectItems without custom annotations. I have included the the following code in my SFSB.

@Stateful
@Name("companySearch")
@Scope(ScopeType.SESSION)
@Interceptors(SeamInterceptor.class)

public class CompanySearchBean implements CompanySearch, Serializable {


 <! -- Bean Specific Code goes here -->

 public Map<String,Object> model;


 private void fillMaps(){
 model = new TreeMap<String,Object>();
 model.put("(Empty)","-1"); // Add EMPTY element if needed
 for (Object o: yearList) {
 String label = o.toString();
 model.put(label, o );
 }
 }


 public Map<String,Object> getModel(){ // f:selectItems value
 log.debug("Initializing Model");
 log.debug("Model Size = "+model.size());
 return model;
 }




 public Converter getConverter() {
 return new ReferenceConverter(yearList);
 }

This is my code in the my search.xhtml file

 <h:selectOneMenu converter="#{companySearch.converter}">
 <f:selectItems value="#{companySearch.model}" />
 </h:selectOneMenu>

Is this the right approach ??

I am getting a "Cannot get property model" error

Plz help....and thnx in advance....


Yogesh

[denis-karpov]

I guess you forgot to declare getter getModel()
in your CompanySearch interface.

public abstract Map<String,Object> getModel();

[yj4jboss]

Hello Denis,

I had declared getModel() in the interface.....I could only get your code to work by doing the following changes:

 public Map<String,Object> model = new TreeMap<String,Object>();

 // Instead of public Map<String,Object> model;



 public void fillMaps(){

 //model = new TreeMap<String,Object>();

 model.clear();
 model.put("2004","-1"); // Add 2004 for test element if needed

 for (Object o: yearList) {
 String label = o.toString();
 model.put(label, o );
 }


 }



 public Map<String,Object> getModel(){ // f:selectItems value
 log.debug("Initializing Model");
 log.debug("Model Size = "+model.size());
 getYearList(); // retrieves all years and places it in yearList
 fillMaps();
 return model;
 }

My code in my searchbox.xhtml page is as follows:

<h:form>


 <h:selectOneMenu value="#{companySearch.criterion.year}" converter="#{companySearch.converter}">
 <f:selectItems value="#{companySearch.model}"/>
 </h:selectOneMenu>

 <h:commandButton action="#{companySearch.findCompaniesByYearWithFinancialStatements}"
 value="Search Company"
 class="formButton" style="width: 166px;"/>


</h:form>

Though this works by listing All Years in the drop down menu, there are two problems that i face:

(1) value specified in <h:selectOneMenu> is not selected as default
( I tested this with another example)
(2) When submitting the form, the submitted value is returned as null

2006-09-25 10:49:01,863 DEBUG [accountingAudit.actions.CompanySearchBean] criterion =null

However, if i use a plain <h:inputText> to submit this value, the search is carried out correctly.


Could you please enlighten me on these two issues ....I am using this for a small application and do not want to use custom annotation as long as your code can get me working ;0)

Thnx in advance


Cheers,
Yogesh

[denis-karpov]

Do not call fillMaps(); in a getter. I think it will solve all of your problems.
Good place to call it in the factory method or like that.

Then, I think you misunderstand this line

model.put("(Empty)","-1"); // Add EMPTY element if needed

It is EMPTY element. It is needed to choose null value. If you do not need null values just remove this line.

[yj4jboss]

Hello Denis,
Could you please tell me what the difference between using your way of implementing SelectItems, the Custom Annotations way and simply using tomahawk to implement SelectItems.

Cheers,
Yogesh