converter and dropdowns

[leeovan]

hello im trying to understand converters and also their place in dropdowns.. I have seen many posts about seams new s:convertEntity but i dont want an entity. Im thinking i want something like this..

a base class that all objects of the type i want to display will extend.

public class ReferenceData {
 private String name;
 private Integer id;

 public ReferenceData(Integer id, String name) {
 this.id = id;
 this.name = name;
 }

 public Integer getId() {
 return id;
 }

 public void setId(Integer id) {
 this.id = id;
 }

 public String getName() {
 return name;
 }

 public void setName(String name) {
 this.name = name;
 }
}

then i have a class that extends this. with nothing else in it.

i then use this to make my list of objects to display on the screen

public static final Vector<JobType> getMyJobTypes() {
 Vector<JobType> types = new Vector<JobType>();
 types.add(new JobType(new Integer(1), "hello1"));
 types.add(new JobType(new Integer(2), "hello2"));
 types.add(new JobType(new Integer(3), "hello3"));

 return types;
 }

with this

<h:selectOneMenu value="#{jobManagerHome.selectedJobType}" converter="#{converters.referenceDataConverter}">
 <s:selectItems
 value="#{jobManagerHome.jobDetailTypesRefData}"
 var="jt"
 label="#{jt.name}" />
 <a:support event="onchange" />

 </h:selectOneMenu>

this is the converter

@Name("referenceDataConverter")
@Intercept(NEVER)
@Converter
public class ReferenceDataConverter implements javax.faces.convert.Converter {
 List<ReferenceData> list;

 public String getAsString(FacesContext facesContext, UIComponent component, Object obj) {
 if (obj == null)
 return null;

 ReferenceData referenceData = (ReferenceData) obj;
 String val = String.valueOf(referenceData.getName());
 return val;
 }

 public Object getAsObject(FacesContext facesContext, UIComponent component, String string)
 throws ConverterException {
 if (string == null || string.length() == 0) {
 return null;
 }

 int id = Integer.valueOf(string).intValue();
 for (ReferenceData referenceData : list) {
 if (referenceData.getId() == id) {
 return referenceData;
 }
 }

 return null;
 }

}

however i get this error

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Value is no String (class=uk.co.anotion.entity.jobs.JobType, value=uk.co.anotion.entity.jobs.JobType@5d8897) and component jobDetail:_id0with path: {Component-Path : [Class: org.ajax4jsf.framework.ajax.AjaxViewRoot,ViewId: /JobDetailEditComponent.xhtml][Class: javax.faces.component.html.HtmlForm,Id: jobDetail][Class: org.richfaces.component.html.HtmlPanel,Id: jobSelectionPanel][Class: javax.faces.component.html.HtmlSelectOneMenu,Id: _id0]} does not have a Converter
 at org.apache.myfaces.shared_impl.renderkit.RendererUtils.getConvertedStringValue(RendererUtils.java:536)
 at org.apache.myfaces.shared_impl.renderkit.RendererUtils.getConvertedStringValue(RendererUtils.java:555)
 at org.apache.myfaces.shared_impl.renderkit.html.HtmlRendererUtils.renderSelectOptions(HtmlRendererUtils.java:398)
 at org.apache.myfaces.shared_impl.renderkit.html.HtmlRendererUtils.internalRenderSelect(HtmlRendererUtils.java:298)
 at org.apache.myfaces.shared_impl.renderkit.html.HtmlRendererUtils.renderMenu(HtmlRendererUtils.java:252)
 at org.apache.myfaces.shared_impl.renderkit.html.HtmlMenuRendererBase.encodeEnd(HtmlMenuRendererBase.java:54)
 at javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.encodeEnd(UIComponentBase.java:536)
 at org.ajax4jsf.framework.renderer.RendererBase.renderChild(RendererBase.java:286)
 at org.ajax4jsf.framework.renderer.RendererBase.renderChildren(RendererBase.java:262)
 at org.richfaces.renderkit.html.PanelRenderer.doEncodeChildren(PanelRenderer.java:189)
 at org.richfaces.renderkit.html.PanelRenderer.doEncodeChildren(PanelRenderer.java:184)
 at org.ajax4jsf.framework.renderer.RendererBase.encodeChildren(RendererBase.java:121)
 at javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.encodeChildren(UIComponentBase.java:524)
 at com.sun.facelets.tag.jsf.ComponentSupport.encodeRecursive(ComponentSupport.java:244)
 at com.sun.facelets.tag.jsf.ComponentSupport.encodeRecursive(ComponentSupport.java:249)
 at com.sun.facelets.tag.jsf.ComponentSupport.encodeRecursive(ComponentSupport.java:249)
 at com.sun.facelets.FaceletViewHandler.renderView(FaceletViewHandler.java:573)
 at org.ajax4jsf.framework.ViewHandlerWrapper.renderView(ViewHandlerWrapper.java:108)
 at org.ajax4jsf.framework.ajax.AjaxViewHandler.renderView(AjaxViewHandler.java:229)
 at org.apache.myfaces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.render(LifecycleImpl.java:384)
 at javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:138)
 at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:252)
 at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:173)
 at org.jboss.seam.web.SeamFilter$FilterChainImpl.doFilter(SeamFilter.java:63)
 at org.jboss.seam.web.ExceptionFilter.doFilter(ExceptionFilter.java:57)

any help welcome

[pmuir]

Try

<h:selectOneMenu value="#{jobManagerHome.selectedJobType}" converter="referenceDataConverter">
 <s:selectItems value="#{jobManagerHome.jobDetailTypesRefData}" var="jt" label="#{jt.name}" />
 <a:support event="onchange" />
</h:selectOneMenu>

[leeovan]

yes this works now, however i am finding it difficult to achieve my objective. When the user selects an item i want to be able to find out the value that has been selected and use this to control what is rendered on the screen..

i assumed that
<h:selectOneMenu value="#{jobManagerHome.selectedJobType}">

would set the value of selectedJobType on my Home class but it does not seem to be working..

can anyone advise

thank you.

[leeovan]

hmm im still stuck.. do i need to use injection to get my values back?

[leeovan]

can no one tell me how to access my selected value in a dropdown from my home class i must be missing a very basic concept here :(

[pmuir]

Post the jobManagerHome component.

[leeovan]

@Name("jobManagerHome")
public class JobManagerHome extends EntityHome<JobDetail> {


 private int MODE = 0;

 public static final int jobDetailMode = 1;
 public static final int tankeringMode = 2;
 public static final int jettingMode = 3;
 public static final int cctvMode = 4;



 JobType selectedJobType;

 @In(create = true)
 JobHome jobHome;

 public JobManagerHome() {

 }

 public void setJobDetailId(Integer id) {
 setId(id);
 }

 public Integer getJobDetailId() {
 return (Integer) getId();
 }

 @Override
 protected JobDetail createInstance() {
 JobDetail jobDetail = new JobDetail();
 return jobDetail;
 }

 public void wire() {
 Job job = jobHome.getDefinedInstance();
 if (job != null) {
 getInstance().setJob(job);
 }
 }

 public boolean isWired() {
 if (getInstance().getJob() == null)
 return false;
 return true;
 }

 public JobDetail getDefinedInstance() {
 return isIdDefined() ? getInstance() : null;
 }

 public void addToJob(){
 System.out.println("attempt add to job");
 getInstance().setJob(jobHome.getInstance());
 jobHome.getInstance().addJobDateail(getInstance());
 persist();
 System.out.println("finished add to job");
 }



 public void changed(ValueChangeEvent event){
 System.out.println("changed");
 if(getInstance() != null){
 System.out.println(getInstance().getJob_type());
 }

 }
 public void test(){
 System.out.println("test");
 }

 public void isTest(){
 System.out.println("is test");
 }

 public void setJobDetailMode(int mode) {
 MODE = mode;
 }

 // provides the drop down info
 public Vector<JobType> getJobDetailTypesRefData() {
 return JobDetailTypesRefData.getJobDetailTypes();

 }


 public JobType getSelectedJobType() {
 return selectedJobType;
 }

 public void setSelectedJobType(JobType selectedJobType) {
 this.selectedJobType = selectedJobType;
 }

 public boolean isJobDetailMode(){
 return true;
 /*if(selectedJobType != null && selectedJobType.getId()==2){
 return true;
 }return false;*/
 }





}

[pmuir]

So the problem is that the setter doesn't get called? Use your debugger to check. Do you get any JSF error messges from h:mesasges?

[leeovan]

no when i debug it goes into the get method as the page renders but when i change the value it does not call the set.. cant see any messages.

<rich:panel id="jobSelectionPanel">

 <h:selectOneMenu id="selectedJobType" value="#{jobManagerHome.selectedJobType}" converter="#{referenceDataConverter}" >

 <s:selectItems
 value="#{jobManagerHome.jobDetailTypesRefData}"
 var="jt"
 label="#{jt.name}"
 />



 <a:support event="onchange" reRender="jobSelectionPanel" action="submit()"/>

 </h:selectOneMenu>

 </rich:panel>

my screen now looks like this was trying out different things..

[pmuir]

For a start the action parameter on a:support should be a method binding not JS. Try getting this to work *without* ajax4jsf in the picture - just use a form with a commandButton - and then add a4j back in.

[leeovan]

well i got rid of the tag and it still didnt work after much fiddling about i have found a solution..

for some reason when i used an s:button i could not get the name value but iafter changing this to h:comandButton it worked

can anyone explain whats going on here and also i cant seem to see any s: type tags in exadel has this support been added to the jboss tools stuff? or perhaps there is a way to add them manually


anyway thanks for the help.

[pmuir]

All over the places (the docs, the SeamProblemsFAQ, this forum many times) it is stated that s:button/s:link don't submit the form. This is why its always worth submitting a simple but working bean/page as then you get saved "much fiddling" ;)

I had jboss tools picking s: tags at one point (and in fact any custom tags in your classpath I think).