In my view pages the input controls look like this:
<div class="entry">
<div class="label"><h:outputLabel for="DateofBirth">Date of Birth:</h:outputLabel></div>
<div class="input">
<s:decorate id="DateofBirthDecorator">
<rich:calendar enableManualInput="true" disabled="#{!HomeFoneNameChange.isNewForm()}" id="DateofBirth" value="#{HomeFoneNameChange.dateofBirth}"
required="true">
<a:support event="onblur" reRender="DateofBirthDecorator" />
</h:inputText>
</s:decorate></div>
</div>
<div class="entry">
<div class="label"><h:outputLabel for="Sex">Sex:</h:outputLabel></div>
<div class="input"><s:decorate id="SexDecorator">
<h:inputText size="50" disabled="#{!HomeFoneNameChange.isNewForm()}" id="Sex" value="#{HomeFoneNameChange.sex}"
required="true">
<a:support event="onblur" reRender="SexDecorator" />
</h:inputText>
</s:decorate></div>
</div>
<my:calendar lable="Date of Birth" bean="HomeFoneNameChange" property="dateOfBirth" /> <my:inputText lable="Sex:" bean="HomeFoneNameChange" property="sex" />
<my:calendar lable="Date of Birth" property="dateOfBirth" /> <my:inputText lable="Sex:" property="sex" />
Look at how s:decorate is used e.g. in the booking example.