rich:datatable rendering problem for a4j:commandLinks

[koraycetinbas]

Hi,

I have an application using richfaces 3.3.0, jsf 1.2 and tomcat 6.0 (actually i am using jboss portal but the problem can be reproduced with tomcat or glassfish as well. I used to think the problem was somehow related to portlet bridge but it seems that it is not)

I used to see this problem on previous versions of richfaces but i suppose the problem still exists (at least for me)

Currently what i am trying to do is to render a rich:dataTable using a a4j:commandLink. The datatable includes a4j:commandLinks. Here is what i am trying to do.

the jsp page is:

<a4j:form>
 <h:outputText value="Search Screen" />
 <br/>
 <a4j:commandButton value="Search" action="#{searchBean.search}"/>
</a4j:form>

<h:panelGrid rendered="#{searchBean.displaySearchResults}">
 <a4j:form id="resultTable">
 <rich:dataTable value="#{searchBean.searchResults}" var="iter">
 <f:facet name="header">
 <rich:columnGroup>
 <rich:column>
 <h:outputText value="Name" />
 </rich:column>
 </rich:columnGroup>
 </f:facet>
 <rich:column>
 <a4j:commandLink value="#{iter}" action="#{searchBean.select}"/>
 </rich:column>
 </rich:dataTable>
 </a4j:form>
</h:panelGrid>

Datatable is not rendered at initial load.
Backing bean code is

 private boolean displaySearchResults = false;
 private String[] searchResults = null;

 public String[] getSearchResults() {
 return searchResults;
 }

 public void setSearchResults(String[] searchResults) {
 this.searchResults = searchResults;
 }

 public boolean isDisplaySearchResults() {
 return displaySearchResults;
 }

 public void setDisplaySearchResults(boolean displaySearchResults) {
 this.displaySearchResults = displaySearchResults;
 }

 public void search(){
 searchResults = new String[3];
 searchResults[0] = "firstResult";
 searchResults[1] = "secondResult";
 searchResults[2] = "thirdResult";
 setDisplaySearchResults(true);
 System.out.println("Search button clicked!");
 navigateAndRerender("index");
 //return "index";
 }

 public void select(){
 System.out.println("Result selected!");
 }

 private void navigateAndRerender(String path)
 {
 FacesContext facesContext = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
 Application application = facesContext.getApplication();
 NavigationHandler navigationHandler = application.getNavigationHandler();
 navigationHandler.handleNavigation(facesContext, null, path);
 facesContext.renderResponse();
 }

i have seen that, if i do not render at least one row for rich:dataTable at the initial load of the page, no matter what i do (use reRender for commandButton, or force reRendering for the whole page like navigateAndReRender method above or making ajax call generate a jsf response) i can not make a4j:commandLinks work inside the table. Rendering an empty table does not also work.

I have also tried giving unique ids to all components, using h:columns, using h:form etc. but none of them did the trick.

When i click the command link, an ajax request is sent to the server (i have verified it by writing my own a4j filter) but backing bean method is not triggered.

I have looked a lot around previous related forum topics and jira bugs but i suppose the mentioned similar problems are not the same as mine.

Is what i am trying to do something what i should not try to do?
Could you please help me with what i am doing wrong?
I must be missing something somewhere

[thomas.m]

Try this :
Put a <a4j:outputPanel> around your panel grid
Put a reRender on your button which reRender the outputPanel

Maybe try to remove your dataTable and simply use the panelGrid with columns="2" and a foreach loop.

[thomas.m]

and put the rendered test on the outputPanel of course

[nbelaevski]

Hello,

There is no necessity to invoke navigation handler:

FacesContext facesContext = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
 Application application = facesContext.getApplication();
 NavigationHandler navigationHandler = application.getNavigationHandler();
 navigationHandler.handleNavigation(facesContext, null, path);
 facesContext.renderResponse();

. Just re-render component and that's ok (read more about a4j:outputPanel in the guide - it has a special "none" layout allowing to update non-rendered children).

And about the main issue - links not working. My guess is that this is happening because your bean is request-scoped and links have rendered="false"state for subsequent requests - i.e. they're not processed.

[koraycetinbas]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

Making the backing bean session scoped solved it and using a4j:keepalive instead of session scoped bean also solved the problem.

Thanks!