Send email and display status using modalPanel

[oneworld95]

Hi. I've got a Seam app that sends the data from a form to an email address. When the user clicks Submit, it displays any validation errors in a <rich:modalPanel>; otherwise, it sends the email.

I've been pulling my hair out trying to figure out how to display the status of the email ("Sending email...", "Email sent successfully.") in a modalPanel and haven't had any success.

Here's what I've got for the Submit button and the modalPanel that displays the validation errors:

<a4j:commandButton action="#{newemployee.sendEmail()}" value="Submit"
 oncomplete="#{facesContext.maximumSeverity == null ? 'Richfaces.hideModalPanel(\'mpErrors\');' : 'Richfaces.showModalPanel(\'mpErrors\');'}"/>

 <rich:modalPanel id="mpErrors" width="350" height="250">
 <f:facet name="header">
 <h:panelGroup>
 <h:graphicImage value="/img/msginfo.png" style="float:left; margin-right: 3px;" />
 <h:outputText value="System Messages" />
 </h:panelGroup>
 </f:facet>
 <f:facet name="controls">
 <h:panelGroup>
 <h:graphicImage value="/img/close.png" styleClass="hidelink" id="hidelinkmpErrors"/>
 <rich:componentControl for="mpErrors" attachTo="hidelinkmpErrors" operation="hide" event="onclick"/>
 </h:panelGroup>
 </f:facet>
 <a4j:outputPanel ajaxRendered="true" style="width:100%">
 <rich:messages passedLabel="Data is allowed to be emailed."
 style="width:100%; text-align: left; color: red; font-weight: bold;" rendered="#{facesContext.maximumSeverity == null ? 'false' : 'true'}"
 layout="list">
 <f:facet name="errorMarker">
 <h:graphicImage style="margin-right: 5px;" value="/img/msgerror.png" />
 </f:facet>
 </rich:messages>
 <div style="text-align:center">
 <a4j:commandButton style="text-align:center; margin: 29px;" id="btnReturn" value="Return to Form" >
 <rich:componentControl for="mpErrors" attachTo="btnReturn" operation="hide" event="onclick"/>
 </a4j:commandButton>
 </div>
 </a4j:outputPanel>
 </rich:modalPanel>

Here's the code for the sendEmail() method:

@In private Renderer renderer;

 public void sendEmail() {

 status = (this.isHasMessages()) ? "Validation errors occurred." :
 "Processing email now...";

 try {
 renderer.render("/mail.xhtml");
 status = "Email sent successfully.";
 }
 catch (javax.faces.FacesException e) {
 status = "An error occurred while sending the email: " + e.getMessage();
 }
 }

How do I display the status of the email using the <a4j:status> in a modalPanel? Thanks.