advance page search result

[bobgee]

Hi!

I have altered a seam generated list page by replacing in the search panel an input field by an option list. It's a printer list where printers are linked @OneToMany to manufacturers.
My question is how to pass the manufacturer (id) to the next page in the result list page.

PrinterList.xhtml:

        <rich:simpleTogglePanel label="#{messages.searchFilter}" switchType="ajax">

            <s:decorate template="layout/display.xhtml">
                <ui:define name="label">Manufacturer</ui:define>
                 <h:selectOneMenu id="manufacturerid" value="#{examplePrinter.manufacturer}" required="false" onchange="submit()">
                         <s:selectItems value="#{manufacturers.resultList}" 
                           var="_manufacturer" label="#{_manufacturer.name}"
                           noSelectionLabel="#{messages.UnassignedOption}" hideNoSelectionLabel="false"/>
                         <s:convertEntity />
                   </h:selectOneMenu>
            </s:decorate>

            <s:decorate template="layout/display.xhtml">
                <ui:define name="label">Modelname</ui:define>
                <h:inputText id="modelname" value="#{examplePrinter.modelname}"/>
            </s:decorate>

        </rich:simpleTogglePanel>

        <div class="actionButtons">
            <input type="hidden" name="firstResult" value="0"/>
            <h:commandButton id="search" value="#{messages.searchSearch}" action="/PrinterList.xhtml"/>
            <s:button id="reset" value="#{messages.searchReset}" includePageParams="false"/>
        </div>

...

             <s:link view="/PrinterList.xhtml"
                 rendered="#{printerList.nextExists}"
                       id="nextPage">
                 <h:graphicImage value="#{messages.imgPageNext}"/>
                 <f:param name="firstResult"
                         value="#{listBean.nextFirstResult}"/>
             </s:link>

PrinterList.page.xml:

   <param name="firstResult" value="#{printerList.firstResult}"/>
   <param name="sort" value="#{printerList.orderColumn}"/>
   <param name="dir" value="#{printerList.orderDirection}"/>

   <param name="from"/>
   <param name="manufacturername" value="#{exampleManufacturer.name}"/>
   <param name="modelname" value="#{examplePrinter.modelname}"/>

Missing here something like:

<param name="manufacturerid" value="#{examplePrinter.manufacturer}"/>

Here's the question!
The search works fine when I chose one manufacturer from the option list (onchange submit!).
The first result page is correct. The manufacturer in the option list is selected. But when I press the next button, the result list comes (surely) without considering the chosen manufacturer.
The question is how to specify the manufacturerid as a page paramater in .page.xml.
In PrinterList.xhtml manufacturerid is set to the manufacturer's id because of s:convertEntity, but how can I accomplish this in .page.xml???
There, examplePrinter.manufacturer results to the class id

(&manufacturerid=....Manufacturer@d38dc4&cid=89)

If I specify

<param name="manufacturerid" value="#{examplePrinter.manufacturer.id}"/>

I get the error Target Unreachable, 'manufacturer' returned null on 'x.x.x.entity.Printer'

But anyway it's not the right approach to get in the manufacturer's id.

components.xml:

<component name="examplePrinter"
    class="xxx.xxx.xxx.entity.Printer"/>

<component name="exampleManufacturer"
    class="xxx.xxx.xxx.entity.Manufacturer"/>

<framework:entity-query class="xxx.xxx.xxx.session.EntityQueryExtended"
     name="printerList"
     max-results="#{messages.resultsPerPage}"
     ejbql="select printer from Printer printer join printer.manufacturer manufacturer"
     order="printer.manufacturer.name, printer.generic desc, printer.modelname"
     >
     <framework:restrictions>
         <value>lower(printer.manufacturer.name) like concat('%', lower(#{exampleManufacturer.name}),'%')</value>
          <value>lower(printer.modelname) like concat('%', lower(#{examplePrinter.modelname}),'%')</value>
         <value>manufacturer = #{examplePrinter.manufacturer}</value>
     </framework:restrictions>
</framework:entity-query>

More code needed?
Thank for your time!

Regards, Robert