conversation doesnt start from testing - cant see why not

[wiggy]

having real basic problems with conversations.  can any one help

got to this cos something i was trying to do wasnt working.

when i call a method from testNG i dont get continuity in conversation context.  I get a new conversation every time.

heres my test class component

package org.domain.forsterslist.richfaces.datamodel;

import java.io.Serializable;

import org.jboss.seam.ScopeType;
import org.jboss.seam.annotations.AutoCreate;
import org.jboss.seam.annotations.Begin;
import org.jboss.seam.annotations.Create;
import org.jboss.seam.annotations.Logger;
import org.jboss.seam.annotations.Name;
import org.jboss.seam.annotations.Scope;
import org.jboss.seam.core.Conversation;
import org.jboss.seam.log.Log;

@Name ("simpleConv")
@Scope (ScopeType.CONVERSATION)
@AutoCreate
public class SimpleConv  implements Serializable
{
        /**
      * 
      */
     private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

     /** */
    @Logger 
    Log log;
    
    @Create 
    public void init()
    {
         
    }
    
    @Begin (join=true)
    public String sayHello (int reqNum)
     {
          String cid = Conversation.instance().getId();
          log.info("say hello with cid=#0, convLongRunning=#1 on reqNum#2", cid,Conversation.instance().isLongRunning() ,  reqNum);

          return "hello will";
     }

}

i then create testNG test like this

import org.jboss.seam.mock.SeamTest;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;

public class TestSimpleConv extends SeamTest
{
     @Test
     public void uiTestDummyConv () throws Exception
     {
          new FacesRequest () 
          {
               @Override 
               protected void invokeApplication ()
               {
                    String res = (String) invokeMethod ("#{simpleConv.sayHello(1)}");
                    assert res.equals("hello will");
                    
               }
          }.run ();
          
          new FacesRequest () 
          {
               @Override 
               protected 

which when get the trace says this .

[Parser] Running:
  C:\Users\will\AppData\Local\Temp\testng-eclipse\testng-customsuite.xml

WARN  [org.jboss.seam.security.permission.PersistentPermissionResolver] no permission store available - please install a PermissionStore with the name 'org.jboss.seam.security.jpaPermissionStore' if persistent permissions are required.
INFO  [org.domain.forsterslist.richfaces.datamodel.SimpleConv] say hello with cid=1, convLongRunning=false on reqNum1
INFO  [org.domain.forsterslist.richfaces.datamodel.SimpleConv] say hello with cid=2, convLongRunning=false on reqNum2
PASSED: uiTestDummyConv

===============================================
    org.domain.forsterslist.richfaces.datamodel.TestSimpleConv
    Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Skips: 0
===============================================


===============================================
forstersList-test
Total tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Skips: 0
===============================================

as you can see i get a fresh conversation every time.  Why is that ?

cant move anywhere till i understand why this is - as my other work assumes conversations get created and mainatined - my integration tests all fail in crucial ways cos this doesnt appear to be true.

frustrated of ipswich