Search inputs come into bean as null?!?

[ginni]

I have a search page with a h:form element and a few text inputs. Within the form is an a4j:commandButton that triggers the backing bean search method. The backing bean has a string attribute for each of the input fields. Very simple setup.

However, when I enter a value into one of the fields and then click Search, in the debugger I can see that the string associated with that input text is null.  I cannot capture the value.  As soon as I step into the search method, requestNumber is null (for instance).

What might I be missing? This is so simple, it must be something stupid. There are no typos anywhere I can see.

my bean info
@AutoCreate
@Name("searchManager")
@Scope(ScopeType.SESSION)
...

        private String requestNumber;

...

        public void search(){

...
                if (requestNumber != null & !"".equals(requestNumber)){
                        visitors.add(searchVisitorFactory.visitorFor(new RequestNumberValueObject(requestNumber)));
                        feedback.add(" Request Number=" + requestNumber);
                }
...
        }


        public void setRequesterName(PersonName name) {
                requester = name;
        }

        public String getRequestNumber() {
                return requestNumber;
        }

        public void setRequestNumber(String requestNumber) {
                this.requestNumber = requestNumber;
        }
...
}

in my page (snippet)
                <!-- FORM -->
                <h:form id="searchForm">
                    <h:outputLabel value="Request Number:"/>
                    <h:inputText value="#{searchManager.requestNumber}" />
<a4j:commandButton id="searchButton" value="Search"
                                action="#{searchManager.search}" reRender="feedback,searchCriteria,reportsCriteria,searchResultsTablePanel" />
...

                           
Thanks in advance!