Hello everybody,

in the scope of a proof of concept with JSF2 and Richfaces 4, I am using the <rich:autocomplete> component and I have some problems making it work the way I want.

I am using the <rich:autocomplete> in this way:

<rich:autocomplete mode="client" showButton="true" layout="table" autocompleteList="#{workflowDefinitions}"

     fetchValue="#{wfDefinition.label}" var="wfDefinition" value="#{multiCriteriaBean.basic.workflowDefinition}">

     <f:converter converterId="optionDescriptor"></f:converter>

     <rich:column>

          <h:outputText value="#{wfDefinition.label}"/>

          </rich:column>

          <a4j:ajax event="selectitem" execute="@this" render="selectedWorkflowId"></a4j:ajax>

</rich:autocomplete>

// Used just as a little debug mechanism: the a4j:ajax event will fire the conversion at change time and the converter will then be called

<h:outputText id="selectedWorkflowId" value="#{multiCriteriaBean.basic.workflowDefinition.label}" />

I have a converter defined like this:

@FacesConverter("optionDescriptor")

public class WorkflowDefinitionConverter implements Converter {

   @Override

    public Object getAsObject(FacesContext facesContext, UIComponent component, String workflowDefinitionLabel) {

        for (OptionDescriptor currentWorkflowDefinition : WorkflowDefinitionProducer.getWorkflowDefinitions()) {

            if (workflowDefinitionLabel.equals(currentWorkflowDefinition.getLabel())) {

                return currentWorkflowDefinition;

            }

        }

        throw new ConverterException("WorkflowDefinitionConverter found no matching OptionDescriptor for ' " + workflowDefinitionLabel + "'");

    }

    @Override

    public String getAsString(FacesContext facesContext, UIComponent component, Object workflowDefinition) {

        if (!(workflowDefinition instanceof OptionDescriptor)) {

            throw new ConverterException("WorkflowDefinitionConverter only works with OptionDescriptor objects");

        }

        return ((OptionDescriptor) workflowDefinition).getLabel();

    }

What works:

The workflowDefinitions are read correctly and displayed as one would expect (see Screenshot-01 given as attachement).  My converter also gets called when an item is selected.

What does not work:

The converter is not passed the string value to convert.  Instead, I just get the empty String (screenshot-02).

Would you have an idea why it is the case?

thank you very much in advance for your time and help!

Jérôme Jadoulle