Hi all, first poster, no question but solution ;)

I've been struggling a lot trying to implement the posibility to display the conversation list in a RichDropDownMenu to allow users view their Current Windows like on many multi window desktop aplications.

No much information was out there, the main problems where painting the <rich:menuItem/> elements. Inside <ui:repeat/> it was impossible (wrong phase!) and using c:forEach gave unexpeted results. At last, I made my own menu component in order to bind (JSF binding) it in a menu. It's not much customizable yet, but since I've no time to improve it, I'm donating it here.

Keep in mind that if this component is in hot / main seamgen) sources won't work with JBoss 5 (diferent classloaders... plenty threads elsewhere). In order to make it work, place it under a JAR (or in your own custom components JAR) and add it to your_project/lib folder.

Then edit the file deployed-jars-war.list under the root of your project folder and add a line for your newly created jar.

Much of the code is inherited copied from org.jboss.seam.faces.Switcher class but due to the different scopes I was unable to use it in JSF binding (custom seam scopes like Scope.PAGE and Scope.Conversation cannot be used in bindings.

You'll need the following libraries to compile:

jsf-api.jar         (JSF)
el-api.jar          (EL for Method Bindings)
richfaces-ui.jar    (HtmlDropDownMenu)
richfaces-impl.jar  (Dependencies from richfaces-ui.jar components)
jboss-seam
jboss-seam-ui       (renders links with HtmlLink from seam in order to rip the current conversation when 
                     switching to another conversation)

I've been out of JSF development like 5 years (omg I started with Shale!) so be easy with me.

Enjoy and distribute it if you want:

package org.cbr600f.jsf.seam.components.richfaces;

import java.io.Serializable;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Set;
import java.util.TreeSet;
import javax.el.ExpressionFactory;
import javax.el.MethodExpression;
import javax.faces.FacesException;
import javax.faces.application.Application;
import javax.faces.component.UIParameter;
import javax.faces.context.FacesContext;
import org.jboss.seam.annotations.Create;
import org.jboss.seam.annotations.In;
import org.jboss.seam.annotations.Name;
import org.jboss.seam.annotations.web.RequestParameter;
import org.jboss.seam.core.ConversationEntries;
import org.jboss.seam.core.ConversationEntry;
import org.jboss.seam.core.Manager;
import org.jboss.seam.ui.component.html.HtmlLink;
import org.jboss.seam.web.Session;
import org.richfaces.component.html.HtmlDropDownMenu;
import org.richfaces.component.html.HtmlMenuItem;

/**
 *  Scope.EVENT bean under the name "conversationMenu" that has the following
 *  properties and methods:
 *      - menu: #{conversationMenu.menu}
 *              HtmlDropDownMenu with nested menu items for active
 *              Long running conversations.
 *              In the menu, the Current Conversation is displayed using the
 *              styleClass "currentConversation" and the entry is displayed but
 *              disabled
 *              The MenuItems have the following generated ID:
 *              convMenuItem+#{conversation.id} and thus could be rerendered
 *              on Ajax Requests.
 *
 *      - conversationIdOrOutcome : #{conversationMenu.conversationIdOrOutcome}
 *              The conversation to switch to if invoking #{conversationMenu.select}
 *              String containing the ID of the selected conversation.
 *              Can be passed as GET parameter under the name "conversationIdOrOutcome"
 *              so it can be used in form POST or GET requests.
 *
 *      - select: #{conversationMenu.select}
 *              Method that switches to the selected conversation in
 *              #{conversationMenu.conversationIdOrOutcome} property.
 *              According to Seam documentation, switches to the last
 *              valid view-id in the selected conversation by performing a
 *              redirect.
 *              Beans on the conversation will be restored and the switch will
 *              be transparent for the user.
 *
 *  Notes: Seam don't permit Scope.PAGE or Scope.CONVERSATION (custom seam scopes) for
 *  JSF binding components.
 *
 *  Most of the code is inherited from the switcher class by Seam 2.1.0 GA
 *  The Switcher actions and components were not reused due to the Scope.PAGE
 *  being invalid in bindings.
 *
 *  report bugs to ##########
 *
 * @author ##########
 */
//@Scope(ScopeType.PAGE) <<-- DON'T WORK WITH JSF bindings
@Name("conversationMenu")
public class ConversationMenu implements Serializable {

    //menu component for binding.
    private HtmlDropDownMenu menu;

    //exposes list for rendering (or not) menu
    private List<ConversationEntry> conversationList;

    @RequestParameter //works with form/GET and standard GET also
    //selected conversation
    private String conversationIdOrOutcome;

    //transient
    private String resultingConversationIdOrOutcome;

    @In
    FacesContext ctx;

    @Create
    public void buildMenu() {

        //Retrieve factory objects
        Application app = ctx.getApplication(); //creates components
        

        menu = (HtmlDropDownMenu) app.createComponent(HtmlDropDownMenu.COMPONENT_TYPE);

        createListItems();

        

        for (final ConversationEntry conversation : conversationList) {

            HtmlMenuItem menuItem = (HtmlMenuItem) app.createComponent(HtmlMenuItem.COMPONENT_TYPE);
            menuItem.setId("convMenuItem" + conversation.getId());

            HtmlLink link = createLinkForConversation(app, conversation);

            menuItem.getChildren().add(link);

            if (conversation.isCurrent()) {
                //menuItem.setStyle("text-decoration: overline underline");
                menuItem.setStyleClass("currentConversation");
                menuItem.setDisabled(true);
            }           

            menu.getChildren().add(menuItem);
        }
        menu.setId("conversationMenu");
    }

    private HtmlLink createLinkForConversation(Application app, final ConversationEntry conversation) throws FacesException {
        ExpressionFactory ef = app.getExpressionFactory(); //creates MB expresions

        HtmlLink link = (HtmlLink) app.createComponent(HtmlLink.COMPONENT_TYPE);

        link.setId("convLink" + conversation.getId());
        link.setValue(conversation.getDescription());
        link.setPropagation("none"); //needs to retrieve old conv, don't prop. actual
        
        UIParameter fParam = new UIParameter();
        fParam.setName("conversationIdOrOutcome"); //works with GET request
        fParam.setValue(conversation.getId());

        link.getChildren().add(fParam);

        MethodExpression m = ef.createMethodExpression(
                ctx.getELContext(),
                "#{conversationMenu.select}", //method
                Void.TYPE,  //retValue
                new Class<?>[0]); //arguments
        link.setActionExpression(m);

        return link;
    }

    private void createListItems() {
        //Scope.SESSION
        ConversationEntries conversationEntries = ConversationEntries.getInstance();
        if (conversationEntries == null) {
            conversationList = Collections.EMPTY_LIST;
        } else {
            Set<ConversationEntry> orderedEntries = new TreeSet<ConversationEntry>();
            orderedEntries.addAll(conversationEntries.getConversationEntries());
            conversationList = new ArrayList<ConversationEntry>(conversationEntries.size());
            for (ConversationEntry entry : orderedEntries) {
                if (entry.isDisplayable() && !Session.instance().isInvalid()) {
                    conversationList.add(entry);
                }
            }
        }
    }

    private String getLongRunningConversationId() {
        Manager manager = Manager.instance();
        if (manager.isLongRunningConversation()) {
            return manager.getCurrentConversationId();
        } else if (manager.isNestedConversation()) {
            return manager.getParentConversationId();
        } else {
            //TODO: is there any way to set it to the current outcome, instead of null?
            return null;
        }
    }

    public String getConversationIdOrOutcome() {
        return resultingConversationIdOrOutcome == null
                ? getLongRunningConversationId()
                : resultingConversationIdOrOutcome;
    }

    public void setConversationIdOrOutcome(String selectedId) {
        this.conversationIdOrOutcome = selectedId;
    }

    public HtmlDropDownMenu getMenu() {
        if (menu == null) {
            buildMenu();
        }

        return menu;
    }

    public void setMenu(HtmlDropDownMenu menu) {
        this.menu = menu;
    }

    //Selects and redirects to selected conversation.
    public String select() {
        boolean isOutcome = conversationIdOrOutcome == null
                || (!Character.isDigit(conversationIdOrOutcome.charAt(0)) && conversationIdOrOutcome.indexOf(':') < 0);

        String actualOutcome;
        if (isOutcome) {
            resultingConversationIdOrOutcome = conversationIdOrOutcome;
            actualOutcome = conversationIdOrOutcome;
        } else {
            ConversationEntry ce = ConversationEntries.instance().getConversationEntry(conversationIdOrOutcome);
            if (ce != null) {
                resultingConversationIdOrOutcome = ce.getId();
                ce.redirect();
            }
            actualOutcome = null;
        }
        return actualOutcome;
    }
}