Did the scope in which the oncompete handler is executed change in 3.1?

The behavior for the following component declaration changed in RichFaces 3.1 but I can't figure out why. I have been using this (validate, disabled, call, enable) pattern in 3.0.1 for while and would like to move to 3.1 to make use of Seam 2.0.

Expected result:

* User clicks on 'Open' button
* Form is validated
* Locally-scoped cmdRef variable is used to hold a reference to button
* projectManager.open is called
* Button is re-enabled
* Client-side open hander is invoked

<a4j:commandButton id="cmdOpen" value="Open"
 onclick="if(projectGrid.validate()){var cmdRef=this; this.disabled=true;}else{return false;}"
 actionListener="#{projectManager.open}"
 oncomplete="cmdRef.disabled=false; dialog.handleOpen('SAVE');"
/>

As I said, this was working fine in 3.0.1. However, once I upgraded to 3.1, processing of oncomplete seems to stop when it reaches cmdRef.disabled. I have confirmed that oncomplete is being called by adding an alert before it. I can also switch the order of my statements and have handleOpen called but the button is never re-enabled.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I don't mind changing my approach if mine is no longer possible in the new model.

Thank in advance,

Jose de Castro
Sr. Software Engineer
Voxeo Corporation