I would like to read menu options programmatically from a database and render them using the Richfaces Html Menus.
I'm able to read in the menu options, load them into new HtmlDropDownMenu objects along with any sub-option children HtmlMenuItems and return the List.
How would I render such a List in the JSF page using <ui:repeat> ?
When I use

JSF Code:
<ui:repeat value="#{menuBean.dropDownMenus}" var="ddMenu">
 <rich:dropDownMenu value="#{ddMenu.value}"/>
</ui:repeat>

Java managed bean:
public List<HtmlDropDownMenu> getDropDownMenus() {
 List<HtmlDropDownMenu>menus = new ArrayList();
 (load menus from database)
 HtmlDropDownMenu menu = null;
 Iterator iter = menus.iterator();
 while (iter.hasNext()) {
 menu = iter.next();
 (Determine if sub-options exist and if so add them)
 HtmlMenuItem menuItem = new HtmlMenuItem();
 String subOption = "subOption";
 menuItem.setValue(subOption);
 menu.getChildren().add(menuItem);
 menus.add(menu)
 }
 return menus;
}

I can see the HtmlDropDownMenu values but the children HtmlMenuItems do not appear.

When I return a single HtmlDropDownMenu from the managed bean like this:

<rich:dropDownMenu binding="#{menuBean.testDropDownMenu}">
</rich:dropDownMenu>

 public HtmlDropDownMenu getTestDropDownMenu() {
 HtmlDropDownMenu menu = new HtmlDropDownMenu();
 menu.setStyle("border:1px solid #BCD1FF");
 menu.setDirection("bottom-right");
 menu.setJointPoint("tr");
 menu.setValue("Home: Manual");
 HtmlMenuItem menuItem = new HtmlMenuItem();
 String subOption = "subOption";
 menuItem.setValue(subOption);
 menu.getChildren().add(menuItem);
 return menu;
 }

, it works correctly; i.e. the children options get rendered.
Whether I use binding or value in the <ui:repeat> does not render the sub-options.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.
Thanks