Initializing primefaces datatable rowkey - jsf-2

Question

I have a primefaces datatable that I'm populating with properties of objects in an ArrayList once the user clicks a search button. I need to add a column with a radio button so that the user can select a row of the table to update. I'd like to set the rowkey to be the metadataKey property of my objects, but I get the following error:
rowKey="#{result.metadataKey}": Property 'metadataKey' not found on
type java.lang.String
I believed that this was caused by the metadataKey not existing at the time the table is rendered. To remedy it, I set the table to render only after the user had completed their search, but this resulted in the same error.
Here is the relevant html:
<h:form id="dataForm">
<p:panel styleClass="centered">
<p:messages id="message" showDetails="true" autoUpdate="true" />
<p:outputLabel id="searchLabel" value="Search for Metadata: " />
<p:inputText id="search"
value="#{updateMetadataItemsBean.searchTerm}" />
<p:commandButton id="searchButton" value="Search"
action="#{updateMetadataItemsBean.search}"
update="dataForm:metadataitems, message, dataForm:dataPanel" />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</p:panel>
<p:panel styleClass="center" id="dataPanel" >
<p:dataTable id="metadataitems" var="result"
value="#{updateMetadataItemsBean.results}" styleClass="center"
resizableColumns="true"
selection="updateMetadataItemsBean.selectedMetadataItem"
rowKey="#{result.metadataKey}" rendered="#{updateMetadataItemsBean.show}">
<p:column headerText="Select Item to Update" selectionMode="single"></p:column>
<p:column headerText="Metadata Key">
<h:outputText value="#{result.metadataKey}" />
</p:column>
<p:column headerText="Map Name">
<h:outputText value="#{result.mapName}" />
</p:column>
<p:column headerText="Metadata Name">
<h:outputText value="#{result.metadataName}" />
</p:column>
<p:column headerText="Metadata Value">
<h:outputText value="#{result.metadataValue}" />
</p:column>
<p:column headerText="WTX Adapter">
<h:outputText value="#{result.wtxAdapter}" />
</p:column>
<p:column headerText="Card Number">
<h:outputText value="#{result.cardNumber}" />
</p:column>
<p:column headerText="Create Date TS">
<h:outputText value="#{result.createDateTS}" />
</p:column>
</p:dataTable>
<br />
<br />
<br />
</p:panel>
This is the relevant code from the bean:
public class UpdateMetadataItemsBean implements Serializable{
public static final long serialVersionUID = 4;
private String metadataKey;
private String mapName;
private String metadataName;
private String metadataValue;
private String wtxAdapter;
private String cardNumber;
private String createDateTS;
private String searchTerm;
private String selectedDataKey;
private boolean show = false;
private MetadataItems selectedMetadataItem;
private ArrayList<MetadataItems> results = new ArrayList<MetadataItems>();
[getters and setters]
public void search() {
Search s = new Search();
setResults(s.search(searchTerm));
setShow(true);
}
Thanks in advance to anyone who can point me in the right direction.

Answer 1

Alter
selection="updateMetadataItemsBean.selectedMetadataItem"
to
selection="#{updateMetadataItemsBean.selectedMetadataItem}".