JSF MethodExpression javax.el.PropertyNotFoundException - jsf-2

Question

I'm trying to develop a custom component that will need to call a method from the backingbean to get some data from the bb (this will be called in the decode phase after a certain Ajax call) with one parameter (it will come in the ajax call).
The problem I'm having is that I define the attribute as a MethodExpression (in the taglibrary and the component), I get the Ajax post, decode the parameter and when I try to get the Method binding from the component I get the following error:
javax.el.PropertyNotFoundException: /easyFaces.xhtml #19,151
dataSource="#{theBean.loadDataFromSource}": The class
'ar.com.easytech.faces.test.homeBean' does not have the property
'loadDataFromBean'.
Here is the relevant code.. (and please let me know if this is not the correct way to do this..)
taglib:
<attribute>
<display-name>Data Source</display-name>
<name>dataSource</name>
<required>true</required>
<type>javax.el.MethodExpression</type>
<method-signature>java.util.List theDataSource(java.lang.String)</method-signature>
</attribute>
Component definition:
public class Autocomplete extends HtmlInputText implements ClientBehaviorHolder
...
public MethodExpression getDataSource() {
return (MethodExpression) getStateHelper().eval(PropertyKeys.dataSource);
}
public void setDataSource(MethodExpression dataSource) {
getStateHelper().put(PropertyKeys.dataSource, dataSource);
}
and finally the rendered method that generates the error:
private List<Object> getData(FacesContext context, Autocomplete autocomplete, String data) {
Object dataObject = null;
MethodExpression dataSource = autocomplete.getDataSource();
if (dataSource != null) {
try {
dataObject = dataSource.invoke(context.getELContext(), new Object[] {data});
return convertToList(dataObject);
} catch (MethodNotFoundException e) {
logger.log(Level.INFO,"Method not found: {0}", dataSource.getExpressionString() );
}
}
return null;
}
Here is the method from the BB
public List<String> autcompleteFromSource(String param) {
List<String> tmpData = new ArrayList<String>();
tmpData.add("XXA_TABLE_A");
tmpData.add("XXA_TABLE_B");
tmpData.add("XXA_TABLE_C");
return tmpData;
}
And the .xhtml with the component
<et:autocomplete id="autoc" minLength="3" delay="500" value="#{easyfacesBean.selectedValue}" dataSource="#{easyfacesBean.autcompleteFromSource}" />
The thing is if I define a method getAutocompleteFromSource() it recognised the method and the error changes to can't convert list to MethodExpression, so evidently it is simply interpreting the autocompleteFromSource as a simple property and not a method definition, is this even the correct way to call method from BB? (giving that it's not an actual action nor validation )

Answer 1

I found the solution for this, as it turns out you also need to define a "Handler"to define the Method Signature, so I created the handler and added to the taglib and everything started to work fine..just for reference.. here is the handler..
Regards
public class AutocompleteHandler extends ComponentHandler {
public AutocompleteHandler(ComponentConfig config) {
super(config);
}
protected MetaRuleset createMetaRuleset(Class type) {
MetaRuleset metaRuleset = super.createMetaRuleset(type);
metaRuleset.addRule(new MethodRule("dataSource", List.class, new Class[] { String.class }));
return metaRuleset;
}
}