How to create JSF Table with links after post - jsf-2

Question

I like to display a form where the end-user can enter details and the post will result in the table which contain a filtered list based on the user input. This table should have link for each row to select that specific row and return a detailed view.
accounts-list.xhtml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<ui:composition xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets" xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core" xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
xmlns:utils="http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite/snippets" template="/WEB-INF/templates/default.xhtml">
<ui:define name="title"></ui:define>
<ui:define name="content">
<h:form id="search">
<fieldset>
<legend>Search for account</legend>
<div class="account_list_section">
<span class="account_section_title"><h:outputLabel for="id" value="Account ID" /></span>
<span class="account_list_item">
<h:inputText id="id" value="#{accountsCrudBean.searchId}" styleClass="field_inputtext_account" />
</span>
</div>
<div class="account_list_section">
<span class="account_section_title"><h:outputLabel for="name" value="Account Name" /></span>
<span class="account_list_item">
<h:inputText id="name" value="#{accountsCrudBean.searchName}" styleClass="field_inputtext_account" />
</span>
</div>
<h:commandButton id="search" value="Display" action="#{accountsCrudBean.actionSearch}" />
</fieldset>
</h:form>
<h:form id="view" rendered="#{accountsCrudBean.dataItemId.value != null}">
<h:dataTable var="dataItem" binding="#{accountsCrudBean.dataTable}" value="#{accountsCrudBean.list}" id="accountListTable"
columnClasses="accountsCrudBeanTable_row_date, transactionsListTable_row_amount, transactionsListTable_row_balance, transactionsListTable_row_description" styleClass="transactionsListTable">
<h:column headerClass="transactionsListTable_header_amount">
<f:facet name="header">Id</f:facet>
<h:commandLink value="#{dataItem.id}" action="#{accountsCrudBean.editDataItem}" />
</h:column>
<h:column headerClass="transactionsListTable_header_balance">
<f:facet name="header">Name</f:facet>#{dataItem.name}</h:column>
<h:column headerClass="transactionsListTable_header_description">
<f:facet name="header">Total Balance</f:facet>#{dataItem.totalBalance}</h:column>
</h:dataTable>
<h:inputHidden binding="#{accountsCrudBean.dataItemId}" />
</h:form>
</ui:define>
</ui:composition>
accounts-edit.xhtml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<ui:composition xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets"
xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
xmlns:utils="http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite/snippets"
template="/WEB-INF/templates/default.xhtml">
<ui:define name="title"></ui:define>
<ui:define name="content">
<h:form id="edit" rendered="#{accountsCrudBean.dataItemId.value != null}">
<fieldset>
<legend>View account 1</legend>
<div class="account_list_section">
<span class="account_section_title"><h:outputLabel for="id" value="Account ID" /></span>
<span class="account_list_item">
#{accountsCrudBean.dataItemId.value}
</span>
</div>
<div class="account_list_section">
<span class="account_section_title"><h:outputLabel for="name" value="Account Name" /></span>
<span class="account_list_item">
<h:inputText readonly="true" id="name" value="#{accountsCrudBean.dataItem.name}" styleClass="field_inputtext_account" />
</span>
</div>
<div class="account_list_section">
<span class="account_section_title"><h:outputLabel for="accountOwners" value="Owners" /></span>
<span class="account_list_item">
<h:selectOneListbox readonly="true" id="accountOwners" value="#{accountsCrudBean.selectedOwner}">
<f:selectItems value="#{accountsCrudBean.accountOwners}" />
</h:selectOneListbox>
</span>
</div>
<h:inputHidden binding="#{accountsCrudBean.dataItemId}" />
<h:commandButton id="edit" value="Save" action="#{accountsCrudBean.actionSearch}" />
</fieldset>
</h:form>
<h:outputText value="No item selected." rendered="#{accountsCrudBean.dataItemId.value == null}" />
</ui:define>
</ui:composition>
AccountsCrudBean.java:
#ManagedBean
#SessionScoped
public class AccountsCrudBean extends JsfManagedBeanBase {
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
#EJB
AccountsManagerLocal accountsManager;
private Long searchId;
private String searchName;
private String selectedOwner;
private Account dataItem;
private HtmlDataTable dataTable;
private HtmlInputHidden dataItemId = new HtmlInputHidden();
private List<Account> accountList = null;
public AccountsCrudBean() {
}
public Long getSearchId() {
return searchId;
}
public void setSearchId(Long searchId) {
this.searchId = searchId;
}
public String getSearchName() {
return searchName;
}
public void setSearchName(String searchName) {
this.searchName = searchName;
}
public HtmlInputHidden getDataItemId() {
return dataItemId;
}
public Account getDataItem() {
return dataItem;
}
public void setDataItem(Account dataItem) {
this.dataItem = dataItem;
}
public HtmlDataTable getDataTable() {
return dataTable;
}
public void setDataTable(HtmlDataTable dataTable) {
this.dataTable = dataTable;
}
public void setDataItemId(HtmlInputHidden dataItemId) {
this.dataItemId = dataItemId;
}
public String getSelectedOwner() {
return selectedOwner;
}
public void setSelectedOwner(String selectedOwner) {
this.selectedOwner = selectedOwner;
}
public List<Account> getList() {
if (accountList == null) {
actionLoad();
}
return accountList;
}
private void actionLoad() {
if (searchId != null) {
Account account = accountsManager.getAccount(searchId);
accountList = Arrays.asList(account);
} else if (searchName != null) {
accountList = accountsManager.findAccountByName(searchName);
} else if (dataItemId != null && dataItemId.getValue() != null) {
Account account = accountsManager.getAccount(Long
.valueOf(dataItemId.getValue().toString()));
accountList = Arrays.asList(account);
} else
accountList = new ArrayList<Account>();
};
public void actionSearch() {
dataItem = (Account) dataTable.getRowData();
dataItemId.setValue(dataItem.getId());
actionLoad();
}
public Map<String, User> getAccountOwners() {
List<User> owners = accountsManager.getUsers(dataItem);
LinkedHashMap<String, User> map = new LinkedHashMap<String, User>();
for (User user : owners) {
map.put(user.getFirstName() + " " + user.getLastName(), user);
}
return map;
}
public String editDataItem() {
dataItem = (Account) dataTable.getRowData();
dataItemId.setValue(dataItem.getId());
return "accounts-edit";
}
}
This works on JBoss 7.1 but on 6 it's failed with:
javax.faces.el.EvaluationException: javax.el.ELException: /s/accounts-list.xhtml at line 22 and column 94 action="#{accountsCrudBean.actionSearch}": java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: row is unavailable
at javax.faces.component._MethodExpressionToMethodBinding.invoke(_MethodExpressionToMethodBinding.java:96)
at org.apache.myfaces.application.ActionListenerImpl.processAction(ActionListenerImpl.java:100)
at javax.faces.component.UICommand.broadcast(UICommand.java:120)
at javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot._broadcastAll(UIViewRoot.java:889)
at javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.broadcastEvents(UIViewRoot.java:238)
at javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot._process(UIViewRoot.java:1201)
at javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.processApplication(UIViewRoot.java:627)
at org.apache.myfaces.lifecycle.InvokeApplicationExecutor.execute(InvokeApplicationExecutor.java:34)
at org.apache.myfaces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.executePhase(LifecycleImpl.java:171)
at org.apache.myfaces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.execute(LifecycleImpl.java:118)
at javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:189)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:324)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:242)
at org.jboss.weld.servlet.ConversationPropagationFilter.doFilter(ConversationPropagationFilter.java:67)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:274)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:242)
at com.demo.server.ejb.security.AuthenticationFilter.doFilter(AuthenticationFilter.java:35)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:274)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:242)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:275)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:161)
at org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.SecurityAssociationValve.invoke(SecurityAssociationValve.java:181)
at org.jboss.modcluster.catalina.CatalinaContext$RequestListenerValve.event(CatalinaContext.java:285)
at org.jboss.modcluster.catalina.CatalinaContext$RequestListenerValve.invoke(CatalinaContext.java:261)
at org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.JaccContextValve.invoke(JaccContextValve.java:88)
at org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.SecurityContextEstablishmentValve.invoke(SecurityContextEstablishmentValve.java:100)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:159)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.jca.CachedConnectionValve.invoke(CachedConnectionValve.java:158)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.request.ActiveRequestResponseCacheValve.invoke(ActiveRequestResponseCacheValve.java:53)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:362)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:877)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:654)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$Worker.run(JIoEndpoint.java:951)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722)
Caused by: javax.el.ELException: /s/accounts-list.xhtml at line 22 and column 94 action="#{accountsCrudBean.actionSearch}": java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: row is unavailable
at org.apache.myfaces.view.facelets.el.TagMethodExpression.invoke(TagMethodExpression.java:95)
at javax.faces.component._MethodExpressionToMethodBinding.invoke(_MethodExpressionToMethodBinding.java:88)
... 35 more
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: row is unavailable
at javax.faces.model.ListDataModel.getRowData(ListDataModel.java:69)
at javax.faces.component.UIData.getRowData(UIData.java:462)
at com.demo.server.web.AccountsCrudBean.actionSearch(AccountsCrudBean.java:130)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
at org.apache.el.parser.AstValue.invoke(AstValue.java:196)
at org.apache.el.MethodExpressionImpl.invoke(MethodExpressionImpl.java:276)
at org.jboss.weld.util.el.ForwardingMethodExpression.invoke(ForwardingMethodExpression.java:43)
at org.jboss.weld.el.WeldMethodExpression.invoke(WeldMethodExpression.java:56)
at org.jboss.weld.util.el.ForwardingMethodExpression.invoke(ForwardingMethodExpression.java:43)
at org.jboss.weld.el.WeldMethodExpression.invoke(WeldMethodExpression.java:56)
at org.apache.myfaces.view.facelets.el.TagMethodExpression.invoke(TagMethodExpression.java:83)
... 36 more
This is based on http://balusc.blogspot.com/2006/06/using-datatables.html#AddBackingBeanActionToEveryRow
On the post the author use #RequestScoped bean but if I try to change the bean to be #RequestScoped the filter does not work, and i don't get the table with the links.
Thanks.

Answer 1

Your bean is in the session scope. You don't need the <h:inputHidden binding="..."> at all. Remove it and all related code. Your backing bean action methods should look like this:
public void actionSearch() {
actionLoad();
}
public String editDataItem() {
dataItem = (Account) dataTable.getRowData();
return "accounts-edit";
}
Also replace #{accountsCrudBean.dataItemId} in your view by #{accountsCrudBean.dataItem.id}.
Unrelated to the concrete problem, please note that the article is nearly 6 years old and based on JSF 1.x. These days, with JSF 2.x and EL 2.2, there are other and easier ways to get the selected row. My favourite is
<h:commandLink value="#{dataItem.id}" action="#{accountsCrudBean.editDataItem(dataItem)}" />
with
public String editDataItem(Account dataItem) {
this.dataItem = dataItem;
return "accounts-edit";
}