ADF: big issues (bug?) with dinamic region refresh

Question

Hi all,
we are creating a page that contains a component like the DinamicTabUiShell, but we have several problems refreshing the dinamic region we are using.
Here is a detailed explanation of our work.
We have page (monitoraggio.jspx) that has a panel stretch layout. Inside the top facet, we have navigation pane, that draws its tabs with a for each, looping through a managed bean (monitoraggioTabbedPane) collection . Inside the center facet, we have a dinamic region (monitoraggio.jspx, ID=r1).
We can say that we implemented the adf DinamicTabUiShell.
This is monitoraggio.jspx
   <af:panelStretchLayout id="psl2" topHeight="auto"
                                         endWidth="0px" bottomHeight="0px"
                                         >
                     <f:facet name="bottom"/>
                     <f:facet name="center">
                           <af:region value="#{bindings.dynamicRegion1.regionModel}"
                                      id="r1" partialTriggers="::np1:cni1"
                                      />
                      </f:facet>
                     <f:facet name="end"/>
                     <f:facet name="top">
                        <af:panelGroupLayout layout="vertical" id="pgl2">
                           <af:spacer width="10" height="10" id="s1"/>
                           <af:panelBorderLayout id="pbl1"
                                                 styleClass="AFStretchWidth"
                                                 binding="#{viewScope.monitoraggio.tabbedPaneArea}">
                              <af:navigationPane id="np1">
                                 <af:forEach items="#{monitoraggioTabbedPane.monitoraggioTabItems}"
                                             var="tab">
                                    <af:commandNavigationItem text="#{tab.tabName}"
                                                              id="cni1"
                                                              action="#{tab.activateTab}"
                                                              selected="#{tab.selected}"
                                                              immediate="true"
                                                             >
                                    </af:commandNavigationItem>
                                 </af:forEach>
                              </af:navigationPane>
                              <f:facet name="end">
                                 <af:group id="g1">
                                    <af:commandImageLink id="cil1"
                                                         icon="/icons/closeDialog_mo.png"
                                                         disabledIcon="/icons/closeDialog_d.png"
                                                         hoverIcon="/icons/closeDialog_n.png"
                                                         depressedIcon="/icons/closeDialog_md.png"
                                                         action="#{monitoraggioTabbedPane.removeSelectedTab}"
                                                         rendered="#{monitoraggioTabbedPane.currentTabPosition > 0}"
                                                         immediate="true"/>
                                    <af:spacer width="15" height="10" id="s2"/>
                                 </af:group>
                              </f:facet>
                           </af:panelBorderLayout>
                        </af:panelGroupLayout>
                     </f:facet>
                  </af:panelStretchLayout>monitoraggio.jspx page def
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<pageDefinition xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adfm/uimodel"
                version="11.1.1.56.60" id="monitoraggioPageDef"
                Package="sop.view.pageDefs" SkipValidation="true"
                ControllerClass="sop.view.pagePhaseListener.MonitoraggioListener">
   <parameters/>
   <executables>
      <variableIterator id="variables"/>
      <taskFlow id="dynamicRegion1"
                taskFlowId="${monitoraggioTabbedPane.monitoraggioCurrentTab.taskFlowId}"
                activation="deferred"
                xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adf/controller/binding"
                RefreshCondition="#{monitoraggioTabbedPane.changed}">
         <parameters>
            <parameter id="oggettoCoinvolto"
                       value="#{monitoraggioTabbedPane.monitoraggioCurrentTab.oggettoCoinvoltoAllarme}"/>
            <parameter id="refreshFlag" value="#{true}"
                       xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adfm/uimodel"/>
            <parameter id="isStandalone" value="#{true}"
                       xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adfm/uimodel"/>
            <parameter id="beanRicercaTratte" value="#{null}"
                       xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adfm/uimodel"/>
         </parameters>
      </taskFlow>
   </executables>
   <bindings/>
</pageDefinition>The content of the dinamic region is took from the managed bean of each tab added to the navigation pane: each tab keeps track (through OggettoCoinvolto attribute) of its content, and the dinamic region loads its task flow using the tab attribute OggettoCoinvolto.
Since we have to open tabs programmatically, to open a tab, what we do is:
- add a tab to the monitoraggioTabbedPane managed bean tabs collection (here we create the tab managed bean object, setting the OggettoCoinvolto property)
- try to refresh both the dinamic region and the tabbed pane.
All these operations, work flawlessly: we see that the model (monitoraggioTabbedPane tabs collection) contanis all the tabs, and each tab contains its correct task-flow-id, and this task-flow-id is correctly returned to the dinamic region.
The problems is about refreshing the view (both the dinamic region and the navigation pane)
To refresh them we tried using both AdfFacesContext.getCurrentInstance().addPartialTarget, and queueActionEventInRegion, we tried also setting the region refresh property to "ifneeded" and we changed a boolean flag passed as input of the region each time we wanted to refresh it, we used partianTriggers (you can all see in monitoraggio.jspx), but it does not work...
Sometimes we see that only the NavigationPane is refreshed, and sometimes when switching tabs, we see that the dinamic region does not change its content.
What can we do? Is our way to refresh region/dinamic pane wrong ?
We tried also to set the refresh property of the region to 'default' and using the refresh condition, changing it programmatically, but it does not seem to work...
Take, as an example, a refresh condition that simply gets the value of a boolean in a managed bean (monitoraggioTabbedPane.changed).
TO make the refresh condition work, is it sufficient to change the boolean with a simple assignment (changed = true), or do we need to use JSFUtils.setExpressionValue(#{monitoraggioTabbedPane.changed}, true) ?
Is there any way, in adf 11g, to dinamically launch an design-time-unknow-number of task-flows, where each task-flow is implemented as a region and each region must be associated to a different tab. Is possible to achieve this using dinamic region, or we are mis-using the dinamic region ? How can we refresh it ?
Many thanks to anyone willing to lean an hand...

Answer 1

I notice you have the activation property set to deferred.
<taskFlow id="dynamicRegion1"
taskFlowId="${monitoraggioTabbedPane.monitoraggioCurrentTab.taskFlowId}"
activation="deferred"
I would set it back to default or immediate for the sake of clarity. According to the doc, setting it to deferred has the same effect as immediate for JSP based pages. This is purely cosmetic.
You have refreshCondition set which is not what you want in this case.
xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adf/controller/binding"
RefreshCondition="#{monitoraggioTabbedPane.changed}">
You should clear this setting and change the refresh attribute to ifNeeded.
Your refreshFlag is hard-coded to true.
<parameter id="refreshFlag" value="#{true}"
xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adfm/uimodel"/>
When dynamicRegion1 is refreshed, it will only execute if one of it's task flow parameters has a different value then it did during the previous execution. refreshFlag should be set to an el expression that changes at least every time you change tabs if not more often depending on your requirement.
You mention "we changed a boolean flag passed as input of the region each time we wanted to refresh it" Did you set refreshFlag to an el expression in a different version of the code?
Sounds like you may have already tried all the above - if that's the case here some suggestions to help diagnose the issue further after you've returned to settings above.
1) Go to monitoraggio.jspx page def and - in the design tab - and right click to the right and the left of dynamicRegion1 and select Toggle Breakpoint to enable breakpoints before and after the task flow is evaluated.
2) Go to the design view of the task flows that you are showing in the tabs. Right-click on the each task flows default activity and select Toggle breakpoint to set a breakpoint.
When you run the application, you should hit the pageDef break points any time the task flow is queued for refresh. If you don't hit those breakpoints, then whatever you are doing to refresh the task flow isn't working.
Assuming you are successfully queuing your task flow for refresh, you'll hit the pageDef breakpoints. When you hit the first one (on the left), go the expression evaluator in the debugger and enter the el expression for refreshFlag and evaluate it. You want to verify that it changes as expected. If the value of the expression doesn't change before the next tab is displayed, the task flow won't be re-executed. If the values not changing as expected, you need to change the logic you use to update the refreshFlag.
You'll only hit the breakpoints on the default activities in your task flows when they are actually executed. If you hit the default activity breakpoint but are still seeing stale data, there's something wrong with the logic internal to the task flow.
Hope that helps.