ADF DataControl for WebService with unexpected blank objects

Question

Hello experts!
I'm developing for BPM Suite 11.1.1.5 PS4 Feature Pack using JDeveloper 11.1.1.5
I am currently using Data Controls for web services that interact with SAP; I can retrieve information successfully displaying items in tables and selectOneChoice lists without a problem.
There are no Java classes for the Data Controls, everything is handled by the XML files created by JDeveloper.
The issue happens when creating the input parameters for a web service that updates data in the remote system. The web service has complex types with lists of complex types. I am currently using the iterator for the items on the complex types to create rows and add values to those rows. The problem is that for some reason the input for those lists always contain one extra object with no data (this was identified with the help of tcpmon).
I'll use the example of the Barcodelist list of items; the corresponding iterators are BarcodelistIterator and itemIterator2. There's also an action binding for the creation of a new row.
The bindings:
<accessorIterator MasterBinding="ZPostInvoiceAndAttachment_parametersIterator"
Binds="Barcodelist" RangeSize="25" DataControl="sapPost"
BeanClass="sapPost.Types.ZPostInvoiceAndAttachment.Barcodelist"
id="BarcodelistIterator"/>
<accessorIterator id="itemIterator2" MasterBinding="BarcodelistIterator"
Binds="item" RangeSize="25" DataControl="sapPost"
BeanClass="sapPost.Types.ZPostInvoiceAndAttachment.Barcodelist.item"/>
<action IterBinding="itemIterator2" id="CreateInsert2"
InstanceName="sapPost.Types.ZPostInvoiceAndAttachment.Barcodelist.item"
DataControl="sapPost" RequiresUpdateModel="true"
Action="createRow"/>
This is the definition for item.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<JavaBean xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adfm/beanmodel" version="11.1.1.60.13"
id="item"
Package="sapPost.Types.ZPostInvoiceAndAttachment.Barcodelist"
BeanClass="sapPost.Types.ZPostInvoiceAndAttachment.Barcodelist.item"
isJavaBased="false">
<Attribute Name="Barcode" IsNotNull="true" Type="java.lang.String"/>
<Attribute Name="BarcodeId" IsNotNull="true" Type="java.lang.String"/>
<Attribute Name="Contrep" IsNotNull="true" Type="java.lang.String"/>
<Attribute Name="Docid" IsNotNull="true" Type="java.lang.String"/>
<Attribute Name="Ardate" IsNotNull="true" Type="java.lang.String"/>
<Attribute Name="Doctype" IsNotNull="true" Type="java.lang.String"/>
</JavaBean>
This is the code to insert a single item in the list. I clear all items for the iterator with a method I will show below
//Barcode List
DCIteratorBinding itr4 = ADFUtils.findIterator("itemIterator2");
ADFUtils.clearAllRowsForIterator(itr4);
OperationBinding createBarcodeList = ADFUtils.findOperation("CreateInsert2");
createBarcodeList.execute();
Row barcodeRow = itr4.getCurrentRow();
barcodeRow.setAttribute("Barcode", "20120208114025");
barcodeRow.setAttribute("BarcodeId", "01");
barcodeRow.setAttribute("Contrep", "ZT"); //ZT for Test Documentum, ZD for Production
barcodeRow.setAttribute("Docid", "DCTM3701E24080000D9A");
barcodeRow.setAttribute("Ardate", "2011-09-01");
barcodeRow.setAttribute("Doctype", "PDF");
ADFUtils.clearAllRowsForIterator method:
public static void clearAllRowsForIterator(DCIteratorBinding itr) {
Row[] allItems = itr.getAllRowsInRange();
for( int i = 0; i < allItems.length; i++ ) {
itr.removeCurrentRow();
The code below is implemented in an ActionListener for a button which calls the web service method:
public void postToSAP(ActionEvent actionEvent) {
setPostInput(); //sets all input parameters
OperationBinding op = ADFUtils.findOperation("ZPostInvoiceAndAttachment");
Object returned = op.execute();
When I monitor what is being sent in the SOAP envelop using tcpmon I get 2 items for the barcodelist (and similarly an additional blank item for every list in the input parameters):
     <Barcodelist>
          <item>
               <Barcode>20120208114025</Barcode>
               <BarcodeId>01</BarcodeId>
               <Contrep>ZT</Contrep>
               <Docid>DCTM3701E24080000D9A</Docid>
               <Ardate>2011-09-01</Ardate>
               <Doctype>PDF</Doctype>
          </item>
          <item>
               <Barcode/><BarcodeId/><Contrep/><Docid/><Ardate/><Doctype/>
          </item>
     </Barcodelist>
This causes the web service to return an error as there's a blank item in the list.
I have checked the number of rows in the barcode list before and after the web service call and it is always 1. I can't find where this blank item is coming from. I searched the web but all I found which would address this would be to implement java classes; but the goal here would be to achieve this with as less java programming effort as possible.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Bruno

Answer 1

user1113055 wrote:
... the consequent adaptation of the existing JSPXs based on the previous definition of the view objects was quite painful: i found very hard to reflect the changes to the JSPXs and, in some cases, i had to rewrite the pages from scratch! You will need to be more specific about the issues that you have encountered. Synchronization and refactoring is supported in JDeveloper for the model, the view and the controller. For what it's worth, take a look at these entry-level posts that could provide some additional inside:
http://jdeveloperfaq.blogspot.com/2010/02/faq-15-how-to-synchronize-adf-entity.html
http://jdeveloperfaq.blogspot.com/2010/04/faq-20-how-to-refactor-adf-components.html