ADF Faces: How do I set values for input controls in an af:table

Question

Use case: user enters master/detail information into an input form using an af:table for the desired number of detail rows.
I have an ADF Faces input form with master level input controls, and an af:table (bound to a backing bean CoreTable) for the detail data set.
The input controls are value bound to updateable view objects built from entity objects, with the appropriate view links providing master/detail iterators.
Once the user has entered the master keys (via inputTexts, and selectOneChoices), I create a row in the detail VO, thus creating a visible blank row in the af:table.
The user then completes the key for the detail row (in the af:table) by selecting a value in a selectOneChoice (in a af:column) with autoSubmit on and a valueChangeListener that sets the VO row attribute with the new value.
The user then continues to enter into the remaining inputTexts and selectOneChoices in the af:columns until all values have been entered.
I do not have autoSubmit on for any input controls in the af:columns other than the key, for performance improvement.
The user can then use a command button (which has an action method) to create another row in the af:table.
But, (in the action method) I need to set the values for the 1st detail VO row attributes, from the input controls, before creating another row.
The input controls are bound to backing bean CoreInputText and CoreSelectOneChoice objects, and they have not set their values at this point, even though I have partialSubmit on for the "New Row" command button.
I do not value bind the input controls in the af:columns to the backing bean objects, because we need to display data for all rows entered into the af:table.
Any advice on the best way to perform this operation would be very appreciated!!!!

Answer 1

Thanks for the reply Steve!!
Yes, I followed the techniques in Screencast#7, and it works great in my edit page.
But I am having problems with my input form.
I actually have master/detail/detail relationship for which I am creating an input form.
I created the input form as a copy of the edit form, and am making revisions as necessary.
I created new view objects for the input form (from my three entity objects), which have the "Tuning" set to retrieve "No Rows (i.e. used only for inserting new rows)"
I added an invokeAction that binds the "CreateInsert" action on the master iterator, so when the page is first displayed, the master level controls are available for data entry (as in 13.6.2 in the Developers Guide): but the first level detail controls are not rendered, and the af:table (for the second level detail) is rendered but with no rows.
Once the user enters key values for the master (a three part key), I manually create a first level detail row by executing the "CreateInsert" action binding for the first level detail iterator.
Continuing on, the user then enters a key value for the first level detail I manually create a second level detail row using it's "CreateInsert" action binding.
Now the user has a form with all master and first level detail controls completed and one empty row in the af:table for it's first entry.
The key column in the af:table has autoSubmit on, and an value change listener. That listener uses it's getNewValue() to set the key value ("locationCode" in this case) using
setLocationCode from the ViewRowImpl. Here is that value change listener:
public void locationChanged(ValueChangeEvent event) {
if (null != event.getNewValue()) {
LocObsCreateViewRowImpl locCreateRow = (LocObsCreateViewRowImpl)appMod.findViewObject("LocObsCreateView").getCurrentRow();
if (null == locCreateRow.getLocationCode()) {
locCreateRow.setLocationCode(event.getNewValue().toString());
Now comes my problem: once they have entered the values in the remaining columns, they can use a command button to create another row in the 2nd detail iterator, thus creating another visible empty row in the af:table. But the values from the first row (other than the key column) are not assigned to the row in the collection and I can't figure out how to set values in the collection's row.
I imagine I'm missing something using bindings and the Request Processing Lifecycle, and after reading this I can see how much manual work is going on.
The users have specified the need to have all information available on one page, so I've designed it so they can insert and iterate through the first level detail collection.
They have also asked to not use the mouse; they are looking for a "heads-down-data-entry" system.
Again, I really appreciate any advice you could give.
Jeffrey