Can't retrieve sumbitted values

Question

Ok, Im confused and getting frustrated. I have a very simple page. It contains 2 SelectOneMenu pull downs and 2 InputText components..
The page has 2 senerios based on the selection of the second SelectOneMenu.. This component represent 2 db queries. ONe that requires dates and one that doesn't.. T
The result of the queries are rendered back to the same jsp with the result being a OuputText component positioned below the submit button.
Request that do not require the dates work as I expect. However, when the users selects the query that requires dates I run into problems.
I hide the InputText Components until the user selects the query that requires them for the date inputs.from the second SelectOneMenu
The second SelectOneMenu has a valueChangeListener bound to it and immediate="true" for that component only. and the InputText components render as expected.
But, When the user adds dates and selectes the submit button, The InputText components value,submittedvalue and localvalues are null..
I have a binding on my sumbit button to invoke a method that will get the values of all 4 components and run the query.
I've carefully read thru the lifecycle in the 1.1 spec and I can't understand why I don't have access to these values..
The CommandButton doesn't have immediate="true" so there isnt' any bypassing to the app phase.
I use getter/setter methods with String values for all component "value" attributes. I use the appropriate UIComponent for my binding methods for each component. They all look to be firing, but I just can't get the value out of the InputText components.. Here is my form. I' will include the binding getter/setters so to not make the such a long message.
From a navigation standpoint. The page renders back to itself on a success or failure by design..
Thanks for any help with this.
-----------------------------jsp page form---------------------------
<h:form>
                    <h:commandButton action="#{listAllClientBean.resetForm}" image="images/clear.gif" immediate="true" />
                    <h:panelGrid columns="1" rendered="true">
                         <h:panelGroup>
                              <h:outputLabel value="#{bundle.ReportsSelectClient}" />
                              <h:selectOneMenu value="#{listAllClientBean.client}" binding="#{listAllClientBean.selectedClient}" required="true">
                                   <f:selectItem itemLabel="#{bundle.ReportsDefaultSelectLabel }" itemValue='' />
                                   <f:selectItems value="#{listAllClientBean.allClients}" />
                              </h:selectOneMenu>
                         </h:panelGroup>
                         <h:panelGroup>
                              <h:outputLabel value="#{bundle.ReportsSelectQuery}"></h:outputLabel>
                              <h:selectOneMenu value="#{listAllClientBean.query}" binding="#{listAllClientBean.selectedQuery}"
                                   onchange="submit()" valueChangeListener="#{listAllClientBean.queryChanged}">
                                   <f:selectItem itemLabel="#{bundle.ReportsDefaultSelectLabel}" itemValue='' />
                                   <f:selectItems value="#{listAllClientBean.allQueries}" />
                              </h:selectOneMenu>
                         </h:panelGroup>
                         <h:panelGroup rendered="#{listAllClientBean.datesDisplayed}">
                              <h:outputLabel value="#{bundle.ReportsFromDate}" />
                              <h:inputText id="fromDate" value="#{listAllClientBean.strFromDate}" required="true" />
                              <h:message for="fromDate" showSummary="true" showDetail="false" styleClass="errors" />
                         </h:panelGroup>
                         <h:panelGroup rendered="#{listAllClientBean.datesDisplayed}">
                              <h:outputLabel value="#{bundle.ReportsToDate}"></h:outputLabel>
                              <h:inputText id="toDate" value="#{listAllClientBean.strToDate}" required="true" />
                              <h:message for="toDate" showSummary="true" showDetail="false" styleClass="errors" />
                         </h:panelGroup>
                         <h:commandButton action="#{listAllClientBean.doQuery}" image="images/submit.gif" />
                         <h:panelGroup rendered="#{listAllClientBean.resultDisplayed}" styleClass="table-background">
                              <h:outputLabel value="#{bundle.ReportsQueryResults}" />
                              <h:inputText value="#{listAllClientBean.queryResult}" readonly="true" size="7" />
                         </h:panelGroup>
                    </h:panelGrid>
               </h:form>
------------------------getter/setter and commanButton method---------------
public UISelectOne getSelectedClient() {
          return selectedClient;
public void setSelectedClient(UISelectOne selectedClient) {
          this.selectedClient = selectedClient;
     public UIInput getSelectedFromDate() {
          return selectedFromDate;
     public void setSelectedFromDate(UIInput selectedFromDate) {
          this.selectedFromDate = selectedFromDate;
     public UISelectOne getSelectedQuery() {
          return selectedQuery;
     public void setSelectedQuery(UISelectOne selectedQuery) {
          this.selectedQuery = selectedQuery;
     public UIInput getSelectedToDate() {
          return selectedToDate;
     public void setSelectedToDate(UIInput selectedToDate) {
          this.selectedToDate = selectedToDate;
public String doQuery()
          String clientId = (String)selectedClient.getValue();
          ClientInfo client = (ClientInfo)clientMap.get(clientId);
          String queryType = (String)selectedQuery.getValue();
          String _startdate = (String)selectedFromDate.getLocalValue();
          String _enddate = (String)selectedToDate.getLocalValue();
          try
               setQueryResult( getClientCoordinator().runQuery(client, queryType, startdate, enddate));     
          catch(DataStoreException e)
               return "failure";
          return "success";
The p

Answer 1

Because I find that this is really weird and this sounds like a bug, I have created a small testcase to reproduce this problem:
JSF:<h:form>
    <h:selectOneMenu value="#{myBean.item}" onchange="submit();"
        valueChangeListener="#{myBean.change}"
    >
        <f:selectItem itemLabel="default" itemValue="" />
        <f:selectItems value="#{myBean.items}" />
    </h:selectOneMenu>
    <h:inputText value="#{myBean.text}" rendered="#{myBean.rendered}" />
    <h:commandButton action="#{myBean.submit}" value="submit" />
    <h:commandButton action="#{myBean.reset}" value="reset" />
    <h:outputText value="#{myBean.result}" />
</h:form>MyBean (in request scope):package mypackage;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import javax.faces.context.FacesContext;
import javax.faces.event.ValueChangeEvent;
import javax.faces.model.SelectItem;
public class MyBean {
    // Init -------------------------------------------------------------------
    private String item;
    private boolean rendered;
    private String text;
    private String result;
    // Actions ----------------------------------------------------------------
    public void reset() {
        FacesContext
            .getCurrentInstance()
                .getExternalContext()
                    .getSessionMap()
                        .put("myBean", new MyBean());
    public void submit() {
        result = item + ", " + text;
    // Listeners --------------------------------------------------------------
    public void change(ValueChangeEvent event) {
        String newValue = (String) event.getNewValue();
        if (newValue != null && !newValue.equals("")) {
            rendered = true;
        } else {
            rendered = false;
            text = null;
    // Getters ----------------------------------------------------------------
    public String getItem() {
        return item;
    public List getItems() {
        List items = new ArrayList();
        items.add(new SelectItem("key1", "value1"));
        items.add(new SelectItem("key2", "value2"));
        items.add(new SelectItem("key3", "value3"));
        return items;
    public boolean isRendered() {
        return rendered;
    public String getText() {
        return text;
    public String getResult() {
        return result;
    // Setters ----------------------------------------------------------------
    public void setItem(String item) {
        this.item = item;
    public void setText(String text) {
        this.text = text;
}After a fresh start of the server, the value of the text field indeed stucks null, unless the entered value. But if you press at the reset button at least twice (the button recreates the current instance of the backing bean), then it works as it should be.
It looks like that the valueChangeListener creates a 2nd instance of the backing bean in a fresh environment somehow. Maybe because the first-time instantiated bean cannot be found? Sounds plausible however.