Edit mode simulation

Question

I'm trying to make my pages look like documents on Lotus Notes/Domino.
That is : the page displays first with the texts, and no input fields, but with an Edit button at the bottom.
Once the Edit button has been pressed, you can see the fields, and modify them. At the bottom of the page you have a Save button that saves the information you entered in the beans, and toggle back the read mode.
The problem is that the EditMode bean can't be sotred in the session because then the edit mode would be toggled for the other pages you migh have open in other browser windows.
Here is a snipset from my application :
faces-config.xml
<faces-config>
     <managed-bean>
          <description>
               This bean is used to change the state from edit fields, to simulate read and edit modes.
          </description>
          <managed-bean-name>editMode</managed-bean-name>
          <managed-bean-class>com.seanergie.faces.EditMode</managed-bean-class>
          <managed-bean-scope>request</managed-bean-scope>
     </managed-bean>
</faces-config>
In the jsp :
<f:view>
     <h:form id="editAdvertiser">
          <h1>Advertiser ${advertiser.name}</h1>
          <label><h:outputText value="Name"/></label>
          <h:inputText id="name" value="#{advertiser.name}" size="50" rendered="#{editMode.edit}"/>
          <h:outputText value="#{advertiser.name}" rendered="#{editMode.read}"/>
          <h:commandButton value="Edit" actionListener="#{editMode.switchMode}" rendered="#{editMode.read}"/>
          <h:commandButton value="Save" actionListener="#{advertiser.save}"/> rendered="#{editMode.edit}"/ >
     </h:form>
</f:view>
The edit mode bean :
public class EditMode {
     private boolean edit = false;
     public EditMode(){}
     public EditMode(boolean edit){
          this.edit = edit;
     public boolean getEdit(){
          return edit;
     public void setEdit(boolean edit){
          this.edit = edit;
     public boolean isEdit(){
          return edit;
     public boolean isRead(){
          return !edit;
     public void switchMode(ActionEvent event){
          edit = !edit;
     public static void setMode(boolean editMode) {
          java.util.Map scopeMap = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getExternalContext().getRequestMap();
          scopeMap.put("editMode", new EditMode(editMode));
          //Following Doesn't work if the bean hasn't been referenced yet
          //FacesContext context = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
          //Application application = context.getApplication();
          //ValueBinding binding = application.createValueBinding("#{editMode}");
          //binding.setValue(context, new EditMode(editMode));
}This works fine if the editMode bean has a session scope, but if it has a request scope (as it needs to be), it doesn't work anymore.
The advertiser.name isn't updated, as the default value for the editBean is false (read mode), and the input tag for the name field as rendered="#{editMode.edit}", when the view is restored, the input tag is hidden, and so, the new name value isn't commited in the apply requested values phase.
Is there a way to have this working ?
This would be really nice, as it allows to have the same page for editing and displaying customer info for example, and it would greately reduce the amount of coding and maintenance for our project.
Thank you,
Sylvain

Answer 1

I made it work using the MyFaces x:saveState tag :
Just add <x:saveState
value="#{editMode.edit}"/> in the page and it
works :-)Hi Sylvain,
Could you send me example your form?
I'm working on almost same thing and had similar problem.
I have several ideas in area editing data and ready to send you some of them.
I'm creating form that used RowSet.
For example I found solution for delete row from table by button that located outside dataTable.
Vladimir