EnumConverter in JSF 1.2

Question

It is my understanding that JSF 1.2 has a built in EnumConverter class. The typical case where this would be used would be in a drop down select list. However, I cannot get this to work.
Example Enum
public enum VehicleType {
     CAR, TRUCK, VAN;
}Example Bean Using The Enum
public class VehicleBean {
     public VehicleType getType() {
          return type;
     public void setType(VehicleType type) {
          this.type = type;
     public List<SelectItem> getTypeOptions() {
          List<SelectItem> typeOptions = new ArrayList<SelectItem>();
          for (VehicleType vtype : VehicleType.values()) {
               typeOptions.add(new SelectItem(vtype.ordinal(), vtype.toString()));
          return typeOptions;
}Example JSF Page
<h:selectOneMenu value="#{vehicleBean.type}">
     <f:selectItems value="#{vehicleBean.typeOptions}"/>
</h:selectOneMenu>When I run my application, the select list gets populated okay, but on submit I get an error like follows:
'0' must be convertible to an enum from the enum that contains the constant '0'I've played around with using different getTypeOptions methods, including one like shown that returns List<SelectItem>, and also alternate versions that returned Map<String, VehicleType> or Map<String, Integer>, but have yet to figure it out. My personal thought is that an EnumConverter would be best if it converted off of the ordinal value, but the above example does just (the actual rendered input field has a value set equal to the ordinal value of the enum), but still results in an error.
What am I missing here? How does the JSF 1.2 EnumConverter work? It is automatic isn't it -- I don't have to explicitly specify the converter when an enum is used?
PS: Is there any good JSF documentation online? I have yet to find any.

Answer 1

Why doesn't the <f:selectItem> use the enum converter automatically? Why do I have to create a List<SelectItem> for every enum that I have? Why can't I do this?...
<h:selectOneMenu
value="#{commandsBean.uiCommand.command.timeoutUnit}"
label="Time Unit for Timeout"
>
<f:selectItem itemLabel="seconds" itemValue="#{TimeUnit.SECONDS}"/>
<f:selectItem itemLabel="minutes" itemValue="#{TimeUnit.MINUTES}"/>
<f:selectItem itemLabel="hours" itemValue="#{TimeUnit.HOURS}"/>
</h:selectOneMenu>
...where commandsBean.uiCommand.command.timeoutUnit is a java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit. Or better yet...
<h:selectOneMenu
value="#{commandsBean.uiCommand.command.timeoutUnit}"
label="Time Unit for Timeout"
>
<f:selectItems value="#{TimeUnit}"/>
</h:selectOneMenu>