Error: Target Unreachable, identifier 'userMenu' resolved to null

Question

Hi,
I wonder if any one could help me please. I am trying de resolve my error from the morning but no result.
I got an error when I click to my panelMenuItem, the panemenu data works well but the panelMenuitem Action is not.
the error is as follow:
javax.el.PropertyNotFoundException: /pages/users/Customer.xhtml @76,72 binding="#{userMenu.addControls()}": Target Unreachable, identifier 'userMenu' resolved to null
        at com.sun.facelets.el.TagValueExpression.setValue(TagValueExpression.java:95)
        at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RestoreViewPhase.doPerComponentActions(RestoreViewPhase.java:244)
        at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RestoreViewPhase.doPerComponentActions(RestoreViewPhase.java:249)
        at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RestoreViewPhase.doPerComponentActions(RestoreViewPhase.java:249)
        at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RestoreViewPhase.doPerComponentActions(RestoreViewPhase.java:249)
        at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RestoreViewPhase.execute(RestoreViewPhase.java:193)
What i would like to do is to display on the outputPanel the characteristic of the panelMenuItem's option.
here is my java code:
public HtmlPanelMenu addControls() {
         FacesContext context = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();  
         Application application = context.getApplication();
         panelMenu.setId("panelMenu");
         panelMenu.setStyle("width:200px");
         panelMenu.setMode("ajax");
         panelMenu.setIconExpandedGroup("disc");
         panelMenu.setIconCollapsedGroup("disc");
         panelMenu.setIconExpandedTopGroup("chevronUp");
         panelMenu.setIconGroupTopPosition("right");
         panelMenu.setIconCollapsedTopGroup("chevronDown");
         panelMenu.setIconGroupTopPosition("right");
         List childrenMenu = getPanelMenu().getChildren();
        if(authenticatedUser.getProfile().getAccessRight().equals("customer") ) {
            customerProducts();        
             HtmlPanelMenuGroup panelMenuGroup = new HtmlPanelMenuGroup();
             panelMenuGroup.setId("Products");
             panelMenuGroup.setLabel("products");
             List childrenGroup = panelMenuGroup.getChildren();
             Iterator it = userProducts.iterator();
             while(it.hasNext() ) {
                 Product prod = (Product) it.next();
                 HtmlPanelMenuItem panelMenuItem = new HtmlPanelMenuItem();
                 panelMenuItem.setId("panelMenuItem"+prod.getProductId() );
                 panelMenuItem.setLabel(prod.getName() );
                 panelMenuItem.setRendered(true);
    application.createMethodBinding("#{characteristicServiceProduct}", new class [] { ActionEvent } );
                 ELContext eLContext = context.getCurrentInstance().getELContext();
                 MethodExpression me = application.getExpressionFactory().createMethodExpression(eLContext,
                                                                    "#{this.searchServiceProduct(prod)}", null, new Class[]{ActionEvent.class} );
                 panelMenuItem.setActionExpression(me);
                 childrenGroup.add(panelMenuItem);
                 childrenMenu.add(panelMenuGroup);
                 updateOutputPanel();
return panelMenu;
public HtmlAjaxOutputPanel addOutputPanel() {
        outputPanel.setId("outputPanel");
        outputPanel.setAjaxRendered(true);
        outputPanel.setTitle("Products caracteristic");
        HtmlOutputText outputText = new HtmlOutputText();
        outputText.setValue("");
        outputPanel.getChildren().add(outputText);
        return outputPanel;
    public void updateOutputPanel(){
        HtmlDataTable dataTable = new HtmlDataTable();
        UIColumn columnName, columnAmount;
        dataTable.setValue("#{characteristicServiceProduct}");
        dataTable.setVar("chSePr");
        columnName = new UIColumn();
        HtmlOutputText outputTextName = new HtmlOutputText();
        outputTextName.setValue("#{chSePr.characteristic.name}");
        columnName.getChildren().add(outputTextName);
        columnAmount = new UIColumn();
        HtmlOutputText outputTextAmount = new HtmlOutputText();
        outputTextAmount.setValue("#{chSePr.amount}");
        columnAmount.getChildren().add(outputTextAmount);
        dataTable.getChildren().add(columnName);
        dataTable.getChildren().add(columnAmount);
        outputPanel.getChildren().add(dataTable);
    }my .xhtml page is as follow
<rich:panelMenu binding = "#{userMenu.addControls()}"/>
               <rich:panel>
                    <a4j:outputPanel ajaxRendered="true" binding="#{userMenu.addOutputPanel()}">
                        <!--<h:outputText value="service #{userMenu.service}"/>-->
                    </a4j:outputPanel>
                </rich:panel>thank you so much
regards
bibou

Answer 1

Well i didn't define the scope. Now it's look better. T've got the followuing error:
javax.el.PropertyNotWritableException: /pages/users/Customer.xhtml @76,72 binding="#{userMenu.addControls()}": Illegal Syntax for Set Operation
        at com.sun.facelets.el.TagValueExpression.setValue(TagValueExpression.java:98)
        at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RestoreViewPhase.doPerComponentActions(RestoreViewPhase.java:244)
        at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RestoreViewPhase.doPerComponentActions(RestoreViewPhase.java:249)
        at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RestoreViewPhase.doPerComponentActions(RestoreViewPhase.java:249)
contact1 >> 09:46:37,663 ERROR [ExceptionFilter] handling uncaught exception
javax.servlet.ServletException: /pages/users/Customer.xhtml @76,72 binding="#{userMenu.addControls()}": Illegal Syntax for Set Operation
        at javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:256)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.servletService(ApplicationFilterChain.java:411)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:317)
Caused by: javax.el.PropertyNotWritableException: /pages/users/Customer.xhtml @76,72 binding="#{userMenu.addControls()}": Illegal Syntax for Set Operation
        at com.sun.facelets.el.TagValueExpression.setValue(TagValueExpression.java:98)
        at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RestoreViewPhase.doPerComponentActions(RestoreViewPhase.java:244)
        at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RestoreViewPhase.doPerComponentActions(RestoreViewPhase.java:249)