How to pass js variable to be used in managed bean constractor?

Question

Hi,
I got a list of items that i present in <h:selectOneMenu on my page (the first page the user sees)
the labels that are shown in the ><h:selectOneMenu are date + time , and the time itself is stored in the db in UTC without any + or - timezone offset (e.g UTC +2)
In order to show the correct time in the labels of the ><h:selectOneMenu I'm adding the needed offset of the user timezone
the problem is that the ><h:selectOneMenu is being populated from the managed bean before I'm passing the offset from the xhtml page itself using jQuery $.post(
like this
<h:head>
<script type="text/javascript">
          jQuery(document).ready(function($) {
               d = new Date();
               var tz = -1 * d.getTimezoneOffset()/60;
               $.post("/servlets/TimeZoneFromClientServlet",{timezone : tz});
       </script>
     </h:head>any ideas how can i pass the TimezoneOffset to the application before the managed bean is loaded?
Thanks ahead!
Daniel.

Answer 1

You know, any website I've encountered so far ASKS for your timezone. Why do you think that is?
In any case, if you really want to go ahead and do what you want, you need a single point of entry in your web application that sets the timezone in the session once so you can reuse it. It could be something as simple as doing it in a login page if you have one; just create a hidden input field that is prefilled with the timezone you find using Javascript; then simply submit it to the server and stick it in the session there. When the session times out the user would have to login again, which would give you the timezone value back.
another option: is the managed bean session scoped? If so you can simply fetch it in your servlet and update the appropriate property of the managed bean. This one makes me feel some shame for suggesting it though.