How To Retrieve All Data From a Submitted h:dataTable ... ?

Question

I have a table together with a button displayed in the browser. Upon click on the button, an action is invoked.
I would like to retrieve the data in the entire table in this action.
Because the displayed table is created by a managed bean class ListAction, "personnel" is the property of the bean class, and the "personnel" is a List, when I try to retrieve the data this way:
                                          ListAction listAction = new ListAction();
          DataModel personnelData = listAction.getPersonnel();
         List personnel = (List)personnelData.getWrappedData();The compiler says that a List cannot be converted to DataModel.
What should I do? I need guidance.

Answer 1

Thanks for the reply. I tried to follow your advice. Somehow, I ran into a runtime ClassCastException.
In my xxx.jsp I have
<h:dataTable value="#{arrival.personnel}" var="pInfo">
<h:commandButton id="Depart" value="DEPART" action="#{departure.updateDeparturePersonnel}"/>The "personnel" is the List that builds the xxx.jsp and it is also the List I try to access after the button in the xxx.jsp is clicked. Here in my configuration file:
<managed-bean>
  <managed-bean-name>arrival</managed-bean-name>
  <managed-bean-class>processAction.DepartureManagementBean</managed-bean-class>
  <managed-bean-scope>session</managed-bean-scope>
</managed-bean>
<managed-bean>
  <managed-bean-name>departure</managed-bean-name>
  <managed-bean-class>processAction.DepartureManagementBean</managed-bean-class>
  <managed-bean-scope>session</managed-bean-scope>
</managed-bean>when the updateDeparturePersonnel() method is called in the DepartureManagementBean.java, I got run-time ClassCastException. And I am unable to see the problems in my code.
quote:
java.lang.ClassCastException
com.sun.faces.application.ActionListenerImpl.processAction(ActionListenerImpl.java:72)
javax.faces.component.UICommand.broadcast(UICommand.java:312)
javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.broadcastEvents(UIViewRoot.java:267)
javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.processApplication(UIViewRoot.java:381)
com.sun.faces.lifecycle.InvokeApplicationPhase.execute(InvokeApplicationPhase.java:75)
com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.phase(LifecycleImpl.java:200)
com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.execute(LifecycleImpl.java:90)
javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:197)
This is my DepartureManagementBean.java:
package processAction;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import processDelegate.ListPersonnel;
import processDelegate.PersonnelBean;
public class DepartureManagementBean
    private List personnel = new ArrayList();
    private List departurePersonnel = new ArrayList();
    // The constructor part and the creation of the "personnel" List has been successfully tested
    public DepartureManagementBean()
     // instantiate the business delegate
     ListPersonnel listPersonnel = new ListPersonnel();
     personnel = listPersonnel.getPersonnelInfo();
     public List getPersonnel()
          return personnel;
     public void setPersonnel( List personnel )
          this.personnel = personnel;
     public List updateDeparturePersonnel( )
        // Iterate through the data rows ...
        for ( int index = 0; index < personnel.size(); index++ )
            PersonnelBean personnelBean = new PersonnelBean();
             personnelBean = ( PersonnelBean )personnel.get(index);
                 // If this row is selected, add all data fields the corresponding message
                 if ( personnelBean.isSelectedPersonnel() )
                     departurePersonnel.add( personnelBean );
        return departurePersonnel;
    public List getDeparturePersonnel()
      return departurePersonnel;
    public void setDeparturePersonnel( List departurePersonnel )
      this.departurePersonnel = departurePersonnel;
}// End DepartureManagementBean.java