Jsf data table component + print null cell

Question

I am using the jsf data table component and binding the column values to a backing bean.
<h:dataTable binding="#{backing_showDifferences.dataTable2}"
id="dataTable2">
<h:column binding="#{backing_showDifferences.userColumn1}"/>
<h:column binding="#{backing_showDifferences.userColumn2}"/>
<h:column binding="#{backing_showDifferences.userColumn3}"/>
</h:dataTable>
- some code from my showDifferences.java
HtmlOutputText column1Text = new HtmlOutputText();
vb =
FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getApplication().createValueBinding("#{users.uclass}");
column1Text.setValueBinding("value", vb);
usercolumn1.getChildren().add(column1Text);
HtmlOutputText column2Text = new HtmlOutputText();
vb =
FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getApplication().createValueBinding("#{users.ue1}");
column2Text.setValueBinding("value", vb);
usercolumn2.getChildren().add(column2Text);
HtmlOutputText column3Text = new HtmlOutputText();
vb =
FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getApplication().createValueBinding("#{users.ue2}");
column3Text.setValueBinding("value", vb);
usercolumn3.getChildren().add(column3Text);
ResultSetDataModel dataModel = new ResultSetDataModel();
dataModel.setWrappedData(rs);
dataTable2.setValue(dataModel);
The raw HTML:
<table id="form1:dataTable2" class="iuptable" border="1">
<thead>
<tr>
<th scope="col">Heading 1</th>
<th scope="col">Heading 2</th>
<th scope="col">Heading3</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>some data in this column</td>
<td>X</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Some more data in this row</td>
<td>X</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
My problem is this...in the raw HTML the <td></td> tag is not formatted nicely on my table output. I have lines around my entire table and each cell within it. When the <td></td> prints there are no lines. I am new to the JSF table data component, but if I were writing some JSP or servlet code I would check that if value was null I would append an &nbsp to the <td> tag (ex. <td>&nbsp</td>) and the table would be formatted properly. The backing bean that I am binding to is pulling the data from a database table...so my sql looks like this:
SELECT uclass, ue1, ue2 from table1; my problem is when ue1 or ue2 is a null value.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

Hi,
the h:dataTable belongs to the JSF Reference Implementation from Sun, not to Oracle ADF Faces. The rendering is within this component set and I suggest to report your issue on one of the SUN forums (http://forum.java.sun.com/forum.jspa?forumID=427) as we have no handle to e.g. fix an issue if it exists in the component set.
Frank