JSF Iterator Component

Question

I was looking for a quick solution for a JSF iterator, because i dont want to use the h:dataTable i have to write my own component, and here is what i came up with.
public class JSFUIDataIterator extends UIData{
    public void encodeChildren(FacesContext oContext) throws IOException {
      if (oContext == null){
        throw new NullPointerException();
      int iProcessed = 0;
      int iRowIndex = getFirst() - 1;
      int iRows = getRows();
      Iterator oKids = getChildren(this);
      do{
        if(iRows > 0 && ++iProcessed > iRows)
          break;
        setRowIndex(++iRowIndex);
        if (!isRowAvailable())
          break;
        for(; oKids.hasNext();){
          UIComponent oKid = (UIComponent)oKids.next(); 
          encodeRecursive(oContext,oKid);
      } while(true);
    protected Iterator getChildren(UIComponent oComponent){
        List oResults = new ArrayList();
        for(Iterator oKids = oComponent.getChildren().iterator(); oKids.hasNext();){
          UIComponent oKid = (UIComponent)oKids.next();
          if(oKid.isRendered())
             oResults.add(oKid);
        return oResults.iterator();
    private void encodeRecursive(FacesContext oContext,UIComponent oComponent) throws IOException{
       if (!oComponent.isRendered()){
         return; 
       oComponent.encodeBegin(oContext);
       if (oComponent.getRendersChildren()){
         oComponent.encodeChildren(oContext);
       else{
         Iterator oChildren = getChildren(oComponent);
         for(;oChildren.hasNext();){
           UIComponent oChildComponent = (UIComponent)oChildren.next();
           encodeRecursive(oContext,oChildComponent);
       oComponent.encodeEnd(oContext);
}not want to be bothered by creating a renderer this component will render itself, but there is a problem, even though its iterating all the data elements its displaying the first data item. i missed something minor that i cant figure out. can anyone help?

Answer 1

I haven't got a reply so i went to look at my code again, and i managed to identify the problem.
I hope this code will help all those who want to use the iterator tag in JSF.
this simple custom component will give you more control over your data elements
here is the code for the custom component.
  public class DataIterator extends UIData{
    public void encodeChildren(FacesContext oContext) throws IOException {
      if (oContext == null){
        throw new NullPointerException();
      int iProcessed = 0;
      int iRowIndex = getFirst() - 1;
      int iRows = getRows();
      do{
        if(iRows > 0 && ++iProcessed > iRows)
          break;
        setRowIndex(++iRowIndex);
        if (!isRowAvailable())
          break;
        Iterator oKids = getChildren(this);
        for(; oKids.hasNext();){
          UIComponent oKid = (UIComponent)oKids.next(); 
          encodeRecursive(oContext,oKid);
      } while(true);
    protected Iterator getChildren(UIComponent oComponent){
        List oResults = new ArrayList();
        for(Iterator oKids = oComponent.getChildren().iterator(); oKids.hasNext();){
          UIComponent oKid = (UIComponent)oKids.next();
          if(oKid.isRendered())
             oResults.add(oKid);
        return oResults.iterator();
    private void encodeRecursive(FacesContext oContext,UIComponent oComponent) throws IOException{
       if (!oComponent.isRendered()){
         return; 
       oComponent.encodeBegin(oContext);
       if (oComponent.getRendersChildren()){
         oComponent.encodeChildren(oContext);
       else{
         Iterator oChildren = getChildren(oComponent);
         for(;oChildren.hasNext();){
           UIComponent oChildComponent = (UIComponent)oChildren.next();
           encodeRecursive(oContext,oChildComponent);
       oComponent.encodeEnd(oContext);
  }you only need these three methods in your component, i have stripped out logging and comments to keep the size of this post smaller, the rest is pretty straight forward.
you need a CustomTag class for the component and it should at least take two attributes : items and var.
your tag library should look something like this:
    <name>forEach</name>
    <tag-class>myjsf.DataIteratorTag</tag-class>
    <body-content>JSP</body-content>
    <attribute>
      <name>items</name>
      <required>true</required>
      <rtexprvalue>true</rtexprvalue>
      <type>java.lang.String</type>
    </attribute>
    <attribute>
      <name>var</name>
      <required>true</required>
      <rtexprvalue>false</rtexprvalue>
      <type>java.lang.String</type>
    </attribute>in the jsp page here is my sample file:
<%@taglib uri="/WEB-INF/data-iterator.tld" prefix="tbc" %>
   <faces:view>
     <faces:verbatim>
       <table>
     </faces:verbatim>
     <tbc:forEach items="#{myCollection.musicTitles}" var="oRow">
      <faces:verbatim>
        <tr style="background-color:#EEEEEE;">
          <td>
      </faces:verbatim>
      <html:outputText value="#{oRow}"/>
     <faces:verbatim>
          </td>
        </tr>
     </faces:verbatim>
     </tbc:forEach>
     <faces:verbatim>
       </table>
     </faces:verbatim>