JSF Simple Page Communication

Question

Hi All,
I have a question about how is the best way to create a simple search page, I have one but I must not understand the page Lifecycle because it acts wierd...? Here is what I want
2 Pages -
Page 1 Default.jspx has two inputTexts for first and last name and one commandLink which calls an action in the SearchBean managed request bean
Page 2 has an ADF Table bound to a Table of search results Plus more inputTexts which are used to filter the results.
What I am doing.
When the link calls getSearchResults i have the following method in the bean
public String searchEmployees()
String fname = this.itFirstName.getValue() != null ? this.itFirstName.getValue().toString() : "";
String lname = this.itLastName.getValue() != null ? this.itLastName.getValue().toString() : "";
JSFUtils.storeOnSession("fname",fname);
JSFUtils.storeOnSession("lname",lname);
JSFUtils.storeOnSession("SearchType","Simple");
return "gotoEmployeeResults";
the return is used for JSF Navigation to send the App to the Results page where the Databound Table calls the getEmployees method
public List<Employee> getEmployees()
try
String searchType = (String)JSFUtils.getFromSession("SearchType") != null ? (String)JSFUtils.getFromSession("SearchType") : "Simple" ;
if(!"".equals(searchType) && searchType != null && searchType.equals("Filter"))
FilterEmployeeSearch();
else
simpleEmployeeSearch();
catch(Exception e)
return this.employees;
Now the user can use the filters and submit a new request using another commandLink which calls the following method
public String filterSearchEmployees(){
String fname = this.itFilterFirstName.getValue() != null ? this.itFilterFirstName.getValue().toString() : "";
String lname = this.itFilterLastName.getValue() != null ? this.itFilterLastName.getValue().toString() : "";
String site = this.itFilterSite.getValue() != null ? this.itFilterSite.getValue().toString() : "";
String dept = this.itFilterDepartment.getValue() != null ? this.itFilterDepartment.getValue().toString() : "";
String ext = this.itFilterExtension.getValue() != null ? this.itFilterExtension.getValue().toString() : "";
JSFUtils.storeOnSession("fname",fname);
JSFUtils.storeOnSession("lname",lname);
JSFUtils.storeOnSession("site",site);
JSFUtils.storeOnSession("dept",dept);
JSFUtils.storeOnSession("ext",ext);
JSFUtils.storeOnSession("SearchType","Filter");
return "gotoEmployeeResults";
and the Table gets the employees again
The problem is that not only does the get employees method get called a ton of times but my filterSearchEmployees is never called hence my session SearchType never gets set to filter and the filter search never runs.
I Guess the main question here is am I going about this the right way? Passing session values and using JSF Navigation? I am a .NET guy and it seems like this is much simpler in .NET so I hope there is an easier approach for JSF?
Thanks in advance for any help.

Answer 1

Hi,
Your pages are semi-correct. From the code snippet, I see that you're probably using the "binding" attribute instead of EL to bind the field values. As for the multiple method calls, it's normal, hence why the getter should cache the result for the current request in an instance variable of the managed bean. So I would see:
public class SearchFilter implements Serializable
    private String firstName;
    private String lastName;
    // Add missing fields
    public String getFirstName()
        return firstName;
    public String getLastName()
        return lastName;
    public void setFirstName(String firstName)
        this.firstName = firstName;
    public void setLastName(String lastName)
        this.lastName = lastName;
public class EmployeeManager
    private SearchFilter filter;
    private transient List<Employee> filteredList;
    public SearchFilter getSearchFilter()
        return lastName;
    public void setSearchFilter(SearchFilter filter)
        this.filter = filter;
    public List<Employee> getEmployees()
        if (filteredList == null)
            // Get the full list and apply the filter on it then cache the result in filteredList
        return filteredList;
}The searchFilter bean should be pageFlow scoped (or session) while the manager should be backingBean scoped (or request). The filter should be injected in the manager by JSF
Regards,
~ Simon