Missing dropdown list items?

Question

I have tried the following two ways to get the string corresponding to the selected value from a dropdown box.
    public void dropDown1_processValueChange(ValueChangeEvent event) {
        financewebapp.SessionBean1 sb = (financewebapp.SessionBean1) getBean("SessionBean1");
        Long pid = (Long) event.getNewValue();
        String tmp = new String("");
        com.sun.webui.jsf.model.Option[] options = (com.sun.webui.jsf.model.Option[]) dropDown1.getItems();
        int count = options.length;
        com.sun.webui.jsf.model.Option opt = null;
        for (int i = 0 ; i < count ; i++) {
            opt = options;
if (pid == opt.getValue()) {
tmp = opt.getLabel();
break;
java.util.Iterator iter = dropDown1.getListItems();
String tmp = new String("");
while(iter.hasNext()) {
com.sun.webui.jsf.model.list.ListItem opt = (com.sun.webui.jsf.model.list.ListItem) iter.next();
if(opt.getValue().equals(this.dropDown1.getValue().toString())) {
tmp = opt.getLabel();
break;
Getting the value is easy, and the code shown for obtainig it from the event works fine (I get the correct, non-null value).
*However, with the code that is not commented out, options always has a value of null, and with the code that is commented out, iter is non-null, but iter.hasNext() always returns false.* 
How is this possible?
The control is populated using a data provider, and *when the page is displayed, all of the expected items appear!*  There are several dozen of them. 
So how is it possible that I get all the right items being displayed, and the correct VALUE returned for processing within the change event handler, but neither way I have tried to access the corresponding  string works?  It is as if both of these functions (dropDown1.getItems() and iter.hasNext()) do not know about items in the control.
What makes this especially baffling is that nearly identical code (changes only relating to the page the controls are on and the names of the controls) with other dropdowns on other pages works just fine.
Any ideas as to why this particular instance is giving me grief?  And, more importantly how to fix it?
Thanks
Ted                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Answer 1

I used to say the same. But I got hooked on visual editors with Borland's C++ Builder when I used a visual editor to create a DB interface prototype with more than 10,000 LOC in two weeks (didn't sleep much during, and too much after, but I was much younger then). That was a dream that made working with MFC feel like a nightmare! Yes, I'll admit I started with C++ long before I started with Java, and I still use it for high performance computing. As interesting as JSF is, it doesn't feel as mature or robust as VCL or .NET or Swing, but in time ....
But with this problem, there are trade-offs. A backing map is fine if you have a small number of items that are not likely to change much. But the cost of such a map can get large if there is a selection of, or from, a large number of items: wasteful use of memory and/or bandwidth connecting to the RDBMS start becoming concerns. I do, in fact, use a number of backing sets and maps in this application, but this is one context where they may not be as appropriate. It isn't so much that I can't work around this, but rather that the dropdown component isn't working as advertized in this instance.
Thanks
Ted