Problem with inputText in my custom component

Question

Hi, I have a custom dataTable component that I'm trying to get to work. It has to be a custom component because dataTable doesn't support rowspan, colspan, multi line headers, and a rendered attribute for rows. The problem is, that when I wrap the column tag inside my row tag then the method for the inputText tag never gets called in the UPDATE_MODEL_VALUES phase.
I'm starting to think that JSF doesn't support 2 levels of tags between the inputText and dataTable. I'm hoping that someone can tell me what I have wrong with my components.
Here is the JSP snippet.
<cjsf:rptTable>
     <cjsf:data id="dataTable1" value="#{allAuthUser.tableRows}" var="myTableRow1">
          <cjsf:row>
               <cjsf:col>
                    <h:inputText id="tableTestFld" value="#{myTableRow1.testFld}" size="5" maxlength="5"/>
               </cjsf:col>
          </cjsf:row>
     </cjsf:data>
</cjsf:rptTable>Here is what it renders. It looks to me like everything renders fine. So I'm guessing that there is something in a component that is causing JSF during the life cycle to not be able to process correctly.
<table>
     <tbody>
          <tr>
               <td><input id="tblmaintForm:body:dataTable1_0:tableTestFld" name="tblmaintForm:body:dataTable1_0:tableTestFld" type="text" value="" maxlength="5" size="5"/></td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
               <td><input id="tblmaintForm:body:dataTable1_1:tableTestFld" name="tblmaintForm:body:dataTable1_1:tableTestFld" type="text" value="" maxlength="5" size="5"/></td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
               <td><input id="tblmaintForm:body:dataTable1_2:tableTestFld" name="tblmaintForm:body:dataTable1_2:tableTestFld" type="text" value="" maxlength="5" size="5"/></td>
          </tr>
     </tbody>
</table>Note: If I leave off the row tag it renders the same way except of course the <tr> and </tr> tags are missing. If I do this, then the backing method for the inputText tag is called and everything works fine. Why doesn't it work with the row tag in place?
Here are the components:
public class UIRptTable extends UIComponentBase {
     public UIRptTable() {
          setRendererType("tblmaint.rptTableRenderer");
     public String getFamily() {
          return "javax.faces.Output";
public class UIRptTableData extends HtmlDataTable {
     public UIRptTableData() {
          setRendererType("tblmaint.rptTableDataRenderer");
     public String getFamily() {
          return "javax.faces.Data";
public class UIRptTableRow extends UIOutput {
     public UIRptTableRow() {
          setRendererType("tblmaint.rptTableRowRenderer");
     public String getFamily() {
          return "javax.faces.Output";
public class UIRptTableCol extends UIColumn {
     public UIRptTableCol() {
          setRendererType("tblmaint.rptTableColRenderer");
     public String getFamily() {
          return "javax.faces.Column";
}Here is part of the faces-config file in case you need it.
<!-- Components -->
<component>
     <component-type>tblmaint.rptTable</component-type>
     <component-class>com.monsanto.ag_it.fieldops.aim.tblmaint.component.UIRptTable</component-class>
</component>
<component>
     <component-type>tblmaint.rptTableData</component-type>
     <component-class>com.monsanto.ag_it.fieldops.aim.tblmaint.component.UIRptTableData</component-class>
</component>
<component>
     <component-type>tblmaint.rptTableRow</component-type>
     <component-class>com.monsanto.ag_it.fieldops.aim.tblmaint.component.UIRptTableRow</component-class>
</component>
<component>
     <component-type>tblmaint.rptTableCol</component-type>
     <component-class>com.monsanto.ag_it.fieldops.aim.tblmaint.component.UIRptTableCol</component-class>
</component>
<!-- Render Kits -->
<render-kit>
     <renderer>
          <component-family>javax.faces.Output</component-family>
          <renderer-type>tblmaint.rptTableRenderer</renderer-type>
          <renderer-class>com.monsanto.ag_it.fieldops.aim.tblmaint.renderer.RptTableRenderer</renderer-class>
     </renderer>
</render-kit>
<render-kit>
     <renderer>
          <component-family>javax.faces.Data</component-family>
          <renderer-type>tblmaint.rptTableDataRenderer</renderer-type>
          <renderer-class>com.monsanto.ag_it.fieldops.aim.tblmaint.renderer.RptTableDataRenderer</renderer-class>
     </renderer>
</render-kit>
<render-kit>
     <renderer>
          <component-family>javax.faces.Output</component-family>
          <renderer-type>tblmaint.rptTableRowRenderer</renderer-type>
          <renderer-class>com.monsanto.ag_it.fieldops.aim.tblmaint.renderer.RptTableRowRenderer</renderer-class>
     </renderer>
</render-kit>
<render-kit>
     <renderer>
          <component-family>javax.faces.Column</component-family>
          <renderer-type>tblmaint.rptTableColRenderer</renderer-type>
          <renderer-class>com.monsanto.ag_it.fieldops.aim.tblmaint.renderer.RptTableColRenderer</renderer-class>
     </renderer>
</render-kit>I sure hope that someone can help me out. Please let me know if you need any additional information.
Thanks,
Ray

Answer 1

Hi, Ray!
1) I was trying to put a button in the column header (for sorting) and I couldn't get that to work. That involved the >colhdr tag. I got that to work but I don't remember the fix. I'll look it up and reply back with that when I can.Dealing the first part of your trouble, you need NOT a custom component.
I have looked through the implementation of RepeaterRenderer, as you advised me, and found that the multi-header possibility is included in the implementation of dataTable control.
The code below is the part of source of repeater.jsp with only change:
<d:data_repeater> &#61664; <h:dataTable>
And it works fine.
<h:dataTable id="table"
binding="#{RepeaterBean.data}"
     rows="5"
value="#{RepeaterBean.customers}"
var="customer">
<f:facet name="header">
<h:outputText value="Customer List"/>               <!� First Header row -- >
</f:facet>
<h:column>
<%-- Visible checkbox for selection --%>
<h:selectBooleanCheckbox
id="checked"
binding="#{RepeaterBean.checked}"/>
<%-- Invisible checkbox for "created" flag --%>
<h:selectBooleanCheckbox
id="created"
binding="#{RepeaterBean.created}"
rendered="false"/>
</h:column>
<h:column>
<f:facet name="header">
<h:outputText value="Account Id"/>               <!�Second Header row -- >
</f:facet>
<h:inputText id="accountId"
binding="#{RepeaterBean.accountId}"
required="true"
size="6"
value="#{customer.accountId}">
</h:inputText>
<h:message for="accountId"/>
</h:column>
<h:column>
<f:facet name="header">
<h:outputText value="Customer Name"/>               <!�Second Header row -- >
</f:facet>
<h:inputText id="name"
required="true"
size="50"
value="#{customer.name}">
</h:inputText>
<h:message for="name"/>
</h:column>
<h:column>
<f:facet name="header">                    <!�Second Header row -- >
<h:outputText value="Symbol"/>
</f:facet>
<h:inputText id="symbol"
required="true"
size="6"
value="#{customer.symbol}">
<f:validateLength
maximum="6"
minimum="2"/>
</h:inputText>
<h:message for="symbol"/>
</h:column>
<h:column>
<f:facet name="header">                    <!�Second Header row -- >
<h:outputText value="Total Sales"/>
</f:facet>
<h:outputText id="totalSales"
value="#{customer.totalSales}">
<f:convertNumber
type="currency"/>
</h:outputText>
</h:column>
<h:column>
<f:facet name="header">                    <!�Second Header row -- >
<h:outputText value="Commands"/>
</f:facet>
<h:commandButton id="press"
action="#{RepeaterBean.press}"
immediate="true"
value="#{RepeaterBean.pressLabel}"
type="SUBMIT"/>
<h:commandLink id="click"
action="#{RepeaterBean.click}"
immediate="true">
<h:outputText
value="Click"/>
</h:commandLink>
</h:column>
</h:dataTable>
You may have a look at HTML source to prove that dataTable is already what you need:
<table id="myform:table">
<thead>
<tr><th colspan="6" scope="colgroup">Customer List</th></tr>
<tr>
<th scope="col"></th>
<th scope="col">Account Id</th>
<th scope="col">Customer Name</th>
<th scope="col">Symbol</th>
<th scope="col">Total Sales</th>
<th scope="col">Commands</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
2.) The second trouble is still unsettled as previously. Right now I have different task at my job, and I can�t continue investigation of this problem.
But when you find smth., please let me know. I�ll be very grateful.
Regards,
Oleksa Stelmakh