SelectOneMenu inside h:dataTable gives conversion error

Question

Hi guys,
I'm enduring quite alot of misery attempting to put selectOneMenu UI components in my h:dataTable. Due to the 30000 character restriction, I can only submit my view and backing bean and DTO and the converter (even though the total characters of my files is only 26,583? [cat * | wc -c]). Perhaps you can figure out a way I can send me all my files and you'll be able to test it much easier.
The jist of the problem is that I get a conversion error between the selectOneMenu and the backing DTO of the <h:dataTable>. After I define a converter I get a ClassCastException.
My BIGGEST question is "Why do I even need a converter?", the selectItem(s)/options are hardcoded label/value Strings and so is the the property of the dataTable row's backing DTO!!!
Here's the files, any assistance will be greatly appreciated.
P.S. I'm running JDeveloper 10.1.3.3.
Thanks.
(All these files are in the same package so you can just put them all in a directory named "example"):
My DTO BudgetEquipmentListVO.java:
package example;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.List;
public class BudgetEquipmentListVO {
    private Integer rowNo = new Integer("0");               //Row number for paging thru dataTables.
    private String equipmentListId = new String("0");                        //From equipment_list table.
    private Integer equipmentCodeId = new Integer("0");         //From equipment_codes table
    private String objectCode = "0730";                     //So far, 0730,0735 are possible.
    private Integer budgetId = new Integer("0");            //fed_budget_id from fed_budget table.
    private String  description = "";
    private String  equipNo = "";                           //Alphanumeric
    private Date    dateAcquired = new Date();  
    private Integer estimatedCost = new Integer("0");       //Used for Stimulus Application
    private Integer actualCost = new Integer("0");          //Used for EOY expenditures.  Disable for stimulus application
    private String  bldgLocation = "";                      //Address where equipment is at.
    private String  approvedInd = "N";                      //Whether item's been approved or not. Y/N
    private Integer amountApproved = new Integer("0");      //Gets set on approval page.
    private StringBuffer comment = new StringBuffer(4000);  //Currently max 4000 chars
    private String  suppInstInd = "I";            //Support or Instruction item, S or I
    private Integer approvedById = new Integer("0");        //User id of approver.
    private Date    approvedDate = null;                    //Date approved
    private List<BudgetEquipmentListVO> innerList;
    public BudgetEquipmentListVO() {
    public void setObjectCode(String objectCode) {
        this.objectCode = objectCode;
    public String getObjectCode() {
        return objectCode;
    public void setBudgetId(Integer budgetId) {
        this.budgetId = budgetId;
    public Integer getBudgetId() {
        return budgetId;
    public void setDescription(String description) {
        this.description = description;
    public String getDescription() {
        return description;
    public void setEquipNo(String equipNo) {
        this.equipNo = equipNo;
    public String getEquipNo() {
        return equipNo;
    public void setDateAcquired(Date dateAcquired) {
        this.dateAcquired = dateAcquired;
    public Date getDateAcquired() {
        return dateAcquired;
    public void setEstimatedCost(Integer estimatedCost) {
        this.estimatedCost = estimatedCost;
    public Integer getEstimatedCost() {
        return estimatedCost;
    public void setActualCost(Integer actualCost) {
        this.actualCost = actualCost;
    public Integer getActualCost() {
        return actualCost;
    public void setBldgLocation(String bldgLocation) {
        this.bldgLocation = bldgLocation;
    public String getBldgLocation() {
        return bldgLocation;
    public void setApprovedInd(String approvedInd) {
        this.approvedInd = approvedInd;
    public String getApprovedInd() {
        return approvedInd;
    public void setAmountApproved(Integer amountApproved) {
        this.amountApproved = amountApproved;
    public Integer getAmountApproved() {
        return amountApproved;
    public void setComment(StringBuffer comment) {
        this.comment = comment;
    public StringBuffer getComment() {
        return comment;
    public void setSuppInstInd(String suppInstInd) {
        this.suppInstInd = suppInstInd;
    public String getSuppInstInd() {
        return suppInstInd;
    public void setApprovedById(Integer approvedBy) {
        this.approvedById = approvedBy;
    public Integer getApprovedById() {
        return approvedById;
    public void setApprovedDate(Date approvedDate) {
        this.approvedDate = approvedDate;
    public Date getApprovedDate() {
        return approvedDate;
    public void setRowNo(Integer rowNo) {
        this.rowNo = rowNo;
    public Integer getRowNo() {
        return rowNo;
    // Helpers ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     // Getters ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     public String getKey() {
         return equipmentListId;
     public BudgetEquipmentListVO getValue() {
         return this;
    // This must return true for another Foo object with same key/id.
    public boolean equals(Object other) {
        return other instanceof BudgetEquipmentListVO && equipmentListId != null && equipmentListId.equals(((BudgetEquipmentListVO) other).getEquipmentListId());
    // This must return the same hashcode for every Foo object with the same key.
    public int hashCode() {
        return equipmentListId != null ? this.getClass().hashCode() + equipmentListId.hashCode() : super.hashCode();
    // Override Object#toString() so that it returns a human readable String representation.
    // It is not required by the Converter or so, it just pleases the reading in the logs.
    public String toString() {
        return "BudgetEquipmentListVO[" + equipmentListId.toString() + ", " + equipmentCodeId.toString() + ", " + objectCode + ", " + approvedInd + ", " + suppInstInd + "]";
    public void setEquipmentListId(String equipmentListId) {
        this.equipmentListId = equipmentListId;
    public String getEquipmentListId() {
        return equipmentListId;
    public void setEquipmentCodeId(Integer equipmentCodeId) {
        this.equipmentCodeId = equipmentCodeId;
    public Integer getEquipmentCodeId() {
        return equipmentCodeId;
    public void setInnerList(List<BudgetEquipmentListVO> innerList) {
        this.innerList = innerList;
    public List<BudgetEquipmentListVO> getInnerList() {
        return innerList;
The View, equipmentList.jspx:
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='windows-1252'?>
<jsp:root xmlns:jsp="http://java.sun.com/JSP/Page" version="2.0"
          xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
          xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
          xmlns:af="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adf/faces"
          xmlns:afh="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adf/faces/html">
  <jsp:output omit-xml-declaration="true" doctype-root-element="HTML"
              doctype-system="http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"
              doctype-public="-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"/>
  <jsp:directive.page contentType="text/html;charset=windows-1252"/>
  <f:view>
  <f:loadBundle basename="myBundle" var="myBundle"/>
    <afh:html>
      <afh:head title="ARRA - Equipment List (0730, 0735)">
        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
              content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"/>
        <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/css/crud.css" />
        <script type="text/javascript" src="/js/global.js"></script>
      </afh:head>
      <afh:body>
        <h:form id="equipmentForm">
          <afh:tableLayout width="100%">
            <afh:rowLayout width="100%" halign="center">
              <afh:cellFormat columnSpan="1" width="100%" halign="center"
                              rowSpan="1">
                <h:dataTable value="#{backing_equipmentScreen.dataList}"
                             binding="#{backing_equipmentScreen.dataTable}"
                             styleClass="dataTable" rowClasses="rowOdd,rowEven"
                             var="dataItem" id="table" border="2"
                             bgcolor="#C2DFFF" width="100%"
                             rows="#{backing_equipmentScreen.numItems}">
                <f:facet name="header">
                    <af:outputText value="#{myBundle.headerTable}"
                                   inlineStyle="font-size:small;"/>
                  </f:facet>
                    <h:column>
                        <f:facet name="header">
                            <af:outputText value="#{myBundle.headerColumnRowNumber}"
                                     inlineStyle="font-size:small;"/>
                        </f:facet>
                        <af:outputText value="#{backing_equipmentScreen.dataTable.rowIndex + 1}"
                                   inlineStyle="font-size:small;"/>
                  </h:column>
                  <h:column>
                    <f:facet name="header">
                      <h:panelGroup>
                        <afh:rowLayout>
                          <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                            <h:outputText value="#{myBundle.headerColumnDesc}"/>
                          </afh:cellFormat>
                        </afh:rowLayout>
                      </h:panelGroup>
                    </f:facet>
                    <h:panelGroup>
                      <afh:rowLayout>
                        <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                          <h:outputText value="#{dataItem.description}"/>
                        </afh:cellFormat>
                      </afh:rowLayout>
                    </h:panelGroup>
                  </h:column>
                  <h:column>
                    <f:facet name="header">
                      <h:panelGroup>
                        <afh:rowLayout>
                          <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                            <h:outputText value="#{myBundle.headerColumnEquipNo}"/>
                          </afh:cellFormat>
                        </afh:rowLayout>
                      </h:panelGroup>
                    </f:facet>
                    <h:panelGroup>
                      <afh:rowLayout>
                        <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                          <h:inputText value="#{dataItem.equipNo}"
                                       />
                        </afh:cellFormat>
                      </afh:rowLayout>
                    </h:panelGroup>
                  </h:column>
                  <h:column>
                    <f:facet name="header">
                      <h:panelGroup>
                        <afh:rowLayout>
                          <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                            <h:outputText value="#{myBundle.headerColumnDateAcquired}"/>
                          </afh:cellFormat>
                        </afh:rowLayout>
                      </h:panelGroup>
                    </f:facet>
                    <h:panelGroup>
                      <afh:rowLayout>
                        <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                          <af:selectInputDate value="#{dataItem.dateAcquired}"/>
                        </afh:cellFormat>
                      </afh:rowLayout>
                    </h:panelGroup>
                  </h:column>
                  <h:column>
                    <f:facet name="header">
                      <h:panelGroup>
                        <afh:rowLayout>
                          <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                            <h:outputText value="#{myBundle.headerColumnObjCode}"/>
                          </afh:cellFormat>
                        </afh:rowLayout>
                      </h:panelGroup>
                    </f:facet>
                    <h:panelGroup>
                      <afh:rowLayout>
                        <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                          <h:selectOneMenu value="#{dataItem.objectCode}" binding="#{backing_equipmentScreen.objCodeMenu}">
                            <f:selectItem id="item1" itemLabel="0730" itemValue="0730"/>
                            <f:selectItem id="item2" itemLabel="0735" itemValue="0735"/>
                            <f:converter converterId="selectOneMenuConverter"/>
                          </h:selectOneMenu>
                        </afh:cellFormat>
                      </afh:rowLayout>
                    </h:panelGroup>
                  </h:column>
                  <h:column>
                    <f:facet name="header">
                      <h:panelGroup>
                        <afh:rowLayout>
                          <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                            <h:outputText value="#{myBundle.headerColumnInsSuppInd}"/>
                          </afh:cellFormat>
                        </afh:rowLayout>
                      </h:panelGroup>
                    </f:facet>
                    <h:panelGroup>
                      <afh:rowLayout>
                        <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                          <h:selectOneMenu value="#{dataItem.suppInstInd}" binding="#{backing_equipmentScreen.suppInstMenu}">>
                            <f:selectItem id="supportitem1" itemLabel="Support" itemValue="S"/>
                            <f:selectItem id="supportitem2" itemLabel="Instruction" itemValue="I"/>
                          </h:selectOneMenu>
                        </afh:cellFormat>
                      </afh:rowLayout>
                    </h:panelGroup>
                  </h:column>
                  <h:column>
                    <f:facet name="header">
                      <h:panelGroup>
                        <afh:rowLayout>
                          <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                            <h:outputText value="#{myBundle.headerColumnEstCost}"/>
                          </afh:cellFormat>
                        </afh:rowLayout>
                      </h:panelGroup>
                    </f:facet>
                    <h:panelGroup>
                      <afh:rowLayout>
                        <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                          <h:inputText value="#{dataItem.estimatedCost}">
                          <f:convertNumber
                                            currencySymbol="$"
                                            groupingUsed="#{true}"
                                            maxFractionDigits="0"
                                            type="currency"/>
                          </h:inputText>
                        </afh:cellFormat>
                      </afh:rowLayout>
                    </h:panelGroup>
                  </h:column>
                  <h:column>
                    <f:facet name="header">
                      <h:panelGroup>
                        <afh:rowLayout>
                          <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                            <h:outputText value="#{myBundle.headerColumnActualCost}"/>
                          </afh:cellFormat>
                        </afh:rowLayout>
                      </h:panelGroup>
                    </f:facet>
                    <h:panelGroup>
                      <afh:rowLayout>
                        <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                          <h:inputText value="#{dataItem.actualCost}">
                          <f:convertNumber
                                            currencySymbol="$"
                                            groupingUsed="#{true}"
                                            maxFractionDigits="0"
                                            type="currency"/>
                          </h:inputText>
                        </afh:cellFormat>
                      </afh:rowLayout>
                    </h:panelGroup>
                  </h:column>
                  <h:column>
                    <f:facet name="header">
                      <h:panelGroup>
                        <afh:rowLayout>
                          <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                            <h:outputText value="#{myBundle.headerColumnBldgLoc}"/>
                          </afh:cellFormat>
                        </afh:rowLayout>
                      </h:panelGroup>
                    </f:facet>
                    <h:panelGroup>
                      <afh:rowLayout>
                        <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                          <h:inputTextarea value="#{dataItem.bldgLocation}"/>
                        </afh:cellFormat>
                      </afh:rowLayout>
                    </h:panelGroup>
                  </h:column>
                  <h:column>
                    <f:facet name="header">
                      <h:panelGroup>
                        <afh:rowLayout>
                          <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                            <h:outputText value="#{myBundle.headerColumnApprovedInd}"/>
                          </afh:cellFormat>
                        </afh:rowLayout>
                      </h:panelGroup>
                    </f:facet>
                    <h:panelGroup>
                      <afh:rowLayout>
                        <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                          <h:selectOneMenu value="#{dataItem.approvedInd}" binding="#{backing_equipmentScreen.yesNoMenu}">>
                            <f:selectItem id="yesnoitem1" itemLabel="Yes" itemValue="Y"/>
                            <f:selectItem id="yesnoitem2" itemLabel="No" itemValue="N"/>
                          </h:selectOneMenu>
                        </afh:cellFormat>
                      </afh:rowLayout>
                    </h:panelGroup>
                  </h:column>
                  <h:column>
                    <f:facet name="header">
                      <h:panelGroup>
                        <afh:rowLayout>
                          <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                            <h:outputText value="#{myBundle.headerColumnComments}"/>
                          </afh:cellFormat>
                        </afh:rowLayout>
                      </h:panelGroup>
                    </f:facet>
                    <h:panelGroup>
                      <afh:rowLayout>
                        <afh:cellFormat inlineStyle="font-size:small;">
                          <h:inputTextarea value="#{dataItem.comment}"/>
                        </afh:cellFormat>
                      </afh:rowLayout>
                    </h:panelGroup>
                  </h:column>
                    <f:facet name="footer">
                        <h:panelGrid columns="4">
                            <h:outputLabel for="rows" value="#{myBundle.labelRowsPage}:" />
                            <h:panelGroup>
                                <h:inputText id="rows" value="#{backing_equipmentScreen.dataTable.rows}" styleClass="input" size="1"><f:validateLongRange minimum="1" maximum="100" /></h:inputText>
                                <h:commandButton value="#{myBundle.buttonSet}" action="#{backing_equipmentScreen.pageFirst}" styleClass="input" />
                            </h:panelGroup>
                            <h:outputText value="#{myBundle.labelPaging}:" />
                            <h:panelGroup>
                                <h:commandButton value="#{myBundle.buttonFirst}" action="#{backing_equipmentScreen.pageFirst}" styleClass="input" disabled="#{backing_equipmentScreen.dataTable.first == 0}" />
                                <h:commandButton value="#{myBundle.buttonPrevious}" action="#{backing_equipmentScreen.pagePrevious}" styleClass="input" disabled="#{backing_equipmentScreen.dataTable.first == 0}" />
                                <h:commandButton value="#{myBundle.buttonNext}" action="#{backing_equipmentScreen.pageNext}" styleClass="input" disabled="#{backing_equipmentScreen.dataTable.first + backing_equipmentScreen.dataTable.rows >= backing_equipmentScreen.dataTable.rowCount}" />
                                <h:commandButton value="#{myBundle.buttonLast}" action="#{backing_equipmentScreen.pageLast}" styleClass="input" disabled="#{backing_equipmentScreen.dataTable.first + backing_equipmentScreen.dataTable.rows >= backing_equipmentScreen.dataTable.rowCount}" />
                                <h:outputText value="#{myBundle.labelPage}: #{backing_equipmentScreen.currentPage} / #{backing_equipmentScreen.totalPages}" />
                            </h:panelGroup>
                            <h:outputLabel for="add" value="#{myBundle.labelAddRows}:" />
                            <h:panelGroup>
                                <h:inputText id="add" value="#{backing_equipmentScreen.addCount}" styleClass="input" size="1"><f:validateLongRange minimum="1" maximum="100" /></h:inputText>
                        <af:commandButton action="#{backing_equipmentScreen.actionAdd}"
                                          styleClass="input"
                                          text="#{myBundle.buttonAdd}"/>
                      </h:panelGroup>
                            <h:outputText value="#{myBundle.labelActions}:" />
                            <h:panelGroup>
                                <h:commandButton value="#{myBundle.buttonSelectAll}" action="#{backing_equipmentScreen.actionSelectAll}" rendered="#{!backing_equipmentScreen.editMode and !backing_equipmentScreen.selectAll}" styleClass="input" />
                                <h:commandButton value="#{myBundle.buttonUnselectAll}" action="#{backing_equipmentScreen.actionSelectAll}" rendered="#{!backing_equipmentScreen.editMode and backing_equipmentScreen.selectAll}" styleClass="input" />
                                <h:commandButton value="#{myBundle.buttonEdit}" action="#{backing_equipmentScreen.actionEdit}" rendered="#{!backing_equipmentScreen.editMode}" styleClass="input" />
                                <h:commandButton value="#{myBundle.buttonDelete}" action="#{backing_equipmentScreen.actionDelete}" rendered="#{!backing_equipmentScreen.editMode}" styleClass="input" />
                                <h:commandButton id="save" value="#{myBundle.buttonSave}" action="#{backing_equipmentScreen.actionSave}" rendered="#{backing_equipmentScreen.editMode}" styleClass="input" />
                                <h:commandButton value="#{myBundle.buttonRefresh}" action="#{backing_equipmentScreen.actionRefresh}" immediate="true" styleClass="input" />
                                <h:commandButton value="#{myBundle.buttonReset}" action="#{backing_equipmentScreen.actionReset}" immediate="true" styleClass="input" />
                            </h:panelGroup>
                        </h:panelGrid>
                    </f:facet>
                </h:dataTable>
                <h:panelGroup rendered="#{empty backing_equipmentScreen.dataList and !backing_equipmentScreen.message}">
                    <h:panelGroup rendered="#{!backing_equipmentScreen.searchMode}">
                        <h:outputText value="#{myBundle.textNoData}" />
                        <h:commandButton value="#{myBundle.buttonAdd}" action="#{backing_equipmentScreen.actionAdd}" styleClass="input" />
                    </h:panelGroup>
                    <h:outputText value="#{myBundle.textRefineSearch}" rendered="#{backing_equipmentScreen.searchMode}" />
                </h:panelGroup>
                <h:panelGroup rendered="#{backing_equipmentScreen.message}">
                    <h:outputText value="#{myBundle.textErrors}" styleClass="error" />
                    <h:messages styleClass="error" />
                </h:panelGroup>
              </afh:cellFormat>
            </afh:rowLayout>
          </afh:tableLayout>
        </h:form>
      </afh:body>
    </afh:html>
  </f:view>
</jsp:root>

Answer 1

Hi evryone,
I have following piece of code
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='windows-1252'?>
<jsp:root xmlns:jsp="http://java.sun.com/JSP/Page" version="2.0"
xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
xmlns:af="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adf/faces/rich">
<jsp:directive.page contentType="text/html;charset=windows-1252"/>
<f:view>
<af:document>
<af:messages/>
<af:form>
<af:selectOneChoice>
<f:selectItem itemLabel="ABC" itemValue="ABC"/>
<f:selectItem itemLabel="DEF" itemValue="DEF"/>
<f:selectItem itemLabel="GHI" itemValue="GHI"/>
<f:selectItem itemLabel="JKL" itemValue="JKL"/>
<f:selectItem itemLabel="MNO" itemValue="MNO"/>
</af:selectOneChoice>
</af:form>
</af:document>
</f:view>
</jsp:root>
When I run this program , I get following compiler error:
Error(12): Unable to convert constant to type javax.el.ValueExpression for attribute "itemLabel" of tag "selectItem".
Error(12): Unable to convert constant to type javax.el.ValueExpression for attribute "itemValue" of tag "selectItem".
Error(13): Unable to convert constant to type javax.el.ValueExpression for attribute "itemLabel" of tag "selectItem".
Error(13): Unable to convert constant to type javax.el.ValueExpression for attribute "itemValue" of tag "selectItem".
Error(14): Unable to convert constant to type javax.el.ValueExpression for attribute "itemLabel" of tag "selectItem".
Error(14): Unable to convert constant to type javax.el.ValueExpression for attribute "itemValue" of tag "selectItem".
Error(15): Unable to convert constant to type javax.el.ValueExpression for attribute "itemLabel" of tag "selectItem".
Error(15): Unable to convert constant to type javax.el.ValueExpression for attribute "itemValue" of tag "selectItem".
Error(16): Unable to convert constant to type javax.el.ValueExpression for attribute "itemLabel" of tag "selectItem".
Error(16): Unable to convert constant to type javax.el.ValueExpression for attribute "itemValue" of tag "selectItem".
Anyone has any ideas? Where could be problem?