What's the difference between Action Objects and ActionListeners

Question

Hello,
in the Introduction to JSF two ways handling action are demonstrated. One way is "Combining Component Data and Action Object" the other way is "Handling Events."
What's the difference? When do I use this or that way?
The one thing I understand is when using "Combining Component Data and Action Objects" I use the default ActionListener and I may directly access the input values.
TIA,
Juergen

Answer 1

Hi Juergen,
The bottomline is 'not much', only in the details to these two approaches differ.
The ActionListener object will have events broadcast to it for a particular object by the event mechanism in JSF. You can add one to a specific component via the f:action_listener tag. This will have your listener getting events during specific points in the request processing lifecycle (you specify via your return value for getPhaseId).
The Action class that an actionRef reference refers to an Action that will be invoked during the invoke application phase. (see pg 71).
I would recommend using actionRefs and Action objects wherever possible and going to ActionListeners only when you need notifications during a specific phase of the request/response cycle.
Hope this helps,
-bd-
http://bill.dudney.net