ViewScoped Bean get rebuild on commandLink - jsf

Question

I am building a CRUD app with a dashboard in which the user should be able to partially reload a widget. This is what I got:
<f:metadata>
<f:viewParam name="customerUuid" value="#
{dashboardManagedBean.customerUuid}" />
<f:event type="preRenderView" listener="#{dashboardManagedBean.init}" />
</f:metadata>
<f:view>
<h:body>
<h:form>
<p:panelGrid>
<p:row>
<p:column>
<p:panelGrid columns="4" styleClass="ui-noborder"
style="float:right;">
<p:outputLabel for="dateFrom" value="From:">
</p:outputLabel>
<p:calendar id="dateFrom" value="#
{dashboardManagedBean.statisticsRequest.dateFrom}"
pattern="dd.MM.yyyy HH:mm:ss" locale="de" readonlyInput="false"
timeInput="true" mode="popup"/>
<p:outputLabel for="dateTo" value="Till:">
</p:outputLabel>
<p:calendar id="dateTo" value="#
{dashboardManagedBean.statisticsRequest.dateTo}" pattern="dd.MM.yyyy
HH:mm:ss" locale="de" readonlyInput="false" timeInput="true"
mode="popup"/>
</p:panelGrid>
</p:column>
</p:row>
<p:row>
<p:column colspan="3">
<p:panel id="telemetry" header="Telemetrie"
style="width: 100%" collapsed="true" toggleable="true">
<f:facet name="actions">
<p:commandLink
actionListener="#
{dashboardManagedBean.loadData}"
styleClass="ui-panel-titlebar-icon
ui-corner-all ui-state-default"><h:outputText
styleClass="fa fa-refresh"/>
</p:commandLink>
</f:facet>
</p:panel>
</p:column>
</p:row>
</p:panelGrid>
</h:form>
</h:body>
</f:view>
And the bean looks like this:
import javax.faces.bean.ManagedBean;
import javax.faces.bean.SessionScoped;
import javax.faces.bean.ViewScoped;
#ManagedBean(name = "dashboardManagedBean")
#ViewScoped #Getter #Setter
public class DashboardManagedBean implements Serializable {
private Customer customer;
private StatisticsRequest statisticsRequest;
private String customerUuid;
public DashboardManagedBean() {
this.customer = new Customer();
this.statisticsRequest = new StatisticsRequest();
}
public void init() {
loadCustomer();
loadData();
}
public void loadData(){
// load the customer data by using his the statisticsRequest
}
public void loadCustomer(){
// load the customer
}
}
The StatisticsRequest Class is just a wrapper for the request data:
#Getter #Setter
public class StatisticsRequest {
private Customer customer;
private Date dateFrom;
private Date dateTo;
public StatisticsRequest(){
java.util.Date da = new Date();
Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
cal.setTime(da);
cal.add(Calendar.MONTH, -4);
this.dateFrom = cal.getTime();
this.dateTo = new Date();
}
}
I put this into the constructor of the StatisticsRequest so that I get a reasonable default value when loading the page. However the constructor of the viewscoped bean is called everytime I click on the reload commandLink the date I picked in the calendar is removed and the StatisticsRequest contains the default value again.
Why is this happening?