f:viewAction ignored, when commandButton navigates to page - jsf

I have a problem with the JSF 2.2 Feature <f:viewAction action="#{...}/>.
I placed this tag in my XHTML-Page, it's called viewActionStart.xhtml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets"
xmlns:p="http://primefaces.org/ui">
<h:head />
<h:body>
<f:view>
<f:metadata>
<f:viewAction action="#{redirect.getView()}" onPostback="true"
immediate="true" />
</f:metadata>
</f:view>
<h:outputText value="If you see that text, the viewAction was not performed." />
</h:body>
</html>
If I visit this XHTML-Page directly, everything works fine: The method redirect.getView() is called and a redirect to another page is performed.
Now I have my landing page, that is shown before that viewActionStart-Page. There is a button, that basically should navigate to my viewActionStart-Page to show the <f:viewAction> effect. The following code is from this landing page index.xhtml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets"
xmlns:p="http://primefaces.org/ui">
<h:head>
</h:head>
<h:body>
<f:view>
<h:form>
<h:commandButton action="viewActionStart.xhtml"
value="To f:viewAction Page" />
</h:form>
</f:view>
</h:body>
</html>
If I hit that command button, the content of the viewActionStart.xhtml is shown. Why does JSF ignore the <f:viewAction>? I do not understand why the viewAction does not work on every page load. I tried around with those onPostback and "immediate" attributes, but nothing changes.
Another weird result is, that after I hit the command button and see the content of viewActionStart.xhtml the URL still remains on localhost:8080/UIIncludeTest/index.xhtml. But shouldn't look this URL like localhost:8080/UIIncludeTest/viewActionStart.xhtml after the command button does navigation?
Am I doing something wrong? Or do I simply misunderstood <f:viewAction>? The weird thing, is, that it works if I browse directly to viewActionStart.xhtml.
I'm trying to get this working on:
JSF-2.2.6
Tomcat-7.0.47
PrimeFaces 5.0
I have read the numerous posts related to <f:viewAction> but nothing helped.

The <f:viewAction onPostback="true"> applies only on postbacks on the very same view. I.e. it runs only when a <h:form> in the very same view has been submitted. The <f:viewAction> is never intented to be executed upon POST navigation triggered by a submit of a <h:form> of another view. Moreover, the term "postback" in the attribute name also confirms this. This term means in web development world "a POST request on the URL of the page itself".
You need to open it by a GET request instead of a POST request. Replace the <h:commandButton> by <h:button>:
<h:button outcome="viewActionStart.xhtml" value="To f:viewAction Page" />
(note: the <h:form> is not necessary anymore)
Or, if you really intend to perform a POST request first for some unclear reason (it would have been a bit more understandable if you were invoking a bean action method, but you're here merely navigating, so the whole POST request doesn't make any sense), then let it send a redirect:
<h:commandButton action="viewActionStart.xhtml?faces-redirect-true" value="To f:viewAction Page" />
Either way, the URL should now be properly reflected in address bar. This was at its own indeed a strong hint that you was donig things the wrong way ;)
See also:
How to navigate in JSF? How to make URL reflect current page (and not previous one)
Difference between h:button and h:commandButton

Related

ViewAction action not executing when the page has been submitted via commandbutton in a data table [duplicate]

I have a problem with the JSF 2.2 Feature <f:viewAction action="#{...}/>.
I placed this tag in my XHTML-Page, it's called viewActionStart.xhtml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets"
xmlns:p="http://primefaces.org/ui">
<h:head />
<h:body>
<f:view>
<f:metadata>
<f:viewAction action="#{redirect.getView()}" onPostback="true"
immediate="true" />
</f:metadata>
</f:view>
<h:outputText value="If you see that text, the viewAction was not performed." />
</h:body>
</html>
If I visit this XHTML-Page directly, everything works fine: The method redirect.getView() is called and a redirect to another page is performed.
Now I have my landing page, that is shown before that viewActionStart-Page. There is a button, that basically should navigate to my viewActionStart-Page to show the <f:viewAction> effect. The following code is from this landing page index.xhtml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets"
xmlns:p="http://primefaces.org/ui">
<h:head>
</h:head>
<h:body>
<f:view>
<h:form>
<h:commandButton action="viewActionStart.xhtml"
value="To f:viewAction Page" />
</h:form>
</f:view>
</h:body>
</html>
If I hit that command button, the content of the viewActionStart.xhtml is shown. Why does JSF ignore the <f:viewAction>? I do not understand why the viewAction does not work on every page load. I tried around with those onPostback and "immediate" attributes, but nothing changes.
Another weird result is, that after I hit the command button and see the content of viewActionStart.xhtml the URL still remains on localhost:8080/UIIncludeTest/index.xhtml. But shouldn't look this URL like localhost:8080/UIIncludeTest/viewActionStart.xhtml after the command button does navigation?
Am I doing something wrong? Or do I simply misunderstood <f:viewAction>? The weird thing, is, that it works if I browse directly to viewActionStart.xhtml.
I'm trying to get this working on:
JSF-2.2.6
Tomcat-7.0.47
PrimeFaces 5.0
I have read the numerous posts related to <f:viewAction> but nothing helped.
The <f:viewAction onPostback="true"> applies only on postbacks on the very same view. I.e. it runs only when a <h:form> in the very same view has been submitted. The <f:viewAction> is never intented to be executed upon POST navigation triggered by a submit of a <h:form> of another view. Moreover, the term "postback" in the attribute name also confirms this. This term means in web development world "a POST request on the URL of the page itself".
You need to open it by a GET request instead of a POST request. Replace the <h:commandButton> by <h:button>:
<h:button outcome="viewActionStart.xhtml" value="To f:viewAction Page" />
(note: the <h:form> is not necessary anymore)
Or, if you really intend to perform a POST request first for some unclear reason (it would have been a bit more understandable if you were invoking a bean action method, but you're here merely navigating, so the whole POST request doesn't make any sense), then let it send a redirect:
<h:commandButton action="viewActionStart.xhtml?faces-redirect-true" value="To f:viewAction Page" />
Either way, the URL should now be properly reflected in address bar. This was at its own indeed a strong hint that you was donig things the wrong way ;)
See also:
How to navigate in JSF? How to make URL reflect current page (and not previous one)
Difference between h:button and h:commandButton

JSF page lost style after partial update

I have some troubles with partial update of jsf 2.0 page.
I have dropdown menu with few choices. Depending on choice I show different page. When I load page first time it shows css and javascript works fine. When I change another option in dropdown menu this part of page which has been re rendered appearing without css and javascript on it doesn't work.
This is example of page itself which I using, template.xhtm and bean are pretty generic therefor I didn't include it.
<ui:composition template="/template.xhtml"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets"
xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
xmlns:t="http://myfaces.apache.org/tomahawk"
xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html">
<ui:define name="body">
<h:form>
<h:selectOneMenu value="#{bean.answer}">
<f:selectItems value="#{bean.answers}" />
<f:ajax event="change" render="includeContainer #All" />
</h:selectOneMenu>
</h:form>
<h:panelGroup id="includeContainer">
<h:panelGroup library="primefaces" name="jquery/jquery.js"
rendered="#{bean.answer == 'yes'}">
<ui:include src="answer_yes.xhtml"></ui:include>
</h:panelGroup>
<h:panelGroup rendered="#{bean.asnwer == 'no'}">
<ui:include src="answer_no.xhtml"></ui:include>
</h:panelGroup>
</h:panelGroup>
</ui:define>
</ui:composition>
One important remark regarding template that I use this statement to include css, it's located on remote server and I can't download and place it locally, it's company's policy.
<link href="http://server.com/resources/w3.css" rel="stylesheet" title="w3" type="text/css" />
Thank you in advance for your help.
You can put rendered panel group inside an <h:form id="toberendred"> and re-render this form instead of h:panelGroup.
For proper (JSF way) loading your css file from remote server you can use Omnifaces CDNResourceHandler
In addition you got some serious issues in your code:
Why use #all (fix to lowercase) with additional (includeContainer) selector? , do view source and see that you can't render <ui:include in view source you will see content of both yes and no xhtmls + <h:panelGroup got no attributes library and name...

h:commandbutton not working in <o:form>

<html xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets"
xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
xmlns:p="http://primefaces.org/ui"
xmlns:o="http://omnifaces.org/ui">
<o:form includeViewParams="true">
<h:commandButton value="Home" action="/index?faces-redirect=true"/>
<p:dataTable>
</p:dataTable>
</o:form>
The h:commandButton is not working under the o:form. When I click on it, it remains on the same page. But when I change to h:form, it works. Nevertheless I need to use o:form for the includeViewParams. Is there any way I could resolve this?
This construct works for me, as in, it actually navigates to /index. Only the view params disappear from the URL because you're forcing a redirect. But there is more, the <h:commandButton> is here essentially the wrong tool for the purpose. You want pure page-to-page navigation. You should then not be using a command link/button at all, but a plain link/button. You need <h:button>.
<h:button value="Home" outcome="/index" includeViewParams="true" />
Note: this doesn't require any form.
See also:
How to navigate in JSF? How to make URL reflect current page (and not previous one)

Unable to understand <h:head> behaviour

I have a template composition Button.xhtml which contains a <p:commandLink>:
<ui:composition
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets"
xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
xmlns:p="http://primefaces.org/ui">
<p:commandLink value="View" action="#{printClass.printPdf}"/>
</ui:composition>
The link's purpose is to generate PDF.
I have a template client defaultPage.xhtml where the Button.xhtml is been included.
<ui:composition template="../../WebPages/MasterPage/Template.xhtml">
<ui:define name="MainContent">
<ui:include src="../../WebPages/Facelets/Button.xhtml"/>
</ui:define>
</ui:composition>
The last one is Template.xhtml which inserts the MainContent template definition inside a <h:form>.
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets"
xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core">
<h:body>
<h:form>
<ui:insert name="MainContent" />
</h:form>
</h:body>
</html>
When I place <h:head></h:head> in Template.xhtml, then the <p:commandLink> in Button.xhtml stops working, but CSS of page works perfect. When I remove the <h:head></h:head> or replace it by <head></head> then the <p:commandLink> starts working, but CSS stops working.
How is this caused and how can I solve it?
The <h:head> will auto-include all necessary JavaScript files for ajax behavior and CSS files for layout. When you remove it, then CSS will not be auto-included and ajax behavior will not be enabled. The <p:commandLink> would then act like as a plain vanilla link.
The <h:head> is absolutely necessary for proper functioning of JSF and PrimeFaces components and applying of the PrimeFaces look'n'feel. So you should not remove or replace it.
Let's concentrate on the problem of the failing <p:commandLink>. There are relatively a lot of possible causes, which are all mentioned in this answer: commandButton/commandLink/ajax action/listener method not invoked or input value not updated
You didn't show a fullworthy SSCCE, so it's impossible to copy'n'paste'n'run your code to see the problem ourselves (work on that as well in your future questions). So, I'll just mention the most probable cause for this problem based on the symptoms: you're nesting <h:form> components in each other. Placing the <h:form> in the master template is also a design smell. You should rather place it in the template client. Als note that the <p:dialog> should have its own form but that the <p:dialog> should by itself not be nested in another form.
Update: based on the comments, you're trying to return a whole PDF file as a response to an ajax request. This will indeed not work. The ajax engine expects a XML response with information about changes in the HTML DOM tree. A PDF file isn't valid information. Also, JavaScript has for obvious security reasons no facilities to programmatically trigger a Save As dialogue whereby possibly arbitrary content is provided.
You can't download files by ajax. You have to turn off ajax. In case of <p:commandLink> there are basically 2 solutions:
Use ajax="false".
<p:commandLink ... ajax="false" />
Just use <h:commandLink> instead.
<h:commandLink ... />
In Button.xhtml where you placed
<h:commandLink value="View" action="#{printClass.printPdf}"/>
You need to disable the ajax.So your new code should be like
<h:commandLink value="View" action="#{printClass.printPdf}">
<f:ajax disabled="true"></f:ajax>
</h:commandLink>

Making p:commandButton work like h:button

I have this working code in my webapp:
<h:button value="Edit user..." outcome="/public/user" >
<f:param name="userName" value="#{authBean.authUser}"/>
</h:button>
What it does:
It makes the button send a GET
It passes the specified parameter in the URL, making it bookmarkable.
What I need:
It should work like h:button above (send GET)
the button should look like other Primefaces buttons (eg. decorated with an image... etc).
This is the closest I could get:
<p:commandButton value="Edit user..." action="/public/user?faces-redirect=true" ajax="false" immediate="true" >
<f:param name="userName" value="#{authBean.authUser}"/>
</p:commandButton>
It sends a POST that gets redirected to the new URL with a GET. However the parameter is lost in the process.
Another idea:
<p:linkButton value="Edit user..." href="http://localhost:8080/contextpath/faces/public/user.xhtml">
<f:param name="userName" value="#{authBean.authUser}"/>
</p:linkButton>
The GET request is aborted (??? according to Firebug) and the current page is POSTed again.
What is the proper way of doing this?
UPDATE: this works (on an empty page, with no p:dataTable):
<p:linkButton value="Edit user..." href="http://localhost:8080/contextpath/faces/public/user.xhtml?userName=myusername">
but this does not:
<p:linkButton value="Edit user..." href="http://localhost:8080/contextpath/faces/public/user.xhtml?userName=myusername&secondParam=otherValue">
the latter results in:
500: javax.servlet.ServletException:
Error Parsing /sample0.xhtml: Error
Traced[line: 14] The reference to
entity "secondParam" must end with the
';' delimiter.
UPDATE2: the & should be escaped:
<p:linkButton value="Edit user..." href="http://localhost:8080/contextpath/faces/public/user.xhtml?userName=myusername&secondParam=otherValue">
and it looks good... but I still get the GET aborted and POST resent:
alt text http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/1017/primefaceslinkbutton.jpg
This is the full empty page I've been trying it with:
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' ?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
xmlns:c="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core"
xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
xmlns:p="http://primefaces.prime.com.tr/ui">
<h:head />
<h:body>
<h:form>
<p:linkButton value="Click me" href="http://stackoverflow.com" />
</h:form>
</h:body>
</html>
Primefaces 2.1 release.
In PrimeFaces 2.2., we'll deprecate linkButton and introduce p:button. Issue ticket;
http://code.google.com/p/primefaces/issues/detail?id=1037
Use p:linkButton.
Update: as per your update with the code example, the URL should be specified in href attribute, not in the url attribtue. Also see the component's documentation which I linked here above.
The symptoms at least sounds like as if you're firing an asynchronous (Ajax) GET request, not a synchronous one. FireBug would then indeed give this kind of error when the request is fired on a different domain.
Don't you have some other Javascripts which are disturbing/colliding with the linkButton's default behaviour? The button is navigating by a simple onclick="window.location=newurl;".
Update 2: does it work if you test it standalone in a simple page? E.g.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3c.org/1999/xhtml"
xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
xmlns:p="http://primefaces.prime.com.tr/ui">
<h:head>
<title>Test</title>
</h:head>
<h:body>
<p:linkButton value="test" href="http://stackoverflow.com" />
</h:body>
</html>

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