Primefaces datatable update datatable - jsf

Question

I have a problem with primefaces datatables. I have one datatable with some entries and a column with a button inside. If the button is pressed a popup is opened with another datatable. The entries in the second datatable are depending on the row in which the button is pressed.
<!-- first datatable -->
<h:form id="list">
<p:dataTable id="list1" var="item" value="#{bean1.itemlist}"
rowKey="#{item.id}" selection="#{bean1.selectedItem}"
selectionMode="single">
<p:column headerText="ID">
<h:outputText value="#{item.id}" />
</p:column>
...
<p:column headerText="Edit Entries">
<p:commandButton value="Edit Entries"
actionListener="#{bean2.updateEntries(item)}" ajax="true"
oncomplete="PF('edit_entries').show()" />
</p:column>
</p:dataTable>
<!-- Second datatable in the popup -->
<p:dialog header="Edit Entries" widgetVar="edit_entries" modal="true"
resizable="false">
<p:dataTable id="list2" var="entry"
value="#{bean2.entriesList}" rowKey="#{entry.id}"
selection="#{bean2.selectedEntry}" selectionMode="single">
<p:column headerText="Entry Number">
<h:outputText value="#{entry.number}" />
</p:column>
</p:dataTable>
<f:facet name="footer">
<p:commandButton value="Save" oncomplete="PF('edit_entries').hide()" />
</f:facet>
</p:dialog>
</form>
Bean2
public void updateEntries(Item selectedItem) {
this.entriesList = this.entriesQuery.getAllEntriesByItemID(selectedItem.getId());//db query could take some time
System.out.println("entrieslist size: " + this.entriesList.size()); //prints the correct size
}
The problem is that there are no entries listed in the popup datatable although there are some in the list after the db query.
Any ideas how to fix this bug?
Thanks in advance!
UPDATE 1:
<!-- first datatable -->
<h:form id="list">
<p:dataTable id="list1" var="item" value="#{bean1.itemlist}"
rowKey="#{item.id}" selection="#{bean1.selectedItem}"
selectionMode="single">
<p:column headerText="ID">
<h:outputText value="#{item.id}" />
</p:column>
...
<p:column headerText="Edit Entries">
<p:commandButton value="Edit Entries" update=":dialogUpdateEntries"
actionListener="#{bean2.updateEntries(item)}" ajax="true"
oncomplete="PF('edit_entries').show()" />
</p:column>
</p:dataTable>
</h:form>
<!-- Second datatable in the popup -->
<p:dialog header="Edit Enries" id="dialogUpdateEntries" widgetVar="edit_entries" modal="true"
resizable="false">
<h:form id="formEntriesList">
<p:dataTable id="list2" var="entry"
value="#{bean2.entriesList}" rowKey="#{entry.id}"
selection="#{bean2.selectedEntry}" selectionMode="single">
<p:column headerText="Entry Number">
<h:outputText value="#{entry.number}" />
</p:column>
</p:dataTable>
<f:facet name="footer">
<p:commandButton value="Save" oncomplete="PF('edit_entries').hide()" />
</f:facet>
</form>
</p:dialog>

Answer 1

You're indeed not updating the data table in the dialog. JSF doesn't automatically update the view on change of the model, you have to explicitly tell the view to do so. You can use the ajax action component's update attribute for this. This takes a JSF client ID which can be found by rules as outlined in this related answer: How to find out client ID of component for ajax update/render? Cannot find component with expression "foo" referenced from "bar".
Given the markup as shown in the question, that'll be
<p:commandButton ... update=":list:list2" />
However, there's another potential problem. You're using <p:dialog modal="true"> inside a form instead of giving the dialog its own form. This way the dialog may not be available in the HTML DOM tree as JavaScript (the one responsible for dealing with ajax stuff) would expect to find it. Giving the dialog its own form should fix this matter. It'll also fix the potential future problems with invoking actions from inside the dialog as handled in this related question: <p:commandbutton> action doesn't work inside <p:dialog>.
<h:form id="viewForm">
...
<p:commandButton ... update=":editDialog" />
...
</h:form>
<p:dialog id="editDialog" modal="true">
<h:form id="editForm">
...
</h:form>
</p:dialog>

Answer 2

Try adding update="list2" to Edit Entries command button (even update="#widgetVar(edit_entries)" should work).
If, because of page layout and structure, you can't target the second datatable using above suggestions, then add styleClass="tList2" to second table, and update it with update="#(.tList2)" on edit button.