xpages link in new tab ignoring validations - xpages

Question

I have the following link on my footer layout:
<xp:link escape="true" id="link1" text="Click me" target="_blank">
<xp:eventHandler event="onclick" submit="true"
refreshMode="complete">
<xp:this.action><![CDATA[#{javascript:facesContext.getExternalContext().redirect("http://www.example.com")}]]></xp:this.action>
</xp:eventHandler>
</xp:link>
The main layout contains some required fields. If I click the link I will get the message: "That field is required!" and so on. But, if I click the link in my main page ( which is something like a home page ) , the URL redirects me to the respective site, but on the same tab. Is target="_blank" ignored?
How can I achieve this considering I want when clicking on link the validations to be ignored and the url to be opened on new tab?

Answer 1

The issue is that you are using server-side logic to determine the target/URL to load. Your client-side properties are therefore ignored.
Do this instead:
<xp:link escape="true" id="link1" text="Click me" target="_blank" value="http://www.example.com">
</xp:link>
You also calculate the URL in advance:
<xp:link escape="true" id="link1" text="Click me" target="_blank" value="http://www.example.com">
<xp:this.value><![CDATA[#{javascript:
if (something) {
return "http://example.org";
} else {
return "http://example.com";
}
}]]></xp:this.value>
</xp:link>