JSF property action listener target - jsf

Question

I am starting out using JSF and I am trying to add a record to a database using the details entered into the form by the user. My XHTML page includes this form.
<h:form>
<table id ="addRecordTable">
<tr>
<td><h:outputText value="Enter Name: " /></td>
<td><h:inputText value="#{animal.name}" id="name" label="name" required="true" requiredMessage="Name is required.">
<f:validateLength minimum="2" maximum="15"></f:validateLength>
</h:inputText>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><h:outputText value="Enter Age: "/></td>
<td><h:inputText value="#{animal.age}" id="age" label="age" required="true" requiredMessage="Age is required."></h:inputText></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><h:outputText value="Enter Breed : " /></td>
<td><h:inputText value="#{animal.breed}" id="breed" label="breed" required="true" requiredMessage="Breed is required.">
<f:validateLength minimum="2" maximum="15"></f:validateLength>
</h:inputText>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td><h:commandButton value="Add" action="#{animalBean.add}">
<f:setPropertyActionListener target="#{animalBean.animal.age}" value="#{animal.age}" />
<f:setPropertyActionListener target="#{animalBean.animal.name}" value="#{animal.name}" />
<f:setPropertyActionListener target="#{animalBean.animal.breed}" value="#{animal.breed}" />
</h:commandButton></td>
</tr>
</table>
</h:form>
I also have these java Managed Bean classes:
import javax.faces.bean.ManagedBean;
#ManagedBean
public class Animal {
private int id;
private String breed;
private int age;
private String name;
public Animal(int id, int age, String breed, String name) {
this.breed = breed;
this.age = age;
this.id = id;
this.name = name;
}
public Animal()
{
this.breed= "";
this.age = 0;
this.id = 0;
this.name= "";
}
public int getId() {
return id;
}
public void setId(int id) {
this.id = id;
}
public void setBreed(String breed) {
this.breed = breed;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
public void setAge(int age) {
this.age = age;
}
public String getBreed() {
return breed;
}
public int getAge() {
return age;
}
#Override
public String toString()
{
return "Animal [id=" + id + ", breed=" + breed + ", age=" + age
+ ", name=" + name + "]";
}
}
and....
import javax.faces.bean.ManagedBean;
#ManagedBean
public class AnimalBean
{
protected Animal animal = new Animal();
public List <Animal> getAnimals() {
List <Animal> animals = new ArrayList <Animal> ();
ResultSet rs = null;
PreparedStatement pst = null;
Connection con = null;
String url = "jdbc:odbc:Driver={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb, *.accdb)};DBQ=C:\\Users\\lwilson\\Animals.accdb";
try {
con = DriverManager.getConnection(url);
System.out.println("Connection completed (Select All).");
} catch (SQLException ex) {
System.out.println(ex.getMessage());
}
String stm = "SELECT Breed,Age,Name, ID FROM Animals";
try {
pst = con.prepareStatement(stm);
pst.executeQuery();
rs = pst.getResultSet();
while (rs.next()) {
int age = rs.getInt("Age");
String breed = rs.getString("Breed");
String name= rs.getString("Name");
int id = rs.getInt("ID");
Animal a1 = new Animal(id,age, breed, name);
animals.add(a1);
}
} catch (SQLException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return animals;
}
public void add() {
File db = new File("C:\\Users\\lwilson\\Animals.accdb");
if (!db.exists()) {
System.out.println("file not found");
}
PreparedStatement ps = null;
Connection con = null;
String url = "jdbc:odbc:Driver={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb, *.accdb)};DBQ=C:\\Users\\lwilson\\Animals.accdb";
try {
Class.forName("sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver");
con = DriverManager.getConnection(url, "", "");
String sql = "INSERT INTO Animals(Age, Breed, Name) VALUES(?,?,?)";
ps = con.prepareStatement(sql);
ps.setInt(1, animal.getAge());
ps.setString(2, animal.getBreed());
ps.setString(3, animal.getName());
ps.executeUpdate();
System.out.println("Data Added Successfully Into Database");
} catch (Exception e) {
System.out.println(e);
System.out.println("exception here");
}
}
My issue is that in the setPropertyActionListener, the target does not set the Animal object field to the value from the form. I receive an error saying that the target cannot access the field of the created animal object. These fields are then in turn passed into the add() method.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

You can inject your Animal class object into your AnimalBean class using #ManagedProperty annotation as
#ManagedBean
public class AnimalBean {
#ManagedProperty
protected Animal animal;
// getter and setter
// Here your other methods
}
In this case no need to use
<f:setPropertyActionListener target="#{animalBean.animal.age}" value="#{animal.age}" />
<f:setPropertyActionListener target="#{animalBean.animal.name}" value="#{animal.name}" />
<f:setPropertyActionListener target="#{animalBean.animal.breed}" value="#{animal.breed}" />
You will get your property value using Animal class getter and setter.

Answer 2

It should looks like this:
1) Getter and setter for animal object in managed bean class
2) Refering in form to animal object by #{animalBean.animal.value}
3) When you post your form then animal object will be updated automatic. Property action listeners are unnecessary.