Dynamic Textfield In JSF 2.0 - jsf

Question

hey I am using the following code to create the number of text fields as the user wants
<h:form>
<p>Number Of News <h:inputText value="#{news.noOfFields}" /></p>
<ui:repeat value="#{news.values}" var="item">
<hr/>
News #{item.no}
<h:inputText value="#{item.news}" /><br/>
</ui:repeat>
<hr/>
<h:commandButton styleClass="btn btn-blue" action="#{news.submit}" value="Save" />
</h:form>
The managed bean news has a class News as
#ManagedBean
#SessionScoped
public class News
{
private String noOfFields;
private List<NewsVO> values;
public News()
{
this.values = new ArrayList<NewsVO>();
}
public String submit() {
for(NewsVO newsVO : this.values)
{
System.out.println(newsVO.getNews());
System.out.println(newsVO.getNo());
}
return null;
// save values in database
}
public String getNoOfFields() {
return noOfFields;
}
public List<NewsVO> getValues() {
return values;
}
public void setValues(List<NewsVO> values) {
this.values = values;
}
public void setNoOfFields(String noOfFields) {
this.values = new ArrayList<NewsVO>();
try {
for(int i=0;i<Integer.valueOf(noOfFields);i++)
{
NewsVO newsVO = new NewsVO();
newsVO.setNo(i+1);
this.values.add(newsVO);
}
this.noOfFields = noOfFields;
}
catch(NumberFormatException ex) {
/*values = new String[1];*/
noOfFields = "1";
}
}
}
The NewsVO is just a javaBean class as follows
public class NewsVO
{
public int no;
public String news;
public int getNo() {
return no;
}
public void setNo(int no) {
this.no = no;
}
public String getNews() {
return news;
}
public void setNews(String news) {
this.news = news;
}
}
The problem is the values inside the input Text doesn't get reflected on pressing the save button. It gives me null, even though, I have written something inside all the textfields.
<h:inputText value="#{item.news}" />

Answer 1

Everytime you push the submit button, all setters in the bean are called (including setNoOfFields()). In this setter you are resetting your list, that's why you loose your values. Since you only need to modify your list if there is a size change, here is a simple way doing it :
#ManagedBean
#SessionScoped
public class News
{
private int noOfFields;
private List<NewsVO> values;
public News()
{
this.values = new ArrayList<NewsVO>();
}
public String submit()
{
for(NewsVO newsVO : this.values)
{
System.out.println(newsVO.getNews());
System.out.println(newsVO.getNo());
}
return null;
// save values in database
}
public int getNoOfFields()
{
return noOfFields;
}
public List<NewsVO> getValues()
{
return values;
}
public void setValues(List<NewsVO> values)
{
this.values = values;
}
public void setNoOfFields(int noOfFields)
{
if(noOfFields < this.noOfFields)
{
for(int i = this.noOfFields - 1;i >= noOfFields;i--)
{
getValues().remove(i);
}
}
else if(noOfFields > this.noOfFields)
{
for(int i = this.noOfFields;i < noOfFields;i++)
{
NewsVO newsVO = new NewsVO();
newsVO.setNo(i+1);
getValues().add(newsVO);
}
}
}
}
Note : I've also changed your noOfFields getter/setter for simple int, JSF will do the conversion for you.