I have a JSF 1.2 app that has a session based bean. This bean is used for searching our database.
On our homepage I have a few HTML controls with build up a URL of search parameters, which then sets the browser URL to the JSP.
Since the bean is session based, the first time you access via the home page, the parameters are passed through correctly. However, subsequent access means the parameters are ignored as no functions in the bean are executed.
What is the best way to force the init function in the bean to reload?
This is fully expected behavior for a session scoped bean. It's stored in the HTTP session and reused as long as the HTTP session lives and not recreated/reinitialized on every HTTP request. If you intend to recreate/reinitialize the bean on every HTTP request, then you should be placing it in the request scope instead.
However, if the bean represents a mix of request scoped data and session scoped data, then you should rather split down the bean in two separate beans, a request scoped one for the request scoped data and a session scoped one for the session scoped data. You can use <managed-property> on the request scoped one to inject the session scoped one as a property of the request scoped one. This way you can put actions in the request scoped one which would need to access/manipulate the data of the session scoped one.
See also:
How to choose the right bean scope?
Passing data between managed components in JSF
Related
I noticed that there are different bean scopes like:
#RequestScoped
#ViewScoped
#FlowScoped
#SessionScoped
#ApplicationScoped
What is the purpose of each? How do I choose a proper scope for my bean?
Introduction
It represents the scope (the lifetime) of the bean. This is easier to understand if you are familiar with "under the covers" working of a basic servlet web application: How do servlets work? Instantiation, sessions, shared variables and multithreading.
#Request/View/Flow/Session/ApplicationScoped
A #RequestScoped bean lives as long as a single HTTP request-response cycle (note that an Ajax request counts as a single HTTP request too). A #ViewScoped bean lives as long as you're interacting with the same JSF view by postbacks which call action methods returning null/void without any navigation/redirect. A #FlowScoped bean lives as long as you're navigating through the specified collection of views registered in the flow configuration file. A #SessionScoped bean lives as long as the established HTTP session. An #ApplicationScoped bean lives as long as the web application runs. Note that the CDI #Model is basically a stereotype for #Named #RequestScoped, so same rules apply.
Which scope to choose depends solely on the data (the state) the bean holds and represents. Use #RequestScoped for simple and non-ajax forms/presentations. Use #ViewScoped for rich ajax-enabled dynamic views (ajaxbased validation, rendering, dialogs, etc). Use #FlowScoped for the "wizard" ("questionnaire") pattern of collecting input data spread over multiple pages. Use #SessionScoped for client specific data, such as the logged-in user and user preferences (language, etc). Use #ApplicationScoped for application wide data/constants, such as dropdown lists which are the same for everyone, or managed beans without any instance variables and having only methods.
Abusing an #ApplicationScoped bean for session/view/request scoped data would make it to be shared among all users, so anyone else can see each other's data which is just plain wrong. Abusing a #SessionScoped bean for view/request scoped data would make it to be shared among all tabs/windows in a single browser session, so the enduser may experience inconsitenties when interacting with every view after switching between tabs which is bad for user experience. Abusing a #RequestScoped bean for view scoped data would make view scoped data to be reinitialized to default on every single (ajax) postback, causing possibly non-working forms (see also points 4 and 5 here). Abusing a #ViewScoped bean for request, session or application scoped data, and abusing a #SessionScoped bean for application scoped data doesn't affect the client, but it unnecessarily occupies server memory and is plain inefficient.
Note that the scope should rather not be chosen based on performance implications, unless you really have a low memory footprint and want to go completely stateless; you'd need to use exclusively #RequestScoped beans and fiddle with request parameters to maintain the client's state. Also note that when you have a single JSF page with differently scoped data, then it's perfectly valid to put them in separate backing beans in a scope matching the data's scope. The beans can just access each other via #ManagedProperty in case of JSF managed beans or #Inject in case of CDI managed beans.
See also:
Difference between View and Request scope in managed beans
Advantages of using JSF Faces Flow instead of the normal navigation system
Communication in JSF2 - Managed bean scopes
#CustomScoped/NoneScoped/Dependent
It's not mentioned in your question, but (legacy) JSF also supports #CustomScoped and #NoneScoped, which are rarely used in real world. The #CustomScoped must refer a custom Map<K, Bean> implementation in some broader scope which has overridden Map#put() and/or Map#get() in order to have more fine grained control over bean creation and/or destroy.
The JSF #NoneScoped and CDI #Dependent basically lives as long as a single EL-evaluation on the bean. Imagine a login form with two input fields referring a bean property and a command button referring a bean action, thus with in total three EL expressions, then effectively three instances will be created. One with the username set, one with the password set and one on which the action is invoked. You normally want to use this scope only on beans which should live as long as the bean where it's being injected. So if a #NoneScoped or #Dependent is injected in a #SessionScoped, then it will live as long as the #SessionScoped bean.
See also:
Expire specific managed bean instance after time interval
what is none scope bean and when to use it?
What is the default Managed Bean Scope in a JSF 2 application?
Flash scope
As last, JSF also supports the flash scope. It is backed by a short living cookie which is associated with a data entry in the session scope. Before the redirect, a cookie will be set on the HTTP response with a value which is uniquely associated with the data entry in the session scope. After the redirect, the presence of the flash scope cookie will be checked and the data entry associated with the cookie will be removed from the session scope and be put in the request scope of the redirected request. Finally the cookie will be removed from the HTTP response. This way the redirected request has access to request scoped data which was been prepared in the initial request.
This is actually not available as a managed bean scope, i.e. there's no such thing as #FlashScoped. The flash scope is only available as a map via ExternalContext#getFlash() in managed beans and #{flash} in EL.
See also:
How to show faces message in the redirected page
Pass an object between #ViewScoped beans without using GET params
CDI missing #ViewScoped and #FlashScoped
Since JSF 2.3 all the bean scopes defined in package javax.faces.bean package have been deprecated to align the scopes with CDI. Moreover they're only applicable if your bean is using #ManagedBean annotation. If you are using JSF versions below 2.3 refer to the legacy answer at the end.
From JSF 2.3 here are scopes that can be used on JSF Backing Beans:
1. #javax.enterprise.context.ApplicationScoped: The application scope persists for the entire duration of the web application. That scope is shared among all requests and all sessions. This is useful when you have data for whole application.
2. #javax.enterprise.context.SessionScoped: The session scope persists from the time that a session is established until session termination. The session context is shared between all requests that occur in the same HTTP session. This is useful when you wont to save data for a specific client for a particular session.
3. #javax.enterprise.context.ConversationScoped: The conversation scope persists as log as the bean lives. The scope provides 2 methods: Conversation.begin() and Conversation.end(). These methods should called explicitly, either to start or end the life of a bean.
4. #javax.enterprise.context.RequestScoped: The request scope is short-lived. It starts when an HTTP request is submitted and ends after the response is sent back to the client. If you place a managed bean into request scope, a new instance is created with each request. It is worth considering request scope if you are concerned about the cost of session scope storage.
5. #javax.faces.flow.FlowScoped: The Flow scope persists as long as the Flow lives. A flow may be defined as a contained set of pages (or views) that define a unit of work. Flow scoped been is active as long as user navigates with in the Flow.
6. #javax.faces.view.ViewScoped: A bean in view scope persists while the same JSF page is redisplayed. As soon as the user navigates to a different page, the bean goes out of scope.
The following legacy answer applies JSF version before 2.3
As of JSF 2.x there are 4 Bean Scopes:
#SessionScoped
#RequestScoped
#ApplicationScoped
#ViewScoped
Session Scope: The session scope persists from the time that a session is established until session termination. A session terminates
if the web application invokes the invalidate method on the
HttpSession object, or if it times out.
RequestScope: The request scope is short-lived. It starts when an HTTP request is submitted and ends after the response is sent back
to the client. If you place a managed bean into request scope, a new
instance is created with each request. It is worth considering request
scope if you are concerned about the cost of session scope storage.
ApplicationScope: The application scope persists for the entire duration of the web application. That scope is shared among all
requests and all sessions. You place managed beans into the
application scope if a single bean should be shared among all
instances of a web application. The bean is constructed when it is
first requested by any user of the application, and it stays alive
until the web application is removed from the application server.
ViewScope: View scope was added in JSF 2.0. A bean in view scope persists while the same JSF page is redisplayed. (The JSF
specification uses the term view for a JSF page.) As soon as the user
navigates to a different page, the bean goes out of scope.
Choose the scope you based on your requirement.
Source: Core Java Server Faces 3rd Edition by David Geary & Cay Horstmann [Page no. 51 - 54]
I noticed that there are different bean scopes like:
#RequestScoped
#ViewScoped
#FlowScoped
#SessionScoped
#ApplicationScoped
What is the purpose of each? How do I choose a proper scope for my bean?
Introduction
It represents the scope (the lifetime) of the bean. This is easier to understand if you are familiar with "under the covers" working of a basic servlet web application: How do servlets work? Instantiation, sessions, shared variables and multithreading.
#Request/View/Flow/Session/ApplicationScoped
A #RequestScoped bean lives as long as a single HTTP request-response cycle (note that an Ajax request counts as a single HTTP request too). A #ViewScoped bean lives as long as you're interacting with the same JSF view by postbacks which call action methods returning null/void without any navigation/redirect. A #FlowScoped bean lives as long as you're navigating through the specified collection of views registered in the flow configuration file. A #SessionScoped bean lives as long as the established HTTP session. An #ApplicationScoped bean lives as long as the web application runs. Note that the CDI #Model is basically a stereotype for #Named #RequestScoped, so same rules apply.
Which scope to choose depends solely on the data (the state) the bean holds and represents. Use #RequestScoped for simple and non-ajax forms/presentations. Use #ViewScoped for rich ajax-enabled dynamic views (ajaxbased validation, rendering, dialogs, etc). Use #FlowScoped for the "wizard" ("questionnaire") pattern of collecting input data spread over multiple pages. Use #SessionScoped for client specific data, such as the logged-in user and user preferences (language, etc). Use #ApplicationScoped for application wide data/constants, such as dropdown lists which are the same for everyone, or managed beans without any instance variables and having only methods.
Abusing an #ApplicationScoped bean for session/view/request scoped data would make it to be shared among all users, so anyone else can see each other's data which is just plain wrong. Abusing a #SessionScoped bean for view/request scoped data would make it to be shared among all tabs/windows in a single browser session, so the enduser may experience inconsitenties when interacting with every view after switching between tabs which is bad for user experience. Abusing a #RequestScoped bean for view scoped data would make view scoped data to be reinitialized to default on every single (ajax) postback, causing possibly non-working forms (see also points 4 and 5 here). Abusing a #ViewScoped bean for request, session or application scoped data, and abusing a #SessionScoped bean for application scoped data doesn't affect the client, but it unnecessarily occupies server memory and is plain inefficient.
Note that the scope should rather not be chosen based on performance implications, unless you really have a low memory footprint and want to go completely stateless; you'd need to use exclusively #RequestScoped beans and fiddle with request parameters to maintain the client's state. Also note that when you have a single JSF page with differently scoped data, then it's perfectly valid to put them in separate backing beans in a scope matching the data's scope. The beans can just access each other via #ManagedProperty in case of JSF managed beans or #Inject in case of CDI managed beans.
See also:
Difference between View and Request scope in managed beans
Advantages of using JSF Faces Flow instead of the normal navigation system
Communication in JSF2 - Managed bean scopes
#CustomScoped/NoneScoped/Dependent
It's not mentioned in your question, but (legacy) JSF also supports #CustomScoped and #NoneScoped, which are rarely used in real world. The #CustomScoped must refer a custom Map<K, Bean> implementation in some broader scope which has overridden Map#put() and/or Map#get() in order to have more fine grained control over bean creation and/or destroy.
The JSF #NoneScoped and CDI #Dependent basically lives as long as a single EL-evaluation on the bean. Imagine a login form with two input fields referring a bean property and a command button referring a bean action, thus with in total three EL expressions, then effectively three instances will be created. One with the username set, one with the password set and one on which the action is invoked. You normally want to use this scope only on beans which should live as long as the bean where it's being injected. So if a #NoneScoped or #Dependent is injected in a #SessionScoped, then it will live as long as the #SessionScoped bean.
See also:
Expire specific managed bean instance after time interval
what is none scope bean and when to use it?
What is the default Managed Bean Scope in a JSF 2 application?
Flash scope
As last, JSF also supports the flash scope. It is backed by a short living cookie which is associated with a data entry in the session scope. Before the redirect, a cookie will be set on the HTTP response with a value which is uniquely associated with the data entry in the session scope. After the redirect, the presence of the flash scope cookie will be checked and the data entry associated with the cookie will be removed from the session scope and be put in the request scope of the redirected request. Finally the cookie will be removed from the HTTP response. This way the redirected request has access to request scoped data which was been prepared in the initial request.
This is actually not available as a managed bean scope, i.e. there's no such thing as #FlashScoped. The flash scope is only available as a map via ExternalContext#getFlash() in managed beans and #{flash} in EL.
See also:
How to show faces message in the redirected page
Pass an object between #ViewScoped beans without using GET params
CDI missing #ViewScoped and #FlashScoped
Since JSF 2.3 all the bean scopes defined in package javax.faces.bean package have been deprecated to align the scopes with CDI. Moreover they're only applicable if your bean is using #ManagedBean annotation. If you are using JSF versions below 2.3 refer to the legacy answer at the end.
From JSF 2.3 here are scopes that can be used on JSF Backing Beans:
1. #javax.enterprise.context.ApplicationScoped: The application scope persists for the entire duration of the web application. That scope is shared among all requests and all sessions. This is useful when you have data for whole application.
2. #javax.enterprise.context.SessionScoped: The session scope persists from the time that a session is established until session termination. The session context is shared between all requests that occur in the same HTTP session. This is useful when you wont to save data for a specific client for a particular session.
3. #javax.enterprise.context.ConversationScoped: The conversation scope persists as log as the bean lives. The scope provides 2 methods: Conversation.begin() and Conversation.end(). These methods should called explicitly, either to start or end the life of a bean.
4. #javax.enterprise.context.RequestScoped: The request scope is short-lived. It starts when an HTTP request is submitted and ends after the response is sent back to the client. If you place a managed bean into request scope, a new instance is created with each request. It is worth considering request scope if you are concerned about the cost of session scope storage.
5. #javax.faces.flow.FlowScoped: The Flow scope persists as long as the Flow lives. A flow may be defined as a contained set of pages (or views) that define a unit of work. Flow scoped been is active as long as user navigates with in the Flow.
6. #javax.faces.view.ViewScoped: A bean in view scope persists while the same JSF page is redisplayed. As soon as the user navigates to a different page, the bean goes out of scope.
The following legacy answer applies JSF version before 2.3
As of JSF 2.x there are 4 Bean Scopes:
#SessionScoped
#RequestScoped
#ApplicationScoped
#ViewScoped
Session Scope: The session scope persists from the time that a session is established until session termination. A session terminates
if the web application invokes the invalidate method on the
HttpSession object, or if it times out.
RequestScope: The request scope is short-lived. It starts when an HTTP request is submitted and ends after the response is sent back
to the client. If you place a managed bean into request scope, a new
instance is created with each request. It is worth considering request
scope if you are concerned about the cost of session scope storage.
ApplicationScope: The application scope persists for the entire duration of the web application. That scope is shared among all
requests and all sessions. You place managed beans into the
application scope if a single bean should be shared among all
instances of a web application. The bean is constructed when it is
first requested by any user of the application, and it stays alive
until the web application is removed from the application server.
ViewScope: View scope was added in JSF 2.0. A bean in view scope persists while the same JSF page is redisplayed. (The JSF
specification uses the term view for a JSF page.) As soon as the user
navigates to a different page, the bean goes out of scope.
Choose the scope you based on your requirement.
Source: Core Java Server Faces 3rd Edition by David Geary & Cay Horstmann [Page no. 51 - 54]
I noticed that there are different bean scopes like:
#RequestScoped
#ViewScoped
#FlowScoped
#SessionScoped
#ApplicationScoped
What is the purpose of each? How do I choose a proper scope for my bean?
Introduction
It represents the scope (the lifetime) of the bean. This is easier to understand if you are familiar with "under the covers" working of a basic servlet web application: How do servlets work? Instantiation, sessions, shared variables and multithreading.
#Request/View/Flow/Session/ApplicationScoped
A #RequestScoped bean lives as long as a single HTTP request-response cycle (note that an Ajax request counts as a single HTTP request too). A #ViewScoped bean lives as long as you're interacting with the same JSF view by postbacks which call action methods returning null/void without any navigation/redirect. A #FlowScoped bean lives as long as you're navigating through the specified collection of views registered in the flow configuration file. A #SessionScoped bean lives as long as the established HTTP session. An #ApplicationScoped bean lives as long as the web application runs. Note that the CDI #Model is basically a stereotype for #Named #RequestScoped, so same rules apply.
Which scope to choose depends solely on the data (the state) the bean holds and represents. Use #RequestScoped for simple and non-ajax forms/presentations. Use #ViewScoped for rich ajax-enabled dynamic views (ajaxbased validation, rendering, dialogs, etc). Use #FlowScoped for the "wizard" ("questionnaire") pattern of collecting input data spread over multiple pages. Use #SessionScoped for client specific data, such as the logged-in user and user preferences (language, etc). Use #ApplicationScoped for application wide data/constants, such as dropdown lists which are the same for everyone, or managed beans without any instance variables and having only methods.
Abusing an #ApplicationScoped bean for session/view/request scoped data would make it to be shared among all users, so anyone else can see each other's data which is just plain wrong. Abusing a #SessionScoped bean for view/request scoped data would make it to be shared among all tabs/windows in a single browser session, so the enduser may experience inconsitenties when interacting with every view after switching between tabs which is bad for user experience. Abusing a #RequestScoped bean for view scoped data would make view scoped data to be reinitialized to default on every single (ajax) postback, causing possibly non-working forms (see also points 4 and 5 here). Abusing a #ViewScoped bean for request, session or application scoped data, and abusing a #SessionScoped bean for application scoped data doesn't affect the client, but it unnecessarily occupies server memory and is plain inefficient.
Note that the scope should rather not be chosen based on performance implications, unless you really have a low memory footprint and want to go completely stateless; you'd need to use exclusively #RequestScoped beans and fiddle with request parameters to maintain the client's state. Also note that when you have a single JSF page with differently scoped data, then it's perfectly valid to put them in separate backing beans in a scope matching the data's scope. The beans can just access each other via #ManagedProperty in case of JSF managed beans or #Inject in case of CDI managed beans.
See also:
Difference between View and Request scope in managed beans
Advantages of using JSF Faces Flow instead of the normal navigation system
Communication in JSF2 - Managed bean scopes
#CustomScoped/NoneScoped/Dependent
It's not mentioned in your question, but (legacy) JSF also supports #CustomScoped and #NoneScoped, which are rarely used in real world. The #CustomScoped must refer a custom Map<K, Bean> implementation in some broader scope which has overridden Map#put() and/or Map#get() in order to have more fine grained control over bean creation and/or destroy.
The JSF #NoneScoped and CDI #Dependent basically lives as long as a single EL-evaluation on the bean. Imagine a login form with two input fields referring a bean property and a command button referring a bean action, thus with in total three EL expressions, then effectively three instances will be created. One with the username set, one with the password set and one on which the action is invoked. You normally want to use this scope only on beans which should live as long as the bean where it's being injected. So if a #NoneScoped or #Dependent is injected in a #SessionScoped, then it will live as long as the #SessionScoped bean.
See also:
Expire specific managed bean instance after time interval
what is none scope bean and when to use it?
What is the default Managed Bean Scope in a JSF 2 application?
Flash scope
As last, JSF also supports the flash scope. It is backed by a short living cookie which is associated with a data entry in the session scope. Before the redirect, a cookie will be set on the HTTP response with a value which is uniquely associated with the data entry in the session scope. After the redirect, the presence of the flash scope cookie will be checked and the data entry associated with the cookie will be removed from the session scope and be put in the request scope of the redirected request. Finally the cookie will be removed from the HTTP response. This way the redirected request has access to request scoped data which was been prepared in the initial request.
This is actually not available as a managed bean scope, i.e. there's no such thing as #FlashScoped. The flash scope is only available as a map via ExternalContext#getFlash() in managed beans and #{flash} in EL.
See also:
How to show faces message in the redirected page
Pass an object between #ViewScoped beans without using GET params
CDI missing #ViewScoped and #FlashScoped
Since JSF 2.3 all the bean scopes defined in package javax.faces.bean package have been deprecated to align the scopes with CDI. Moreover they're only applicable if your bean is using #ManagedBean annotation. If you are using JSF versions below 2.3 refer to the legacy answer at the end.
From JSF 2.3 here are scopes that can be used on JSF Backing Beans:
1. #javax.enterprise.context.ApplicationScoped: The application scope persists for the entire duration of the web application. That scope is shared among all requests and all sessions. This is useful when you have data for whole application.
2. #javax.enterprise.context.SessionScoped: The session scope persists from the time that a session is established until session termination. The session context is shared between all requests that occur in the same HTTP session. This is useful when you wont to save data for a specific client for a particular session.
3. #javax.enterprise.context.ConversationScoped: The conversation scope persists as log as the bean lives. The scope provides 2 methods: Conversation.begin() and Conversation.end(). These methods should called explicitly, either to start or end the life of a bean.
4. #javax.enterprise.context.RequestScoped: The request scope is short-lived. It starts when an HTTP request is submitted and ends after the response is sent back to the client. If you place a managed bean into request scope, a new instance is created with each request. It is worth considering request scope if you are concerned about the cost of session scope storage.
5. #javax.faces.flow.FlowScoped: The Flow scope persists as long as the Flow lives. A flow may be defined as a contained set of pages (or views) that define a unit of work. Flow scoped been is active as long as user navigates with in the Flow.
6. #javax.faces.view.ViewScoped: A bean in view scope persists while the same JSF page is redisplayed. As soon as the user navigates to a different page, the bean goes out of scope.
The following legacy answer applies JSF version before 2.3
As of JSF 2.x there are 4 Bean Scopes:
#SessionScoped
#RequestScoped
#ApplicationScoped
#ViewScoped
Session Scope: The session scope persists from the time that a session is established until session termination. A session terminates
if the web application invokes the invalidate method on the
HttpSession object, or if it times out.
RequestScope: The request scope is short-lived. It starts when an HTTP request is submitted and ends after the response is sent back
to the client. If you place a managed bean into request scope, a new
instance is created with each request. It is worth considering request
scope if you are concerned about the cost of session scope storage.
ApplicationScope: The application scope persists for the entire duration of the web application. That scope is shared among all
requests and all sessions. You place managed beans into the
application scope if a single bean should be shared among all
instances of a web application. The bean is constructed when it is
first requested by any user of the application, and it stays alive
until the web application is removed from the application server.
ViewScope: View scope was added in JSF 2.0. A bean in view scope persists while the same JSF page is redisplayed. (The JSF
specification uses the term view for a JSF page.) As soon as the user
navigates to a different page, the bean goes out of scope.
Choose the scope you based on your requirement.
Source: Core Java Server Faces 3rd Edition by David Geary & Cay Horstmann [Page no. 51 - 54]
Does a session scoped managed bean have an HTTP request per method? How can I know when an HTTP request starts and ends?
And what's the difference for a view scoped managed bean? (still concerning the HTTP requests)
And for a request scoped managed bean, does it have only one HTTP request for the entire managed bean?
Thank you!
How can I know when an HTTP request starts and ends?
You can use Fiddler to inspect HTTP requests/responses
The HTTP protocol is what a browser uses to communicate with a web server. Specifically, the browser sends an HTTP request to the server, which sends a back an HTTP response.
Therefore, HTTP requests don't happen in a bean. At most, a managed bean may be used for processing an HTTP request on the server.
The scope of a managed bean definition controls the sharing of bean instances:
If the bean has request scope, a dedicated bean object is used for every request.
If the bean has session scope, a dedicated bean object is used for every user session (i.e. all requests from the same user are processed using the same bean object).
If the bean has view scope, a dedicated bean object is used for every JSF view (i.e. as long as the user doesn't navigate to another page, all requests are processed using the same bean object)
How can I know when an HTTP request starts and ends?
It's unclear what you mean by a request starting or ending.
But I need to get those attributes at the first request of a use case, and then for all the other requests for the same use case.And when the use case is done,I need to clear the map with those attributes.
The idiomatic way to control the lifetime of state is to keep it in a bean with suitably long scope. If your use case only has a single view, a view scoped bean would fit nicely.
Otherwise, if it is only for a few views, I'd have the view scoped beans aggregate a conversation object, and pass that conversation object to the next view scoped bean upon navigation. That way, you won't need to take any special action when the user aborts the usecase (which he can typically do in many ways, for instance by using the main navigation ...).
If you have a big application any many such multi-view usecases, you might want to check out the many libraries that offer a conversation scope.
I noticed that there are different bean scopes like:
#RequestScoped
#ViewScoped
#FlowScoped
#SessionScoped
#ApplicationScoped
What is the purpose of each? How do I choose a proper scope for my bean?
Introduction
It represents the scope (the lifetime) of the bean. This is easier to understand if you are familiar with "under the covers" working of a basic servlet web application: How do servlets work? Instantiation, sessions, shared variables and multithreading.
#Request/View/Flow/Session/ApplicationScoped
A #RequestScoped bean lives as long as a single HTTP request-response cycle (note that an Ajax request counts as a single HTTP request too). A #ViewScoped bean lives as long as you're interacting with the same JSF view by postbacks which call action methods returning null/void without any navigation/redirect. A #FlowScoped bean lives as long as you're navigating through the specified collection of views registered in the flow configuration file. A #SessionScoped bean lives as long as the established HTTP session. An #ApplicationScoped bean lives as long as the web application runs. Note that the CDI #Model is basically a stereotype for #Named #RequestScoped, so same rules apply.
Which scope to choose depends solely on the data (the state) the bean holds and represents. Use #RequestScoped for simple and non-ajax forms/presentations. Use #ViewScoped for rich ajax-enabled dynamic views (ajaxbased validation, rendering, dialogs, etc). Use #FlowScoped for the "wizard" ("questionnaire") pattern of collecting input data spread over multiple pages. Use #SessionScoped for client specific data, such as the logged-in user and user preferences (language, etc). Use #ApplicationScoped for application wide data/constants, such as dropdown lists which are the same for everyone, or managed beans without any instance variables and having only methods.
Abusing an #ApplicationScoped bean for session/view/request scoped data would make it to be shared among all users, so anyone else can see each other's data which is just plain wrong. Abusing a #SessionScoped bean for view/request scoped data would make it to be shared among all tabs/windows in a single browser session, so the enduser may experience inconsitenties when interacting with every view after switching between tabs which is bad for user experience. Abusing a #RequestScoped bean for view scoped data would make view scoped data to be reinitialized to default on every single (ajax) postback, causing possibly non-working forms (see also points 4 and 5 here). Abusing a #ViewScoped bean for request, session or application scoped data, and abusing a #SessionScoped bean for application scoped data doesn't affect the client, but it unnecessarily occupies server memory and is plain inefficient.
Note that the scope should rather not be chosen based on performance implications, unless you really have a low memory footprint and want to go completely stateless; you'd need to use exclusively #RequestScoped beans and fiddle with request parameters to maintain the client's state. Also note that when you have a single JSF page with differently scoped data, then it's perfectly valid to put them in separate backing beans in a scope matching the data's scope. The beans can just access each other via #ManagedProperty in case of JSF managed beans or #Inject in case of CDI managed beans.
See also:
Difference between View and Request scope in managed beans
Advantages of using JSF Faces Flow instead of the normal navigation system
Communication in JSF2 - Managed bean scopes
#CustomScoped/NoneScoped/Dependent
It's not mentioned in your question, but (legacy) JSF also supports #CustomScoped and #NoneScoped, which are rarely used in real world. The #CustomScoped must refer a custom Map<K, Bean> implementation in some broader scope which has overridden Map#put() and/or Map#get() in order to have more fine grained control over bean creation and/or destroy.
The JSF #NoneScoped and CDI #Dependent basically lives as long as a single EL-evaluation on the bean. Imagine a login form with two input fields referring a bean property and a command button referring a bean action, thus with in total three EL expressions, then effectively three instances will be created. One with the username set, one with the password set and one on which the action is invoked. You normally want to use this scope only on beans which should live as long as the bean where it's being injected. So if a #NoneScoped or #Dependent is injected in a #SessionScoped, then it will live as long as the #SessionScoped bean.
See also:
Expire specific managed bean instance after time interval
what is none scope bean and when to use it?
What is the default Managed Bean Scope in a JSF 2 application?
Flash scope
As last, JSF also supports the flash scope. It is backed by a short living cookie which is associated with a data entry in the session scope. Before the redirect, a cookie will be set on the HTTP response with a value which is uniquely associated with the data entry in the session scope. After the redirect, the presence of the flash scope cookie will be checked and the data entry associated with the cookie will be removed from the session scope and be put in the request scope of the redirected request. Finally the cookie will be removed from the HTTP response. This way the redirected request has access to request scoped data which was been prepared in the initial request.
This is actually not available as a managed bean scope, i.e. there's no such thing as #FlashScoped. The flash scope is only available as a map via ExternalContext#getFlash() in managed beans and #{flash} in EL.
See also:
How to show faces message in the redirected page
Pass an object between #ViewScoped beans without using GET params
CDI missing #ViewScoped and #FlashScoped
Since JSF 2.3 all the bean scopes defined in package javax.faces.bean package have been deprecated to align the scopes with CDI. Moreover they're only applicable if your bean is using #ManagedBean annotation. If you are using JSF versions below 2.3 refer to the legacy answer at the end.
From JSF 2.3 here are scopes that can be used on JSF Backing Beans:
1. #javax.enterprise.context.ApplicationScoped: The application scope persists for the entire duration of the web application. That scope is shared among all requests and all sessions. This is useful when you have data for whole application.
2. #javax.enterprise.context.SessionScoped: The session scope persists from the time that a session is established until session termination. The session context is shared between all requests that occur in the same HTTP session. This is useful when you wont to save data for a specific client for a particular session.
3. #javax.enterprise.context.ConversationScoped: The conversation scope persists as log as the bean lives. The scope provides 2 methods: Conversation.begin() and Conversation.end(). These methods should called explicitly, either to start or end the life of a bean.
4. #javax.enterprise.context.RequestScoped: The request scope is short-lived. It starts when an HTTP request is submitted and ends after the response is sent back to the client. If you place a managed bean into request scope, a new instance is created with each request. It is worth considering request scope if you are concerned about the cost of session scope storage.
5. #javax.faces.flow.FlowScoped: The Flow scope persists as long as the Flow lives. A flow may be defined as a contained set of pages (or views) that define a unit of work. Flow scoped been is active as long as user navigates with in the Flow.
6. #javax.faces.view.ViewScoped: A bean in view scope persists while the same JSF page is redisplayed. As soon as the user navigates to a different page, the bean goes out of scope.
The following legacy answer applies JSF version before 2.3
As of JSF 2.x there are 4 Bean Scopes:
#SessionScoped
#RequestScoped
#ApplicationScoped
#ViewScoped
Session Scope: The session scope persists from the time that a session is established until session termination. A session terminates
if the web application invokes the invalidate method on the
HttpSession object, or if it times out.
RequestScope: The request scope is short-lived. It starts when an HTTP request is submitted and ends after the response is sent back
to the client. If you place a managed bean into request scope, a new
instance is created with each request. It is worth considering request
scope if you are concerned about the cost of session scope storage.
ApplicationScope: The application scope persists for the entire duration of the web application. That scope is shared among all
requests and all sessions. You place managed beans into the
application scope if a single bean should be shared among all
instances of a web application. The bean is constructed when it is
first requested by any user of the application, and it stays alive
until the web application is removed from the application server.
ViewScope: View scope was added in JSF 2.0. A bean in view scope persists while the same JSF page is redisplayed. (The JSF
specification uses the term view for a JSF page.) As soon as the user
navigates to a different page, the bean goes out of scope.
Choose the scope you based on your requirement.
Source: Core Java Server Faces 3rd Edition by David Geary & Cay Horstmann [Page no. 51 - 54]