Value is session managed bean's attribute is nulled

[Timothy Sam]

This is a really weird thing happening right now. I'm using JSF with JPA. First off, I'm trying to print the values so I could see if the value I'm getting from the JSF page is correct.

                        <h:outputText value="AssignedTo:"/>                    
                        <h:selectOneMenu id="employeeId" value="#{fixedItem.fixedItem.employeeId.employeeId}" title="employeeId" rendered="true">
                            <f:selectItems value="#{fixedItem.employeeIds}"/>
                        </h:selectOneMenu>
                        <h:message for="employeeId"/> 

Netbeans tried to put my controller in session scope which makes the attribute fixedItem of the fixedItem controller also in session scope.

  <managed-bean>
    <managed-bean-name>fixedItem</managed-bean-name>
    <managed-bean-class>com.wp.wpinventory.controller.FixedItemController</managed-bean-class>
    <managed-bean-scope>session</managed-bean-scope>
  </managed-bean>

Now, when I submit the form it will invoke a method called create which looks like this

public String create()
  {
      System.out.println("EMPLOYEE ID IN LOGXXXX: " + fixedItem.getEmployeeId() );
      InventoryUser inventoryUser = (InventoryUser)HttpJSFUtil.getManagedBean("#{loginInfo}");
  
      fixedItem.setAssignedBy(inventoryUser);
  
      /*Check the description*/
      if (fixedItem.getDescription() == null || fixedItem.getDescription().equals("") )
      {
          fixedItem.setDescription("NOT DESCRIBED");
      }      
      
      
  EntityManager em = getEntityManager();

      try 
      {
          System.out.println("EMPLOYEE ID IN LOGX: " + fixedItem.getEmployeeId() );
    em.getTransaction().begin();
          
    em.persist(fixedItem);
 
          System.out.println("EMPLOYEE ID IN LOGYYYY: " + fixedItem.getEmployeeId() );
          
    em.getTransaction().commit();
          
          System.out.println("EMPLOYEE ID IN LOG0: " + fixedItem.getEmployeeId() );
          
          fixedItem = em.merge(fixedItem);
 
          /*Generate the control ID*/
          String controlId = null;
      
          /*Control ID format: <DATE><INVENTORY_TYPE><T><FIXED_INVENTORY_TYPE_ID><S><SUPPLIER_ID><F><INVENTORY_ID>*/
          /*INVENTORY_TYPE: F = fixed, C = Consumable,*/
          int itemTypeId = fixedItem.getFixedItemTypeId().getFixedItemTypeId();
          int supplierId = fixedItem.getSupplierId().getSupplierId();
          int fixedItemId = fixedItem.getFixedItemId();
          
          controlId = DateParser.getCurrentDate("yyyyMMdd") + "T" + itemTypeId + "S" + supplierId + "F" + fixedItemId;      
      
          fixedItem.setControlId(controlId);          
          
          System.out.println("EMPLOYEE ID IN LOG1: " + fixedItem.getEmployeeId() );
          
          //em.joinTransaction();
          em.getTransaction().begin();
          em.persist(fixedItem);
          
          em.getTransaction().commit();
 
          /*Create a log entry for item creation*/          
          InventoryTransactionType transactionType = new InventoryTransactionType();          
          
          transactionType.setTransactionTypeId(InventoryTransactionType.CREATE);
          
          InventoryTransaction inventoryLog = new InventoryTransaction();
          
          System.out.println("EMPLOYEE ID IN LOG2: " + fixedItem.getEmployeeId() );
          
          inventoryLog.setTransactionTypeId(transactionType);          
          inventoryLog.setUserId( fixedItem.getAssignedBy().getUserId() );
          //inventoryLog.setEmployeeId(null);
          inventoryLog.setControlId( fixedItem.getControlId() );
          inventoryLog.setDateCreated( new Date() );
 
          
          em.getTransaction().begin();
          em.persist(inventoryLog);
          em.getTransaction().commit();
 
          /*Also create a log for assignment*/
          inventoryLog = new InventoryTransaction();
          
          transactionType.setTransactionTypeId(InventoryTransactionType.ASSIGN);
          inventoryLog.setTransactionTypeId(transactionType);
          inventoryLog.setUserId( fixedItem.getAssignedBy().getUserId() );
          
          System.out.println("EMPLOYEE ID IN LOG3: " + fixedItem.getEmployeeId() );
          inventoryLog.setEmployeeId( fixedItem.getEmployeeId() );
          
          
          inventoryLog.setControlId( fixedItem.getControlId() );
          inventoryLog.setDateCreated( new Date() );
          
          
          em.getTransaction().begin();
          em.persist(inventoryLog);
          em.getTransaction().commit();
          
    addSuccessMessage("FixedItem was successfully created.");
  } 
      catch (Exception ex)
      {
    try 
          {
      addErrorMessage(ex.getLocalizedMessage());
      em.getTransaction().rollback();
    }
          catch (Exception e)
          {
      addErrorMessage(e.getLocalizedMessage());
    }
  } 
      finally
      {
    em.close();
  }

As you can see, there are various print statements there for the employeeId attribute of fixedItem(the model not the controller this time). To my surprise, everything that is printed is null.

EMPLOYEE ID IN LOGXXXX: null
EMPLOYEE ID IN LOGX: null
EMPLOYEE ID IN LOGYYYY: null
EMPLOYEE ID IN LOG0: null
EMPLOYEE ID IN LOG1: null
EMPLOYEE ID IN LOG2: null
EMPLOYEE ID IN LOG3: null

The funny thing is that in JPA I am able to insert something in the database and it's the right value. I shouldn't be able to do this given that the values printed are all null. In my FixedItem.java(fixedItem model) the mapping looks like this...

@Embedded
private Employee employeeId;

Thanks!