<h:selectOneMenu problem. Please, Gurus, I need Your help.

[Andriy Burachinskiy]

Hi, guys. Please, could someone help me?
I have following problem: I need to retreive projectNames from DataBase into<h:selectOneMenu ...><f:selectItems ...></f:selectItems></h:selectOneMenu>. I do it this way(part of .jsp page as I think the problem is in it):

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
<h:selectOneMenu value="#{SubmitReport.projectName}"
styleClass="common-dropdown" required="true" >
<f:selectItems value="#{SubmitReport.loggedUserProjects}"/>
</h:selectOneMenu>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I succeed in retreiving projectNames from DataBase and displaying on the page. But when I press submit in browser:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
<h:commandButton value="Submit" id="SubmitCommand" action="#{SubmitReport.submitReport}"
immediate="true">
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

projectName variable of backingBean appears to be null, when it must already have been initialized(there is setter/getter for projectName in backingBean). If I remove immediate="true" in <h:commandButton ...> the page just refreshes, but the submitReport() method of the backingBean is not invoked at all...

In backingBean(SubmitReport) the 2 variables - projectName & loggedUserProjects are:

-----------------------------------------------------------------
private String projectName;
private ArrayList<SelectItem> loggedUserProjects;

public String getProjectName() {
return this.projectName;
}
public void setProjectName(String projectName) {
this.projectName = projectName;
}

public void setLoggedUserProjects(ArrayList<SelectItem> loggedUserProjects) {
this.loggedUserProjects = loggedUserProjects;
}
public ArrayList<SelectItem> getLoggedUserProjects() {
return loggedUserProjects = extractUserProjectsFromDB();
}
-----------------------------------------------------------------

And I tried to change the type of projectName to SelectItem - didn't help.

And one more detail:
I debugged the application, when I press submit in submitReport() of backingBean I tracked the contained values in request like this:

------------------------------------------------------------------
public String submitReport() {
...
Map allParams;
if (this.projectName == null) {
allParams = ((HttpServletRequest)FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().
getExternalContext().getRequest()).getParameterMap();
System.out.println(allParams.size());
}
------------------------------------------------------------------

So in principle if projectName == null, I can retreive it from request "by hands" - but it's wrong, JSF MUST DO THIS. Seems like I configured smt. wrong or misunderstood.

What is the problem in? I have already been fighting this for 2 days - but no luck. So, Gurus, please I need Your help...

[Smitha H Rao]

I know how hard you are trying it from Yeterday.. So I couldn't stop myself giving you few hints to findout the problem.. But this is my last try.. and I suggest you to do following..

Include <h:messages /> in your jsf page. This will give you exact error message happening while setter method is being called.
Also remove immediate="true" on commandbutton. Otherwise you will never come to know about the problem.

Good Luck.

Thanks
Smitha

[Andriy Burachinskiy]

Hi, Smitha, thanks for your patience and help. I did as you adviced:
----------------------------------------------------
...
<h:commandButton value="Submit" id="SubmitCommand" action="#{SubmitReport.submitReport}">
<h:messages infoStyle="info"/>
</h:commandButton>

<h:messages infoStyle="info"/>
</h:form>
...
----------------------------------------------------

This is what I can see on the page in browser, when I type "Submit":
_________________________________________________________
Conversion Error setting value 'on track' for 'null Converter'.
Conversion Error setting value 'text of report' for 'null Converter'.
_________________________________________________________

But my submitReport() method of the backingBean is not invoked at all in this case!!! How can I make it get invoked without specifying immediate="true" in submit tag ???
One more thanks for helping me..

[Smitha H Rao]

The problem is in the h:inputTextarea .

you have

<h:inputTextarea id="repContent" value="#{SubmitReport.repContent}" required="true"
styleClass="input" rows="22" cols="75"/>

in you jsf and 'repContent' is a Clob!!

The JSF can do automatic conversion only for wrapper classes.You have to supply a converted for it.
When you submit a JSf page
first all setter methods are called. If there is any problem, action method will not be called. So your action method is not called unless you have immediate="true"
But if you have immediate="true" on commandButton, then no setter method is called.

Right now I think remove this h:inputTextarea from your JSF page and give a try.. It should work properly.
Then write a converter to convert a String to Clob and specify it in the h:inputTextarea tag.

Best Of Luck.

Thanks
Smitha

[Andriy Burachinskiy]

Thanks, Smitha. You were right. Now my problem is resolved. I'm thankful to you. I was preparing to SCJP1.6 about half year ago, so I've got full study guide by Katty Sierra for SCJP1.6 & exam simulator for SCJP1.6. If You are interested, I can send it to your e-mail. P.s.: the certificate itself is of minor importance, but personally I got to known some interesting things from studyGuide.

[Smitha H Rao]

Thanks Andriy,
Could you please send it to [e-mail].

[Shasi Mitra]

can you please send the scjp material to [e-mail] also.