h:selectOneMenu - empty string value becomes null

[Yaron Rel]

Hi,
My Question:
Why does the default empty string value of myBackingBean.yearStr becomes null after the page is loaded?
My Environment:
I am using RichFaces 3.3 with JBOSS 6, and Seam 2.1.2

Thanks in advanced
Yaron

<h:selectOneMenu id="year" value="#{myBackingBean.yearStr}">
	<a4j:support focus="year" event="onchange" reRender="myDataTable" ignoreDupResponses="true" />
	<f:selectItems value="#{comboBoxUtil.yearsValues}" />
</h:selectOneMenu>

comboBoxUtil:

//in the following code, SelectItem is of type: javax.faces.model.SelectItem
	public List<SelectItem> getYearsValues() {  
		List<SelectItem> items = new LinkedList<SelectItem>();                
                
		items.add(new SelectItem("", ""); //Most important line:

		for (int i = 1; i < 10; i++) {
			items.add(new SelectItem("0" + i, EMPTY + i));
		}
		for (int i = 10; i < 100; i++) {
			items.add(new SelectItem(EMPTY + i, EMPTY + i));
		}
	 	return items; 
	}

The declaration of yearStr in the backing bean:

private String yearStr = "";

[Anurag Bhatia]

Hi Yaron,

I have run into the same situation. Did you happen to find any solution to your problem?

--Anurag