Dynamic t:dataTable display oddness.

[Arnie Morein]

I am working on an inquiry program that allows the user to set the select clause of the sql statement. Which means the backing bean has to adapt and creates the t:dataTable object at run time. The thing I don't get - is that the first time a search is done (and therein the page is created), it is displayed w/o any data - tracing shows that this is because the backing bean property that points to the h:panelGroup object is null - so I have nothing to add children to. Subsequent pages get populated and the grid displays. But there is another problem. Clicking the page-forward/end buttons doesn't display the next/last page. I know the event code is firing (traced into it) and the variables are being updated, but the grid's contents never change. I think it has something to do with building the page during the wrong phase, but I'm not sure. I hope someone here can help.

This is using the latest MyFaces and Tomahawk dataTable (org.apache.myfaces.component.html.ext.HtmlDataTable).

This is a snippet of the JSF file where the dynamic part is built.

<h:panelGrid columns="1" rendered="#{transactionSearchBean.thereBeData}"
border="0" width="100%">
<h:panelGroup id="resultsGroup">
                      [B]This is where the dynamic data table gets inserted.[/B]
</h:panelGroup>
 
<h:panelGroup styleClass="table-column-right"
rendered="#{transactionSearchBean.thereBeData}">
<h:outputText value="<br/>" escape="false"/>
<h:form id="exportForm">
<h:commandLink id="cmdLinkExportData" action="#{transactionSearchBean.exportExcelAction}">
 <h:outputText value="Export to Excel"/>
</h:commandLink>
</h:form>
</h:panelGroup>

</h:panelGrid>

There is the method that builds the t:dataTable object

    private void setupDataTableColumns() {
        boolean lb_cntu = true; String ls_temp = null;
        Application application = this.getApplication();
        if ( co_resultsGroup == null ) { return; }
 
        UIColumn col = null; UIOutput txt = null; UIOutput header = null;
        ValueBinding vb = null;
        ResultSetColumnInfo lo_column = null;
 
        // create and setup the t:dataTable component
        HtmlDataTable dataTable = new HtmlDataTable();
        dataTable.setId("dataTableResults");
        vb = application.createValueBinding("#{transactionSearchBean.searchResultsList}");
        dataTable.setValueBinding("value", vb);
        dataTable.setRendered(true);
        dataTable.setStyleClass("table-whole");
        dataTable.setWidth("100%"); dataTable.setBorder(1);
        dataTable.setRowClasses("table-row-odd,table-row-even");
        dataTable.setVar("aTransaction");
        dataTable.setRowIndexVar("#{transactionSearchBean.rowIndex}");
        dataTable.setRowCountVar("#{transactionSearchBean.rowCount}");
        dataTable.setRows(10);
        // delete any old table
        co_resultsGroup.getChildren().clear();
        // add the datatable to the group object
        co_resultsGroup.getChildren().add(dataTable);
        HbmFinancialTransaction lo_transaction = new HbmFinancialTransaction();
        
        try {
            int i = 1;
            while ( i < co_metaData.size() && lb_cntu == true) {
                lo_column = (ResultSetColumnInfo)co_metaData.get(i-1);
                // create a new column object
                col = new UIColumn();
                // make up a unique id
                col.setId("column" + i);
                // create a header facet for the column
                header = new HtmlOutputText();
                // make up an id
                header.setId("header" + i);
                // set the value to the column name
                header.setValue(lo_column.name);
                // set the facet
                col.setHeader(header);
               
                // link the form-local variable.field to the output
                
                // create an HTML out 
                //txt = (HtmlOutputText)application.createComponent(HtmlOutputText.COMPONENT_TYPE);
                txt = new UIOutput();
                // make up an id
                txt.setId("dbField" + Integer.toString(i));
                // bind the value property to the field value of the local row variable
                ls_temp = "#{aTransaction." + lo_transaction.getAccessorByFieldName(lo_column.name) + "}";
                vb = application.createValueBinding(ls_temp);    
                if ( this.getIsDebugging() ) { System.out.println("Field VB = " + ls_temp); }
                txt.setValueBinding("value", vb);
                // bind the output to the column
                col.getChildren().add(txt);
                
                /*out = new  HtmlOutputLink();
                out.setId("out1");*/
    
                //Change item.page accordingly to your own object's property
                /*vb = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getApplication().createValueBinding("#{item.page}");
                out.setValueBinding("value", vb);
               
                //Change item.description accordingly to your own object's property
                ValueBinding cb = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getApplication().createValueBinding("#{item.description}");
                txt.setValueBinding("value", cb);
               
                out.getChildren().add(txt);
                col.getChildren().add(out);*/
                
                dataTable.getChildren().add(col);
                i++;
            } // do
        } catch (Exception e) {
            System.out.println("*** ERROR: reconfiguring output data table");
            e.printStackTrace();
            lb_cntu = false;
        }
    }