Birth Date nightmare - passing variable between beans and java objects

[Tom Bart]

Hello again.

I'm writing my first JSF application.
I have a problem with passing date onto "person" bean.

i have 3 beans:
person - scope: session
personManager - scope: application - holds the list of persons
dateOfBirth - scope: session - holds 3 ints from the drop down menu like select created by <h:selectOneMenu> for day, month and year and have method which creates a Date object from those 3 ints

public Date getDate(){
   return new Date(this.year, this.month, this.day);
}

In faces-config.xml i've added the dependency for person so the dateOfBirth.date was injected into person.dob (well actually eclipse did it for me through a wizard)

Everything would be great without the fact that person.dob is always 31.12.1899 00:00:00 and not the one i've selected in the form

Person.java

package macgyver.jaz.domain;

import java.util.Date;

import javax.persistence.CascadeType;
import javax.persistence.Entity;
import javax.persistence.GeneratedValue;
import javax.persistence.Id;
import javax.persistence.OneToOne;

@Entity
public class Person {
	
	private long id;
	private PersonManager manager;
	private String name;
	private String surname;
	private Address address;
	private Date dob; // Date of birth
	private char gender;
	
	@Id
	@GeneratedValue
	public long getId() {
		return id;
	}
	public void setId(long id) {
		this.id = id;
	}
	
	public PersonManager getPersonManager() {
		return manager;
	}
	public void setPersonManager(PersonManager manager) {
		this.manager = manager;
	}
	
	public String getName() {
		return name;
	}
	public void setName(String name) {
		this.name = name;
	}
	
	public String getSurname() {
		return surname;
	}
	public void setSurname(String surname) {
		this.surname = surname;
	}
	
	@OneToOne(cascade = CascadeType.ALL)
	public Address getAddress() {
		return address;
	}
	public void setAddress(Address address) {
		this.address = address;
	}
	
	public Date getDob() {
		return dob;
	}
	public void setDob(Date dob) {
		this.dob = dob;
	}
	
	public char getGender() {
		return gender;
	}
	public void setGender(char gender) {
		this.gender = gender;
	}
	
	public String addPerson(){
		Person p = new Person();
		//DateOfBirth dateOfBirth = new DateOfBirth();
		p.setName(name);
		p.setSurname(surname);
		p.setAddress(address);
		p.setDob(dob);
		//p.setDob(dateOfBirth.getDate());
		p.setGender(gender);
		if(manager.addPerson(p))
			return "success";
		return "failure";
		// musi zwracac string bo to bedzie metoda podpinana pod akcje;
	}
}

DateOfBirth.java

package macgyver.jaz.domain;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Calendar;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.GregorianCalendar;
import java.util.List;

import javax.faces.model.SelectItem;

public class DateOfBirth {
	private int day;
	private int month;
	private int year;

	public int getDay() {
		return day;
	}

	public void setDay(int day) {
		this.day = day;
	}

	public int getMonth() {
		return month;
	}

	public void setMonth(int month) {
		this.month = month;
	}

	public int getYear() {
		return year;
	}

	public void setYear(int year) {
		this.year = year;
	}

	public Date getDate() {
		//Calendar cal = new GregorianCalendar(year, month, day);
		//Date d = cal.getTime();
		Date d = new Date(year, month, day);
		return d;
	}
	
	public void setDate(Date date){
		year = date.getYear();
		month = date.getMonth();
		day = date.getDay();
	}

	public List getDays() {
		List<SelectItem> days = new ArrayList<SelectItem>();
		for (int i = 1; i <= 31; i++) {
			SelectItem option = new SelectItem(i, ""+i);
			days.add(option);
		}
		return days;
	}
	
	public void setDays(List days){}
	
	public List getMonths(){
		List<SelectItem> months = new ArrayList<SelectItem>();
		//new org.apache.commons.collections.bidimap.DualHashBidiMap(new java.util.GregorianCalendar().getDisplayNames(java.util.Calendar.MONTH, java.util.Calendar.LONG, new java.util.Locale("pl_PL"))).getKey(i)
		for (int i = 0 ; i<12;i++){
			SelectItem option = new SelectItem(i, (String)new org.apache.commons.collections.bidimap.DualHashBidiMap(new java.util.GregorianCalendar().getDisplayNames(java.util.Calendar.MONTH, java.util.Calendar.LONG, new java.util.Locale("pl_PL"))).getKey(i));
			months.add(option);
		}
		return months;
	}
	
	public void setMonths(List months){}
	
	public List getYears(){
		List<SelectItem> years = new ArrayList<SelectItem>();
		for (int i = 1900; i<= new java.util.GregorianCalendar().get(java.util.Calendar.YEAR); i++){
			SelectItem option = new SelectItem(i-1900, ""+i);
			years.add(option);
		}
		return years;
	}
	
	public void setYears(List years){}
}

addNewPerson.jsp

<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html" prefix="h"%>
<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core" prefix="f"%>
<html>
<head>
<title>New Person</title>
</head>
<body>
<f:view>
	<h:form>
		<fieldset><legend>New Person Data</legend>
		<table>
			<tr>
				<td>Name:</td>
				<td><h:inputText id="name" value="#{person.name}"
					required="true" requiredMessage="Please fill this field." /></td>
				<td><h:message style="color:red;" for="name" /></td>
			</tr>
			<tr>
				<td>Surname:</td>
				<td><h:inputText id="surname" value="#{person.surname}"
					required="true" requiredMessage="Please fill this field." /></td>
				<td><h:message style="color:red;" for="surname" /></td>
			</tr>
			<tr>
				<td>Address:</td>
				<td><h:inputText id="address" required="true"
					requiredMessage="Please fill this field."
					converter="#{AddressConverter}" value="#{person.address}" /></td>
				<td><h:message style="color:red;" for="address" /></td>
			</tr>
			<tr>
				<td>Date of birth:</td>
				<td>
				
				<h:selectOneMenu id="idDay" value="#{dateOfBirth.day}" required="true" requiredMessage="Please select Day. " >
					<f:selectItems value="#{dateOfBirth.days}" />
				</h:selectOneMenu> <h:selectOneMenu id="idMonth" value="#{dateOfBirth.month}" required="true" requiredMessage="Please select Month"  >
					<f:selectItems value="#{dateOfBirth.months}" />
				</h:selectOneMenu> <h:selectOneMenu id="idYear" value="#{dateOfBirth.year}" required="true" requiredMessage="Please select Year" converterMessage="Validation error #{dateOfBirth.year}" >
					<f:selectItems value="#{dateOfBirth.years}" />
				</h:selectOneMenu></td>
				<td>
					<h:message style="color:red;" for="idDay" />
					<h:message style="color:red;" for="idMonth" />
					<h:message style="color:red;" for="idYear" />
					
					<% /*
					<h:inputText id="dob" value="#{person.dob}" required="true"
					requiredMessage="Please fill this field.">
					<f:convertDateTime pattern="dd-MM-yyyy" />
					</h:inputText>
					*/ %>
					</td>
			</tr>
			<tr>
				<td>Gender:</td>
				<td><h:selectOneRadio id="gender" value="#{person.gender}"
					required="true" requiredMessage="Please choose one option.">
					<f:selectItem itemValue="m" itemLabel="Male" />
					<f:selectItem itemValue="f" itemLabel="Female" />
				</h:selectOneRadio></td>
				<td><h:message style="color:red;" for="gender" /></td>
			</tr>
		</table>
		</fieldset>
		<h:commandButton value=" K.O. " action="#{person.addPerson}" />
		<h:commandButton value="VALIDATE" />
		<a href="panel.jsf">PANEL</a>
	</h:form>
</f:view>
</body>
</html>

showList.jsp

<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html" prefix="h" %>
<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core" prefix="f" %>
<html>
	<head>
		<title></title>
	</head>
	<style type="text/css">
		table {
			
		}
		table tr td {
		border-size: 1px;
			border-style: solid;
			border-color: black;
		}
	</style>
	<body>
		<f:view>
			<h:dataTable value="#{personManager.all}" var="item" >
				<h:column>
					<f:facet name="header" >
						<h:outputText>NAME</h:outputText>
					</f:facet>
					<h:outputText value="#{item.name}" />
				</h:column>
				<h:column>
					<f:facet name="header" >
						<h:outputText>SURNAME</h:outputText>
					</f:facet>
					<h:outputText value="#{item.surname}" />
				</h:column>
				<h:column>
					<f:facet name="header" >
						<h:outputText>Gender</h:outputText>
					</f:facet>
					<h:outputText value="#{item.gender}" />
				</h:column>
				<h:column>
					<f:facet name="header" >
						<h:outputText>Date of birth</h:outputText>
					</f:facet>
					<h:outputText value="#{item.dob}" >
						<f:convertDateTime pattern="dd-MM-yyyy" />
					</h:outputText>
				</h:column>
				<h:column>
					<f:facet name="header" >
						<h:outputText>Address</h:outputText>
					</f:facet>
					<h:outputText value="#{item.address}" />
				</h:column>
				
				
				<h:column>
					<f:facet name="header" >
						<h:outputText>Action</h:outputText>
					</f:facet>
					<h:form style="padding:0 0 0 0; margin:0 0 0 0;" >
						<h:commandLink>Edit</h:commandLink> / <h:commandLink>Delete</h:commandLink>
					</h:form>
				</h:column>
			</h:dataTable>
			<a href="panel.jsf" style="text-decoration: none; possition:relative; padding-top: 190em;" >Back to panel</a>
		</f:view>
	</body>	
</html>  

faces-config.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<faces-config version="1.2" xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
 xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
 xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-facesconfig_1_2.xsd">
 <converter>
  <converter-for-class>macgyver.jaz.domain.Address</converter-for-class>
  <converter-class>macgyver.jaz.domain.AddressConverter</converter-class>
 </converter>
 <managed-bean>
  <managed-bean-name>person</managed-bean-name>
  <managed-bean-class>macgyver.jaz.domain.Person</managed-bean-class>
  <managed-bean-scope>session</managed-bean-scope>
  <managed-property>
   <property-name>personManager</property-name>
   <property-class>macgyver.jaz.domain.PersonManager</property-class>
   <value>#{personManager}</value>
  </managed-property>
  <managed-property>
   <property-name>dob</property-name>
   <property-class>java.util.Date</property-class>
   <value>#{dateOfBirth.date}</value>
  </managed-property>
 </managed-bean>
 <managed-bean>
  <managed-bean-name>personManager</managed-bean-name>
  <managed-bean-class>macgyver.jaz.domain.PersonManager</managed-bean-class>
  <managed-bean-scope>application</managed-bean-scope>
 </managed-bean>
 <managed-bean>
  <managed-bean-name>dateOfBirth</managed-bean-name>
  <managed-bean-class>macgyver.jaz.domain.DateOfBirth</managed-bean-class>
  <managed-bean-scope>application</managed-bean-scope>
 </managed-bean>
 <navigation-rule>
  <from-view-id>/addNewPerson.jsp</from-view-id>
  <navigation-case>
   <from-outcome>success</from-outcome>
   <to-view-id>/panel.jsp</to-view-id>
  </navigation-case>
 </navigation-rule>
 <navigation-rule>
  <from-view-id>/test.jsp</from-view-id>
  <navigation-case>
   <to-view-id>/test.jsf</to-view-id>
  </navigation-case>
 </navigation-rule>
</faces-config>

So the thing is i must use <h:selectOneMenu> to select DOB. I can put there a <h:inputText> (which i did and it was working using datetime converter) but that was just for testing and now i must use 3 selects which generates an Date object for person bean whis will then be stored inside the personManager bean in a list.
The thing is as i said it before, the date is always the same. If i hardcode in DateOfBirth int year = 10; then it will stay as 10 (1910).
I also did a simple jsp page to check the variables for dateOfBirth bean

<h:outputText value="Year: #{dateOfBirth.year} Month: #{dateOfBirth.month} Day: #{dateOfBirth.day}   Date: #{dateOfBirth.date}"  />

and when i refresh this page i can see the variables have changed correctly so the thing is that p.setDob(dob) in person.addPerson() gets wrong Date object which is provided by dependency injection from jsf.
So finally how can i fix my problem ?
The best answer would be instructions: change this to that in here and so on...
I'm now after 48h without sleep and i'm trying to get past this problem.