Injection problem - not quite sure if this is something i should be using injection for

[Christopher Whu]

If i was using jsp i would just set some session varibles and then pull them later from the bean.

I am trying to use cdi injection but not having luck...

i want to store an ID in this code:

@SessionScoped
@Named("SessionHelper")
public class SessionHelper implements Serializable  {
    static Logger log = Logger.getLogger("SessionHelper");
    private int idPassed;

    public int getIdPassed() {
        return idPassed;
    }

    public void setIdPassed(int aIdPassed) {
        log.info("setIdPassed " + aIdPassed );
        idPassed = aIdPassed;
    }
    
    public void sendToPage(String page, int id){
        log.info("id passed set to: " + id);
        this.setIdPassed(id);
        FacesContext fc = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
        String pathToPage ="/shop/" + page;
        UIViewRoot viewRoot = fc.getApplication().getViewHandler().createView(fc, pathToPage);
        fc.setViewRoot(viewRoot);
        fc.renderResponse();
    }
}

and in this code i want to build some arraylists to feed a jsf...

@Named("productLineModel")
@SessionScoped
public class ProductLineModel implements Serializable {
    static Logger log = Logger.getLogger("PageModels.ProductLineModel");
    @Inject 
    private SessionHelper sessionHelper;
    private QueryManager theQM = new QueryManager();
    //array lists
    private ArrayList<Product> allProducts = theQM.buildArrayListOfProducts();
    private ArrayList<Product> workingProductArrayList = buildWorkingProductArrayList();
    private ArrayList<Category> categoryArrayList = buildCategoryArrayList();
    private ArrayList<ProductDepth> productDepthArrayList = buildProductDepthArrayList();
    private ArrayList<ProductTop> productTopArrayList = buildProductTopArrayList();
    private ArrayList<ProductType> productTypeArrayList = buildProductTypeArrayList();
    //for this view only
    private ProductLine productLineSetViaSession = establishProductLineSetViaSession();
    //booleans
    private boolean categoryEditable = true;
    private boolean productDepthEditable = true;
    private boolean productTopEditable = true;
    private boolean productTypeEditable = true;
    private boolean categoryClean = false;
    private boolean productDepthClean = false;
    private boolean productTopClean = false;
    private boolean productTypeClean = false;
    
    //chosen entities
    private Category chosenCategory;
    private ProductDepth chosenProductDepth;
    private ProductTop chosenProductTop;
    private ProductType chosenProductType;
    
    

    

    
    
    // for dropdown
    private Product tempProduct;
    
/* =================== Set ProductLineSetViaSession ========================= */
    /* setProductLineSetViaSession()
     * go throguh allProducts and pull the first product that has a matching product
     * line id.  We then use that to build ProductLineSetViaSession
     * ********************************************************************** */
    private ProductLine establishProductLineSetViaSession(){
        //log.info("  =======  this id " +  sessionHelper.getIdPassed()); 
        int tempId = sessionHelper.getIdPassed();
        ProductLine tempProductLine = null;
        Iterator itr = allProducts.iterator();
        while(itr.hasNext()){
            tempProduct = (Product) itr.next();
            if(tempProduct.getProductLine().getId() == tempId){
                 tempProductLine = new ProductLine(tempProduct.getProductLine().getId(),tempProduct.getProductLine().getName());               
            }            
        } 
        return tempProductLine;
    }
.... rest of code.

when the page is called i get this null pointer

SEVERE: Error Rendering View[/shop/browseProductLineChosen.xhtml]
com.google.common.collect.ComputationException: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.google.common.collect.ComputingConcurrentHashMap.compute(ComputingConcurrentHashMap.java:218)
at com.google.common.collect.ComputingConcurrentHashMap.apply(ComputingConcurrentHashMap.java:100)
at com.google.common.collect.MapMaker$ComputingMapAdapter.get(MapMaker.java:515)
at org.jboss.weld.bean.proxy.ClientProxyProvider.getClientProxy(ClientProxyProvider.java:113)
at org.jboss.weld.manager.BeanManagerImpl.getReference(BeanManagerImpl.java:681)
at org.jboss.weld.el.AbstractWeldELResolver.lookup(AbstractWeldELResolver.java:140)
at org.jboss.weld.el.AbstractWeldELResolver.getValue(AbstractWeldELResolver.java:112)
at javax.el.CompositeELResolver.getValue(CompositeELResolver.java:185)
at com.sun.faces.el.DemuxCompositeELResolver._getValue(DemuxCompositeELResolver.java:176)
at com.sun.faces.el.DemuxCompositeELResolver.getValue(DemuxCompositeELResolver.java:203)
at com.sun.el.parser.AstIdentifier.getValue(AstIdentifier.java:99)
at com.sun.el.parser.AstValue.getValue(AstValue.java:158)
at com.sun.el.ValueExpressionImpl.getValue(ValueExpressionImpl.java:219)
at org.jboss.weld.el.WeldValueExpression.getValue(WeldValueExpression.java:55)
at com.sun.faces.facelets.el.TagValueExpression.getValue(TagValueExpression.java:109)
at javax.faces.component.ComponentStateHelper.eval(ComponentStateHelper.java:194)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.isRendered(UIComponentBase.java:413)
at com.sun.faces.renderkit.html_basic.HtmlBasicRenderer.encodeRecursive(HtmlBasicRenderer.java:297)
at com.sun.faces.renderkit.html_basic.HtmlBasicRenderer.encodeRecursive(HtmlBasicRenderer.java:309)
at com.sun.faces.renderkit.html_basic.GridRenderer.renderRow(GridRenderer.java:185)
at com.sun.faces.renderkit.html_basic.GridRenderer.encodeChildren(GridRenderer.java:129)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.encodeChildren(UIComponentBase.java:845)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1756)
at javax.faces.render.Renderer.encodeChildren(Renderer.java:168)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.encodeChildren(UIComponentBase.java:845)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1756)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1759)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1759)
at com.sun.faces.application.view.FaceletViewHandlingStrategy.renderView(FaceletViewHandlingStrategy.java:401)
at com.sun.faces.application.view.MultiViewHandler.renderView(MultiViewHandler.java:131)
at javax.faces.application.ViewHandlerWrapper.renderView(ViewHandlerWrapper.java:288)
at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RenderResponsePhase.execute(RenderResponsePhase.java:121)
at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.Phase.doPhase(Phase.java:101)
at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.render(LifecycleImpl.java:139)
at javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:410)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.service(StandardWrapper.java:1534)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:281)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:175)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.doInvoke(StandardPipeline.java:655)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:595)
at com.sun.enterprise.web.WebPipeline.invoke(WebPipeline.java:98)
at com.sun.enterprise.web.PESessionLockingStandardPipeline.invoke(PESessionLockingStandardPipeline.java:91)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:162)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.doService(CoyoteAdapter.java:326)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:227)
at com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ContainerMapper.service(ContainerMapper.java:170)
at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.invokeAdapter(ProcessorTask.java:822)
at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.doProcess(ProcessorTask.java:719)
at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.process(ProcessorTask.java:1013)
at com.sun.grizzly.http.DefaultProtocolFilter.execute(DefaultProtocolFilter.java:225)
at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.executeProtocolFilter(DefaultProtocolChain.java:137)
at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.execute(DefaultProtocolChain.java:104)
at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.execute(DefaultProtocolChain.java:90)
at com.sun.grizzly.http.HttpProtocolChain.execute(HttpProtocolChain.java:79)
at com.sun.grizzly.ProtocolChainContextTask.doCall(ProtocolChainContextTask.java:54)
at com.sun.grizzly.SelectionKeyContextTask.call(SelectionKeyContextTask.java:59)
at com.sun.grizzly.ContextTask.run(ContextTask.java:71)
at com.sun.grizzly.util.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.doWork(AbstractThreadPool.java:532)
at com.sun.grizzly.util.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.run(AbstractThreadPool.java:513)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)
Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.jboss.weld.util.reflection.SecureReflectionAccess.runAsInstantiation(SecureReflectionAccess.java:240)
at org.jboss.weld.util.reflection.SecureReflections.newInstance(SecureReflections.java:390)
at org.jboss.weld.bean.proxy.ProxyFactory.create(ProxyFactory.java:239)
at org.jboss.weld.bean.proxy.ClientProxyProvider.createClientProxy(ClientProxyProvider.java:97)
at org.jboss.weld.bean.proxy.ClientProxyProvider.access$000(ClientProxyProvider.java:47)
at org.jboss.weld.bean.proxy.ClientProxyProvider$1.apply(ClientProxyProvider.java:61)
at org.jboss.weld.bean.proxy.ClientProxyProvider$1.apply(ClientProxyProvider.java:52)
at com.google.common.collect.ComputingConcurrentHashMap.compute(ComputingConcurrentHashMap.java:206)
... 59 more
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
at PageModels.ProductLineModel.establishProductLineSetViaSession(ProductLineModel.java:76)
at PageModels.ProductLineModel.<init>(ProductLineModel.java:43)
at PageModels.org$jboss$weld$bean-web-ManagedBean-class_PageModels$ProductLineModel_$$_WeldClientProxy.<init>(org$jboss$weld$bean-web-ManagedBean-class_PageModels$ProductLineModel_$$_WeldClientProxy.java)
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:27)
at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:513)
at java.lang.Class.newInstance0(Class.java:355)
at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:308)
at org.jboss.weld.util.reflection.SecureReflections$16.work(SecureReflections.java:395)
at org.jboss.weld.util.reflection.SecureReflectionAccess.run(SecureReflectionAccess.java:54)
at org.jboss.weld.util.reflection.SecureReflectionAccess.runAsInstantiation(SecureReflectionAccess.java:216)
... 66 more

I cant seem to get this right... I know i am missing something... Please help.

I apologize in advance if it turns out i did something stupid, lol...

[Brendan Healey]

What import are you using for @SessionScoped? it's not shown but you
need javax.enterprise.context.SessionScoped.

Also do you need an empty beans.xml file to enable CDI (in NetBeans:
New - Other - Context & Dependency Injection - beans.xml(CDI config
file)). Getter & setter for sessionHelper property maybe?

I don't actually use CDI myself because of a lack of view scope and I've
not yet figured out conversation scope, so I'm probably off target but
there's a couple of things to check.

Regards,
Brendan.

p.s. it looks like a very convoluted way of doing things

beans.xml in WEB-INF

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
       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/beans_1_0.xsd">
</beans>

[Tim Holloway]

I think what you're looking for is a Managed Property. In JSF1, you would make your managed properties be sub-elements of the managed bean element in faces-config.xml. You can still do that in JSF2, but since you're using annotations, there's a ManagedProperty annotation that does the same thing - establishes a bean/property reference to the managed property within the annotated bean so that the JSF framework can inject it.

[Brendan Healey]

@Inject is the CDI equivalent of @ManagedProperty and this should work, I've used it
in some test code before without problems. I use @ManagedProperty for bean
injection like this:

@ManagedBean
@RequestScoped
public class CreateNewEventView implements Serializable {

    @ManagedProperty(value = "#{otherBeanView}")
    private OtherBeanView obean;
    ...

I'm pretty sure that I hit a funny problem like the OP and this was caused by
there not being an empty beans.xml file., but it was a while ago. There is a
fix in Mojarra 2.1 relating to @Inject support so it might be an idea to upgrade
if not already done.

http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES-1709

Brendan.

[Christopher Whu]

i have the correct bean.xml file... I have the correct import for session....

When i use @named and inject on

private int idPassed;

in the SessionHelper class it is passing a 0 not the value... I am definitely doing something wrong syntax wise.... I suck..

[Christopher Whu]

is there an easy way to get / set session variables from my beans?

i need to call the variable from another bean

[Tim Holloway]

For managed beans - both JSF-managed and Spring Framework managed beans, you can inject them as managed properties as long as their scope is at least as long as the destination bean.

For non-managed beans, you have to do it the hard way, chasing your way down the FacesContext and into the HttpServletRequest object, casting as needed. I keep a utility class that houses a method to do this so as to minimize the javax.faces code I have to put in the beans, but the work involved to locate a non-managed bean is the same either way.

[Christopher Whu]

thank you sir! I am going to do it the hard way, lol... i have used this before....

I guess i was just trying to use CDI the wrong way..

[Brendan Healey]

One further question, do your session scoped beans have a no-arg constructor?
If all else fails use the session map. This should be fairly self-explanatory, I include
this method as part of an abstract class that is inherited by all my backing beans
(eventually):

public Map<String, Object> getSessionMap() {
        return FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getExternalContext().getSessionMap();
}

So just getSessionMap().put(key, value) and getSessionMap().get() as you would expect.

It's irritating that we've not been able to identify the source of your problem so far,
but this hasn't been helped by the lack of information about the platform that you're
running on, what versions etc. and also minimal code extracts. You've really got to
provide full context if you want to move forwards.

Regards,
Brendan.

[Christopher Whu]

TY - i will study that...

I love that everyone on this site is so smart... I am self educated (my college did not have a very good programming dept - no java at all)... I don't have a senior programmer to consult..

My jsf book does not user the noarg constructors.... SHould i be using them for my backing beans? I use them on my object classes...

[Christopher Whu]

also if anyone reads this who is new to JSF, i was basically trying to use session in lieu of passing URL vars (like i would in jsp)... And i was trying to call the methods of a session class i built to hold the info temporarily that i would have passed via url var...


I actually found a nifty way to pass URL vars. Not saying it is the right way to do it but:

on my jsf page:

<h:outputLink id="link1" value="http://localhost:8080/SlumberShieldShoppingCart/faces/shop/browseProductLineChosen.xhtml">
  <f:param name="msgId" value="1" />
</h:outputLink>

in my backing bean:

        Map requestMap = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getExternalContext().getRequestParameterMap();
        String msgId = (String) requestMap.get("msgId");

[Tim Holloway]

No, trying to force JSF to do things the non-JSF way is losing some of the benefits of JSF.

The reason JSF makes it so hard to pass parameters is because it prefers NOT to pass parameters. Instead, it does its work behind the scenes with the backing beans.

For example, suppose I have a search form. I want to collect search parameters and do a search.

To do this the JSF way, I'd create a short-scope backing bean to back the search form itself and inject the long-term bean relating to the search results into it. The "Search" button connects to an action method in the search form backing bean that initiates the search. You have your option as to whether you want the actual search function to be done in the search form bean or in the long-term bean (where the search action processor invokes a method in the injected bean). In either case, the search form action method would then ensure that the search results were posted to (or created in) the long-term bean and would return a navigation action that went to the search results view. Absolutely no form tag contortions and no javax.faces imports required. Everything can be done with simple forms and POJOs.

Inversion of Control is hard thing for most people to get used to. They're accustomed to being active or even (gag) pro-active (a word we managed to limp by without for centuries). IoC is about creating generic TinkerToys and wiring them together. The magic is in the wiring and not in explicitly-coded logic. And the IoC framework (JSF and/or things like Spring) handle the wiring.

[Christopher Whu]

Ty for the advice tim....

So in lew of using the params on the tag i should be creating a short term bean with a setter to grab what i was using the params to pass. That bean would also forward the browser to the model driving page and supply the model bean with the info collected...


I think that is what you mean...

[Tim Holloway]

Yep.

It's one of life's little ironies that the more "JSF" you have in your JSF, the less likely it is that you're properly using JSF.

Spelling tip of the day. "Lew" is a friend of mine. The spelling you wanted was "lieu". Not to be confused with Liu, who is another friend of mine.

[Christopher Whu]

ok so back to getting injection to work...

I am using the latest version of glassfish running on windows... Developing on netbeans...

jsf page with navigation:

<h:commandLink id="link1" value="product link" action="#{modelHelper.setiDToPass('1')}" />  

short term bean

package PageModels;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.Serializable;
import javax.enterprise.context.SessionScoped;
import javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot;
import javax.faces.context.FacesContext;
import javax.inject.Named;
import org.apache.log4j.*;

@Named
@SessionScoped
public class ModelHelper implements Serializable{
    static Logger log = Logger.getLogger("PageModels.ProductLineModel");
    private String iDToPass;

    public String getiDToPass() {
        return iDToPass;
    }

    public void setiDToPass(String iDToPass) throws IOException {
        log.info("id set to " + iDToPass);
        this.iDToPass = iDToPass;
        FacesContext fc = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();  
        UIViewRoot viewRoot = fc.getApplication().getViewHandler().createView(fc, "/shop/browseProductLineChosen.xhtml");   
        fc.setViewRoot(viewRoot);   
        fc.renderResponse();   
    }
}

the big bean

package PageModels;

import javax.inject.Named;
import dataBase.QueryManager;
import java.io.Serializable;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import javax.enterprise.context.SessionScoped;
import org.apache.log4j.*;
import data.Product;
import data.Category;
import data.ProductDepth;
import data.ProductLine;
import data.ProductTop;
import data.ProductType;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.HashSet;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.Set;
import javax.faces.application.ViewHandler;
import javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot;
import javax.faces.context.FacesContext;
import javax.faces.event.ValueChangeEvent;
import javax.inject.Inject;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;

@Named
@SessionScoped
public class ProductLineModel implements Serializable {

    static Logger log = Logger.getLogger("PageModels.ProductLineModel");
    private QueryManager theQM = new QueryManager();
    @Inject ModelHelper modelHelper = new ModelHelper();
  
    
    //array lists
    private ArrayList<Product> allProducts = theQM.buildArrayListOfProducts();
    //for this view only
    private ProductLine productLineSetViaSession = establishProductLineSetViaSession();
    private Boolean pageRefreshed = false;  //basically we want to know if this is the first time the session is calling this model
    private Boolean firstTime = true;
    private ArrayList<Product> workingProductArrayList = buildWorkingProductArrayList();
    private ArrayList<Category> categoryArrayList = buildCategoryArrayList();
    private ArrayList<ProductDepth> productDepthArrayList = buildProductDepthArrayList();
    private ArrayList<ProductTop> productTopArrayList = buildProductTopArrayList();
    private ArrayList<ProductType> productTypeArrayList = buildProductTypeArrayList();
    //booleans
    private boolean categoryEditable = true;
    private boolean productDepthEditable = true;
    private boolean productTopEditable = true;
    private boolean productTypeEditable = true;
    private boolean categoryClean = false;
    private boolean productDepthClean = false;
    private boolean productTopClean = false;
    private boolean productTypeClean = false;
    //chosen entities
    private Category chosenCategory;
    private ProductDepth chosenProductDepth;
    private ProductTop chosenProductTop;
    private ProductType chosenProductType;
    // for dropdown
    private Product tempProduct;

    /* =================== Set ProductLineSetViaSession ========================= */

    /* setProductLineSetViaSession()
     * go throguh allProducts and pull the first product that has a matching product
     * line id.  We then use that to build ProductLineSetViaSession
     * ********************************************************************** */
    private ProductLine establishProductLineSetViaSession() {
        // hopefully this wont explode
        log.info("establishProductLineSetViaSession " + modelHelper.getiDToPass());
        ProductLine tempProductLine = new ProductLine(1, "test");
        Iterator itr = allProducts.iterator();

        return tempProductLine;
    }



    /* =================== RESET MODEL  ========================================= */
    /* resetModel()
     * ********************************************************************** */
    public void resetModel() {
        log.info("METHOD: resetModel()");
        FacesContext context = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
        String viewId = context.getViewRoot().getViewId();
        ViewHandler handler = context.getApplication().getViewHandler();
        UIViewRoot root = handler.createView(context, viewId);
        root.setViewId(viewId);
        context.setViewRoot(root);
        HttpServletResponse response = (HttpServletResponse) context.getExternalContext().getResponse();
        //make sure browse does not cache this page
        response.setHeader("Pragma", "no-cache");
        response.setHeader("Cache-Control", "no-cache");
        response.setHeader("Cache-Control", "no-store");
        response.setHeader("Cache-Control", "must-revalidate");
        response.setHeader("Expires", "Mon, 8 Aug 2006 10:00:00 GMT"); // some date in the past 


        //context.renderResponse(); //Optional
        //only for this view
        this.productLineSetViaSession = null;
        this.productLineSetViaSession = establishProductLineSetViaSession();
        this.workingProductArrayList.clear();
        this.workingProductArrayList = buildWorkingProductArrayList();
        this.categoryArrayList.clear();
        this.categoryArrayList = buildCategoryArrayList();
        this.productDepthArrayList.clear();
        this.productDepthArrayList = buildProductDepthArrayList();
        this.productTopArrayList.clear();
        this.productTopArrayList = buildProductTopArrayList();
        this.productTypeArrayList.clear();
        this.productTypeArrayList = buildProductTypeArrayList();

        this.categoryEditable = true;
        this.productDepthEditable = true;
        this.productTopEditable = true;
        this.productTypeEditable = true;

        this.categoryClean = false;
        this.productDepthClean = false;
        this.productTopClean = false;
        this.productTypeClean = false;
        this.productLineSetViaSession = null;

    }

    /* =================== ARRAY LIST BUILDERS ================================== */
    /* buildWorkingProductArrayList()
     * buids an arraylist of products from master. This list will be the one we
     * work off of.
     * ********************************************************************** */
    private ArrayList<Product> buildWorkingProductArrayList() {
        log.info("METHOD: buildWorkingProductArrayList() for " );
        Iterator itr = allProducts.iterator();
        ArrayList<Product> tempList = new ArrayList<Product>();
        while (itr.hasNext()) {
            tempProduct = (Product) itr.next();
            /*
            if (this.getProductLineSetViaSession().getId() == tempProduct.getProductLine().getId()) {
                tempList.add(tempProduct);
            } */
        }
        return tempList;
    }

    /* buildCategoryArrayList()
     * builds a list of unique categories.  This will be the template for all
     * the list builders
     * ********************************************************************** */
    private ArrayList<Category> buildCategoryArrayList() {
        //log.info("METHOD: buildCategoryArrayList()");
        Iterator itr = workingProductArrayList.iterator();
        Set tempHash = new HashSet();
        Category tempHolder = new Category(-1, "choose one");
        ArrayList<Category> tempList = new ArrayList<Category>();
        tempList.add(tempHolder);
        while (itr.hasNext()) {
            tempProduct = (Product) itr.next();
            //if hashSet accepts its not a dupe.
            if (tempHash.add(tempProduct.getCategory().getId())) {
                tempHolder = new Category(tempProduct.getCategory().getId(), tempProduct.getCategory().getName());
                tempList.add(tempHolder);
            }
        }
        return tempList;
    }

    /* buildProductDepthArrayList()
     * ********************************************************************** */
    private ArrayList<ProductDepth> buildProductDepthArrayList() {
        //log.info("METHOD: buildProductDepthArrayList()");
        Iterator itr = workingProductArrayList.iterator();
        Set tempHash = new HashSet();
        ProductDepth tempHolder = new ProductDepth(-1, "choose one");
        ArrayList<ProductDepth> tempList = new ArrayList<ProductDepth>();
        tempList.add(tempHolder);
        while (itr.hasNext()) {
            tempProduct = (Product) itr.next();
            //if hashSet accepts its not a dupe.
            if (tempHash.add(tempProduct.getProductDepth().getName())) {
                tempHolder = new ProductDepth(tempProduct.getProductDepth().getId(), tempProduct.getProductDepth().getName());
                tempList.add(tempHolder);
            }
        }
        return tempList;
    }

    /* buildProductTopArrayList()
     * ********************************************************************** */
    private ArrayList<ProductTop> buildProductTopArrayList() {
        //log.info("METHOD: buildProductTopArrayList()");
        Iterator itr = workingProductArrayList.iterator();
        Set tempHash = new HashSet();
        ProductTop tempHolder = new ProductTop(-1, "choose one");
        ArrayList<ProductTop> tempList = new ArrayList<ProductTop>();
        tempList.add(tempHolder);
        while (itr.hasNext()) {
            tempProduct = (Product) itr.next();
            //if hashSet accepts its not a dupe.
            if (tempHash.add(tempProduct.getProductTop().getName())) {
                tempHolder = new ProductTop(tempProduct.getProductTop().getId(), tempProduct.getProductTop().getName());
                tempList.add(tempHolder);
            }
        }
        return tempList;
    }

    /* buildProductTypeArrayList()
     * ********************************************************************** */
    private ArrayList<ProductType> buildProductTypeArrayList() {
        //log.info("METHOD: buildProductTypeArrayList()");
        Iterator itr = workingProductArrayList.iterator();
        Set tempHash = new HashSet();
        ProductType tempHolder = new ProductType(-1, "choose one");
        ArrayList<ProductType> tempList = new ArrayList<ProductType>();
        tempList.add(tempHolder);
        while (itr.hasNext()) {
            tempProduct = (Product) itr.next();
            //if hashSet accepts its not a dupe.
            if (tempHash.add(tempProduct.getProductType().getName())) {
                tempHolder = new ProductType(tempProduct.getProductType().getId(), tempProduct.getProductType().getName());
                tempList.add(tempHolder);
            }
        }
        return tempList;
    }

    /* =================== EVENT HANDLER ======================================== */
    /* categoryChanged(ValueChangeEvent ev)
     *  our category change listener. this will be the model for the change handlers
     *  First we make sure the clean status is false (so we know this is firing from
     *  user input, not as result of a another method.
     ************************************************************************* */
    public void categoryChanged(ValueChangeEvent ev) {
        //log.info("======= METHOD: categoryChanged(ValueChangeEvent ev)" + ev.getNewValue().toString() );
        //convert new value to integer
        if (this.categoryEditable) {
            int tempVal = Integer.parseInt(ev.getNewValue().toString());
            modifyProductsBasedOnCategoryChange(tempVal);
        }
    }

    /* productDepthChanged(ValueChangeEvent ev)
     ************************************************************************* */
    public void productDepthChanged(ValueChangeEvent ev) {
        //log.info("======= METHOD: productDepthChanged(ValueChangeEvent ev)" + ev.getNewValue().toString() ); 
        if (this.productDepthEditable) {
            int tempVal = Integer.parseInt(ev.getNewValue().toString());
            modifyProductsBasedOnProductDepthChange(tempVal);
        }
    }

    /* productTopChanged(ValueChangeEvent ev)
     ************************************************************************* */
    public void productTopChanged(ValueChangeEvent ev) {
        //log.info("======= METHOD: productTopChanged(ValueChangeEvent ev)" + ev.getNewValue().toString() ); 
        if (this.productTopEditable) {
            int tempVal = Integer.parseInt(ev.getNewValue().toString());
            modifyProductsBasedOnProductTopChange(tempVal);
        }
    }

    /* productTypeChanged(ValueChangeEvent ev)
     ************************************************************************* */
    public void productTypeChanged(ValueChangeEvent ev) {
        //log.info("======= METHOD: productTypeChanged(ValueChangeEvent ev)" + ev.getNewValue().toString() ); 
        if (this.productTypeEditable) {
            int tempVal = Integer.parseInt(ev.getNewValue().toString());
            modifyProductsBasedOnProductTypeChange(tempVal);
        }
    }

    /* =================== LIST MODIFICATION ==================================== */
    /* modifyProductsBasedOnCategoryChange(String newValue)
     * Iterate over the working product array list removing all products that dont 
     * match the passed criteria. In this case we are removing all the categories
     * with differnt id's compared to new value.
     ************************************************************************* */
    public void modifyProductsBasedOnCategoryChange(int newValue) {
        //log.info("METHOD: modifyProductsBasedOnCategoryChange(int newValue) " + newValue);
        Iterator productListIter = this.workingProductArrayList.iterator();
        while (productListIter.hasNext()) {
            tempProduct = (Product) productListIter.next();
            if (tempProduct.getCategory().getId() != newValue) {
                //log.info("REMOVING: " + tempProduct.getName());
                productListIter.remove();
            }
        }
        setChosenCategoryAndEditable(workingProductArrayList.get(0).getCategory());

        //clean our other lists
        cleanProducDepths();
        cleanProductTops();
        cleanProductTypes();
    }

    /* modifyProductsBasedOnProductDepthChange(String newValue)
     ************************************************************************* */
    public void modifyProductsBasedOnProductDepthChange(int newValue) {
        //log.info("METHOD: modifyProductsBasedOnProductDepthChange(int newValue) " + newValue);
        Iterator productListIter = this.workingProductArrayList.iterator();
        while (productListIter.hasNext()) {
            tempProduct = (Product) productListIter.next();
            if (tempProduct.getProductDepth().getId() != newValue) {
                //log.info("REMOVING: " + tempProduct.getName());
                productListIter.remove();
            }
        }
        setChosenProductDepthAndEditable(workingProductArrayList.get(0).getProductDepth());

        //clean our other lists        
        cleanProductTops();
        cleanProductTypes();
        cleanCategories();
    }

    /* modifyProductsBasedOnProductTopChange(String newValue)
     ************************************************************************* */
    public void modifyProductsBasedOnProductTopChange(int newValue) {
        //log.info("METHOD: modifyProductsBasedOnProductTopChange(int newValue) " + newValue);
        Iterator productListIter = this.workingProductArrayList.iterator();
        while (productListIter.hasNext()) {
            tempProduct = (Product) productListIter.next();
            if (tempProduct.getProductTop().getId() != newValue) {
                //log.info("REMOVING: " + tempProduct.getName());
                productListIter.remove();
            }
        }
        setChosenProductTopAndEditable(workingProductArrayList.get(0).getProductTop());

        //clean our other lists
        cleanProducDepths();
        cleanCategories();
        cleanProductTypes();


    }

    /* modifyProductsBasedOnProductTypeChange(String newValue)
     ************************************************************************* */
    public void modifyProductsBasedOnProductTypeChange(int newValue) {
        //log.info("METHOD: modifyProductsBasedOnProductTypeChange(int newValue) " + newValue);
        Iterator productListIter = this.workingProductArrayList.iterator();
        while (productListIter.hasNext()) {
            tempProduct = (Product) productListIter.next();
            if (tempProduct.getProductType().getId() != newValue) {
                //log.info("REMOVING: " + tempProduct.getName());
                productListIter.remove();
            }
        }
        setChosenProductTypeAndEditable(workingProductArrayList.get(0).getProductType());

        //clean our other lists
        cleanProducDepths();
        cleanCategories();
        cleanProductTops();

    }

    /* cleanProducDepths()
     *  Iterate over all the products in our working list. We then get a list of 
     *  the current working depths.  We then go over our arrayList of depths removing
     *  those not present on the working product list. 
     *  this method is the template for similar methods.
     ************************************************************************* */
    public void cleanProducDepths() {
        //log.info("METHOD: cleanProducDepths()");
        //we only clean if its editable (more than one in the list)
        if (this.productDepthEditable) {
            this.productDepthArrayList.clear();
            Iterator productListIter = this.workingProductArrayList.iterator();
            ProductDepth header = new ProductDepth(-1, "choose one");
            Set tempHash = new HashSet();
            //lets get our list of working depths
            while (productListIter.hasNext()) {
                tempProduct = (Product) productListIter.next();
                //hash only accepts new values (no dupes)
                if (tempHash.add(tempProduct.getProductDepth().getId())) {
                    productDepthArrayList.add(tempProduct.getProductDepth());
                }
            }
            //if the list only has one item, by definition it is no longer editable
            if (productDepthArrayList.size() == 1) {
                setChosenProductDepthAndEditable(productDepthArrayList.get(0));
            } else {
                productDepthArrayList.add(header);
                Collections.reverse(productDepthArrayList);
            }
        } else {
            log.info("skipping depth clean, its not editable mode");
        }
    }

    /* cleanCategories()
     ************************************************************************* */
    public void cleanCategories() {
        //log.info("METHOD: cleanCategories()");
        //we only clean if its editable (more than one in the list)
        if (this.categoryEditable) {
            this.categoryArrayList.clear();
            Iterator productListIter = this.workingProductArrayList.iterator();
            Category header = new Category(-1, "choose one");
            Set tempHash = new HashSet();
            //lets get our list of working categories
            while (productListIter.hasNext()) {
                tempProduct = (Product) productListIter.next();
                //hash only accepts new values (no dupes)
                if (tempHash.add(tempProduct.getCategory().getId())) {
                    categoryArrayList.add(tempProduct.getCategory());
                }
            }
            //if the list only has one item, by definition it is no longer editable
            if (categoryArrayList.size() == 1) {
                setChosenCategoryAndEditable(categoryArrayList.get(0));
            } else {
                categoryArrayList.add(header);
                Collections.reverse(categoryArrayList);
            }
        } else {
            log.info("skipping category clean, its not editable mode");
        }
    }

    /* cleanProductTops()
     ************************************************************************* */
    public void cleanProductTops() {
        //log.info("METHOD: cleanProductTops()");
        //we only clean if its editable (more than one in the list)
        if (this.productTopEditable) {
            this.productTopArrayList.clear();
            Iterator productListIter = this.workingProductArrayList.iterator();
            ProductTop header = new ProductTop(-1, "choose one");
            Set tempHash = new HashSet();
            //lets get our list of working product tops
            while (productListIter.hasNext()) {
                tempProduct = (Product) productListIter.next();
                //hash only accepts new values (no dupes)
                if (tempHash.add(tempProduct.getProductTop().getId())) {
                    productTopArrayList.add(tempProduct.getProductTop());
                }
            }
            //if the list only has one item, by definition it is no longer editable
            if (productTopArrayList.size() == 1) {
                setChosenProductTopAndEditable(productTopArrayList.get(0));
            } else {
                productTopArrayList.add(header);
                Collections.reverse(productTopArrayList);
            }
        } else {
            log.info("skipping depth clean, its not editable mode");
        }
    }

    /* cleanProductTypes()
     ************************************************************************* */
    public void cleanProductTypes() {
        //log.info("METHOD: cleanProductTypes()");
        //we only clean if its editable (more than one in the list)
        if (this.productTypeEditable) {
            log.info("initial type array list length" + productTypeArrayList.size());
            Iterator productListIter = this.workingProductArrayList.iterator();
            ProductType header = new ProductType(-1, "choose one");
            this.productTypeArrayList.clear();
            Set tempHash = new HashSet();
            //lets get our list of working product types
            while (productListIter.hasNext()) {
                tempProduct = (Product) productListIter.next();
                //hash only accepts new values (no dupes)
                if (tempHash.add(tempProduct.getProductType().getId())) {
                    productTypeArrayList.add(tempProduct.getProductType());
                    log.info("adding " + tempProduct.getProductType().getName());
                } else {
                    productTypeArrayList.add(header);
                    Collections.reverse(productTypeArrayList);
                }
            }
            //if the list only has one item, by definition it is no longer editable
            if (productTypeArrayList.size() == 1) {
                setChosenProductTypeAndEditable(productTypeArrayList.get(0));
            }
        } else {
            log.info("skipping depth clean, its not editable mode");
        }
    }

    /* =================== EDITABLE LOGIC ======================================= */
    /* setChosenCategoryAndEditable(Category newValue)
     *  Sets catgoryEditable boolean to false and ses up the defualt category
     *  This method will be the model for alll the editable logic.
     ************************************************************************* */
    public void setChosenCategoryAndEditable(Category newValue) {
        //log.info("METHOD: setChosenCategoryAndEditable(Category newValue) " + newValue.getName());
        this.categoryEditable = false;
        this.chosenCategory = newValue;
    }
    /* setChosenProductDepthAndEditable(ProductDepth newValue)
     ************************************************************************* */

    public void setChosenProductDepthAndEditable(ProductDepth newValue) {
        //log.info("METHOD: setChosenProductDepthAndEditable(ProductDepth newValue) " + newValue.getName());
        this.productDepthEditable = false;
        this.chosenProductDepth = newValue;
    }

    /* setChosenProductTopAndEditable(ProductDepth newValue)
     ************************************************************************* */
    public void setChosenProductTopAndEditable(ProductTop newValue) {
        //log.info("METHOD: setChosenProductTopAndEditable(ProductLine newValue) " + newValue.getName());
        this.productTopEditable = false;
        this.chosenProductTop = newValue;
    }
    /* setChosenProductTypeAndEditable(ProductDepth newValue)
     ************************************************************************* */

    public void setChosenProductTypeAndEditable(ProductType newValue) {
        //log.info("METHOD: setChosenProductTypeAndEditable(ProductLine newValue) " + newValue.getName());
        this.productTypeEditable = false;
        this.chosenProductType = newValue;
    }

    /* =================== GET AND SET ========================================== */
    //lists
    public ArrayList<Product> getAllProducts() {
        return allProducts;
    }

    public ArrayList<Category> getCategoryArrayList() {
        return categoryArrayList;
    }

    public ArrayList<ProductDepth> getProductDepthArrayList() {
        return productDepthArrayList;
    }

    public ArrayList<ProductTop> getProductTopArrayList() {
        return productTopArrayList;
    }

    public ArrayList<ProductType> getProductTypeArrayList() {
        return productTypeArrayList;
    }

    public ArrayList<Product> getWorkingProductArrayList() {
        return workingProductArrayList;
    }

    //boolean
    public boolean isCategoryEditable() {
        return categoryEditable;
    }

    public boolean isProductDepthEditable() {
        return productDepthEditable;
    }

    public boolean isProductTopEditable() {
        return productTopEditable;
    }

    public boolean isProductTypeEditable() {
        return productTypeEditable;
    }

    //chosen entities
    public Category getChosenCategory() {
        return chosenCategory;
    }

    public ProductDepth getChosenProductDepth() {
        return chosenProductDepth;
    }

    public ProductTop getChosenProductTop() {
        return chosenProductTop;
    }

    public ProductType getChosenProductType() {
        return chosenProductType;
    }

    public ProductLine getProductLineSetViaSession() {
        return productLineSetViaSession;
    }

}

the null pointer occurs when we reference the injected bean

Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
	at PageModels.ProductLineModel.establishProductLineSetViaSession(ProductLineModel.java:71)
	at PageModels.ProductLineModel.<init>(ProductLineModel.java:38)
	at PageModels.org$jboss$weld$bean-web-ManagedBean-class_PageModels$ProductLineModel_$$_WeldClientProxy.<init>(org$jboss$weld$bean-web-ManagedBean-class_PageModels$ProductLineModel_$$_WeldClientProxy.java)
	at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
	at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:39)
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:27)
	at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:513)
	at java.lang.Class.newInstance0(Class.java:355)
	at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:308)
	at org.jboss.weld.util.reflection.SecureReflections$16.work(SecureReflections.java:395)
	at org.jboss.weld.util.reflection.SecureReflectionAccess.run(SecureReflectionAccess.java:54)
	at org.jboss.weld.util.reflection.SecureReflectionAccess.runAsInstantiation(SecureReflectionAccess.java:216)

Is my helper bean uninjectable?

[Tim Holloway]

YIPE!

This is a forest-and-trees problem. And I'd have to kill a tree (printout) to be able to follow all that.

I really recommend that you try the @ManagedBean annotation in place of @Inject. I don't know if there's anything active in your server that's scanning for and applying the @Inject annotations, much less what it's resolving references from.

There's no such thing as an "uninjectable" bean, really, although some beans are useless once injected. But it seems pretty obvious that the bean isn't being injected at all, and that means your injector mechanism is suspect. Using managedBean, if the bean wasn't resolvable as an EL expression, you'd get an injection failure, but that would pretty much prevent the app from even starting.

[Christopher Whu]

trying out import javax.annotation.ManagedBean;

package PageModels;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.Serializable;
import javax.annotation.ManagedBean;
import javax.enterprise.context.SessionScoped;

import javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot;
import javax.faces.context.FacesContext;
import org.apache.log4j.*;

@ManagedBean("modelHelper")   
@SessionScoped
public class ModelHelper implements Serializable{
    private static Logger log = Logger.getLogger("PageModels.ModelHelper");
    private static String iDToPass;
    

    public String getiDToPass() {
        return iDToPass;
    }

    public void setiDToPass(String iDToPass) throws IOException {
        log.info("id set to " + iDToPass);
        this.iDToPass = iDToPass;
        FacesContext fc = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();  
        UIViewRoot viewRoot = fc.getApplication().getViewHandler().createView(fc, "/shop/browseProductLineChosen.xhtml");   
        fc.setViewRoot(viewRoot);   
        fc.renderResponse();   
    }
}

when clicking

<h:commandLink id="link1" value="product link" action="#{modelHelper.setiDToPass('1')}" />     

i get:

javax.el.PropertyNotFoundException: /index.xhtml @17,80 action="#{modelHelper.iDToPass}": Target Unreachable, identifier 'modelHelper' resolved to null

[Tim Holloway]

Uh-oh. Time to hit the books, big time.

You package name has upper-case letters in it. That's a violation of conventions and can cause some Java tools to complain. Or worse.

You're using static members in a JSF object. That's not a good idea at the best of times and in this particular case, I think the app will go haywire the minute more than one users attempts to work with it.

The proper name for the property on a JSF would be "idToPass", with getIdToPass() and setIdToPass() accessor methods on the backing bean. Note how JSF will manipulate the upper/lower-case characteristics.

As I've said, using parameterized methods in JSF isn't something I recommend and in this case, you're compounding the issue by attempting to use the "set" method as an action processor. My action methods are usually more like this:

public void setIdToPass(String id) {
   this.idToPass = id;
}

/**
 * Injected business or database service
*/
@ManagedProperty(value = "#{idService}")
private IdService idService;

public void setIdService(IdService service) {
  this.idService = service;
}

public String doChooseProduct() {
       log.info("id set to " + iDToPass);  
       // Do something with the idToPass
       idService.doSomething(this.idToPass);
       // Dispatch to the next View
       return  "/shop/browseProductLineChosen";
}

You're attempting to drive JSF manually. Don't do that. JSF can drive itself just fine. Note that I didn't need any references to JSF's internals to do the above.

Also, note that my output View reference has no extension on it. That will make it default to ".jsf". ".xhtml" isn't a URL component, it's a resource file reference, and JSF wants the URL.

Oh yes, and the "submit button":

 <h:commandLink id="link1" value="product link" action="#{modelHelper.doChooseProduct}" />  

[Christopher Whu]

i must be missing the point of injection...

i want to call

    public String getiDToPass() {
        return idToPass;
    }

which is part of

package models;


import java.io.Serializable;
import javax.faces.bean.SessionScoped;
import javax.faces.bean.ManagedBean;
import org.apache.log4j.*;

@ManagedBean
@SessionScoped
public class ModelHelper implements Serializable{
    private Logger log = Logger.getLogger("PageModels.ModelHelper");
    private String idToPass;
    

    public String getiDToPass() {
        return idToPass;
    }

    public void setiDToPass(String id) {
        this.idToPass = id;
    } 
 
    
    public String doChooseProduct() {  
        log.info("id set to " + idToPass);    
        // Do something with the idToPass  
        return  "/shop/browseProductLineChosen";  
    }  
}

from another class...

using

    @ManagedProperty(value="#{modelHelper}")
    private ModelHelper modelHelper;
    
    public ModelHelper getModelHelper() {
        return modelHelper;
    }

    public void setModelHelper(ModelHelper aModelHelper) {
        this.modelHelper = aModelHelper;
    }

inside the class that needs to call it...

is this the wrong implementation?

[Tim Holloway]

If you inject ModelHelper into another class (let's call it Modeluser), you cannot call ModelUser's getIdToPass() method in ModelHelper. ModelUser knows how to find ModelHelper's methods, but not the other way around, because injection is a one-way connection. To go the other way, you'd have to define a callback.

[Christopher Whu]

But if i want to call ModelHelpers getIdToPass() from ModelUser that is correct implementation, right?

I just want to make sure i am sniffing up the right tree...

i need to use the ID contained in ModelHelper with another class...

TY for all the help...

I cant believe all i had to do was return the path to get the browser to forward itself....

i tend to make things to difficult... lol...

[Tim Holloway]

EVERYONE tends to make JSF difficult. I guess they think it can't be that easy. And maybe because there are still some pre-release docs from when it wasn't so easy floating around on the Internet. Moral of story: put dates on technical articles!

When you inject an object into another object, the "set" method used to inject the object has an argument type, which is a class or interface (or wrapper or primitive type). So the target of the injection not only knows what type of injected object it is dealing with, but actually prevents incompatible objects from being injected through that method, since that's just basic Java object typing enforcement

So, knowing that I have my hands on (an injected) ModelHelpers object, and knowing that the ModelHelpers class implements a public getIdToPass() method, I can call it, because that's just basic Java.

The magic is that there is no magic.

[Christopher Whu]

i am determined to get this right...

Going to try and mock some classes tomorrow just to try and get something simple to work... Maybe that will make it click... Do you know any really simple tutorials or examples out there?

[Christopher Whu]

Finally got injection working...
I had it backwords, i was trying to do it backwards...

my next question is am i breaking the JSF drive itself rule with this...

The goal is to have links that feed data to a bean that drives a page view

first my page with links

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' ?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
    xmlns:p="http://primefaces.prime.com.tr/ui"
    xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
    xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core">
    <h:head>
        <title>Inject Test</title>
    </h:head>
    <h:body>
        <h:form>
            <h:commandLink id="link1" value="product link" action="#{messageServerBean.doChooseProduct}">
                <f:setPropertyActionListener target="#{messageServerBean.valueFromPage}" value="god, this is cool" />
            </h:commandLink>
            <br />
            <h:commandLink id="link2" value="product link 1" action="#{messageServerBean.doChooseProduct}">
                <f:setPropertyActionListener target="#{messageServerBean.valueFromPage}" value="different message here" />
            </h:commandLink>
        </h:form>
    </h:body>
</html>

now the page that grabs the values we need to pass to the page view bean

package eedemo;
import java.io.Serializable;
import javax.enterprise.context.SessionScoped;
import javax.inject.Inject;
import javax.inject.Named;

@Named
@SessionScoped
public class MessageServerBean implements Serializable {    
    private String valueFromPage;    
    @Inject            
    private MessageServerView messageServerView;
    private String message;
        
    public String doChooseProduct() {  
        System.out.println("doChooseProduct called");   
        getMessageServerView().setMessage(valueFromPage); 
        return  "/shop/browseProductLineChosen";  
    }

    
    public MessageServerView getMessageServerView() { return messageServerView; }
    public void setMessageServerView(MessageServerView messageServerView) { this.messageServerView = messageServerView; }    
    //public String getMessage() { return message; }
    public void setMessage(String newValue) { this.message = newValue; }
    //public String getValueFromPage() { return valueFromPage; }
    public void setValueFromPage(String valueFromPage) 
        { System.out.println("setValueFromPage"); 
        this.valueFromPage = valueFromPage;
    }  
}

then we have the bean that handles the view:

package eedemo;

import java.io.Serializable;
import javax.enterprise.context.SessionScoped;
import javax.inject.Named;

@Named
@SessionScoped
public class MessageServerView implements Serializable {

    private String message;
    
    public String getMessage() {
        return message;
    }

    public void setMessage(String newValue) {
        System.out.println("MessageServerView:setMessage called " + newValue );
        this.message = newValue;
    }       

}

finally we have our page that displays the data from the view...

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' ?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
      xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html">
    <h:head>
        <title>Facelet Title</title>
    </h:head>
    <h:body>
        <h:form>
            <h1>message is: #{messageServerView.message}</h1>            
        </h:form>
    </h:body>
</html>

on a side note, i noticed that when creating a project in netbeans there is a checkbox that asks you if you would like to use injection... Not sure if i checked that off on the code i was originally using... I am going to rebuild the project with that option checked off...

Professor Tim, do we like it?

[Tim Holloway]

Well, I've never done anything quite like that, but it seems acceptable. The main variances from what I routinely do are the use of propertyActionListener (I had to look that one up) and the separation of the action processor into a separate bean from the View Model bean - effectively making MessageServeBean a Controller. Then again, I've never been totally happy with the standard JSF model where both UI data and action were the same bean, anyway.

IoC is an inside-out technology, and I think everyone gets it backwards at first. I did. It's not what we're used to,but it does make it a lot easier to re-use code and to wire in testing.

IDE options I'll have to leave you on your own with. Last time I used NetBeans was 2-3 name changes ago. But there are a lot of NetBeans fans here, so just any questions in the IDE forum!

[Christopher Whu]

Ty for all your help... It feels good to be doing this project in a more current, professional manner.

its funny, i did not even have to use the managedbean annotations once i figured out i was doing things out of order.... Initially this morning i was trying to call the helper from the big bean that handles the view and i was getting nulls, i noticed that the viewer bean was firing off first and that made me do the switcharoo of having the helper inject the viewer bean...

i am not married to using f:setPropertyActionListener, it was one of the ways i found to do it online... If there is a better way to do it i am all ears..

For this project i am kind of married to netbeans... I am using the UPS to handle my shipping and the only IDE i was able to unwrap there wsdl files with was netbeans... Have you used UPS's back end? It made me want to headbutt my monitor...

TY again...

[Tim Holloway]

Your IDE should not be affecting your program design, just the tools that are available to help to design your program. Otherwise, you'll end up getting burned (voice of experience, here).

Eclipse doesn't have native Web Services support, but Apache Axis did provide a plugin. Presumably they've kept it up to date. As far as web service API's go, however, I doubt UPS can do worse than Intuit did. I sold my stock, quit using Quicken, and curse every time I have to use their web services interface. They may be cheap, and they may be popular, but they're not rocket scientists.

[Christopher Whu]

UPS support will only help you download the wsdl, that it...

Since my client does tens of thousands of business with them a month in shipping he was able to get me a developer... The developer was awesome but he only did dot.net...

He worsk for UPS and he told me that the people who wrote the api and wsdls where no help to him... He basically had to unrwrap he wsdl line by line..

We worked together with his C# code and it took us 3 days to finally get all the data we needed... It was an expereince...

My colleague had problems with Intuit as well... Its a shame these companies dont realize the value of third party software...

[Tim Holloway]

To be fair, I think Intuit does understand the value of third parties. What they don't seem to understand is the value of paying for talent that's over 10 years old.

Your UPS experiences are typical of what comes from getting cheap offshore labor. However, Intuit's stuff isn't so much about the quality and communication as such, as it is the fundamental limitation in sophistication. Even cheap offshore labor is typically more sophisticated than that. Almost everything they do is welded to Windows. When their products "export to Excel", they don't mean produce an XLS or CSV file, they expect you to actually have a copy of Excel itself installed on THAT computer! Nobody else has ever done that to me - not even Microsoft! I dropped Quicken as a personal user because the only kind of stock splits it could handle decently were ESOP, and I generally don't buy much stock in employers, on the grounds that if they take a hit, they'll lay me off and their stock will dive at the same time.

The darker side of cloud-based computing. At least when you're working in-house you can egg someone's car if they won't help you!

[Brendan Healey]

What exacttly was is it that you did the fix the problem? backwards means nothing to me.

[Christopher Whu]

Brendan Healey wrote:
What exacttly was is it that you did the fix the problem? backwards means nothing to me.

If you look at my initial problem, i was trying to call the helper bean from the viewbean... And i was missing

instead i ended up calling the calling an init type method from the helper bean... I also enabled CDI in netbeans...

the helper that i am going forward with looks like this.

package views;

import java.io.Serializable;
import javax.enterprise.context.SessionScoped;
import javax.inject.Inject;
import javax.inject.Named;
import org.apache.log4j.*;

@Named
@SessionScoped
public class ViewHelper implements Serializable{    
    private Logger log = Logger.getLogger("views.ViewHelper");
    private int id;
    @Inject
    private ProductLineSpecificView productLineSpecificView;
        
    public String doChooseProduct() {  
        log.info("doChooseProduct called " + this.id);          
        getProductLineSpecificView().doBuildView(id);
        return  "/shop/productLineSpecificView";          
    }    
    
/* =================== GET AND SET ========================================== */
    public ProductLineSpecificView getProductLineSpecificView() { return productLineSpecificView; }
    public void setId(int id) { this.id = id; }
    //public void setProductLineId(int  productLineId) { this.productLineId = productLineId; }

}

doBuildView kicks off the process that builds all the arraylists that populate my page...