© 2012 Marty Hall

JSF: Controlling Page

Navigation
Originals of Slides and Source Code for Examples:
http://www.coreservlets.com/JSF-Tutorial/
This somewhat old tutorial covers JSF 1, and is left online for those maintaining existing projects. All new projects
should use JSF 2, which is both simpler and more powerful. See http://www.coreservlets.com/JSF-Tutorial/jsf2/.

Customized Java EE Training: http://courses.coreservlets.com/

Java, JSF 2, PrimeFaces, Servlets, JSP, Ajax, jQuery, Spring, Hibernate, RESTful Web Services, Hadoop, Android.
Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.

© 2012 Marty Hall

For live training on JSF 1 or 2, please see

courses at http://courses.coreservlets.com/.
Taught by the author of Core Servlets and JSP, More
Servlets and JSP, and this tutorial. Available at public
venues, or customized versions can be held on-site at
your organization.
• Courses developed and taught by Marty Hall
– JSF 2, PrimeFaces, servlets/JSP, Ajax, jQuery, Android development, Java 6 or 7 programming, custom mix of topics
Customized
– Ajax courses Java
can concentrate on 1EE Training:
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(jQuery, Prototype/Scriptaculous, Ext-JS, Dojo, etc.) or survey several
• Courses developed and taught by coreservlets.com experts (edited by Marty)
Java, JSF– 2, PrimeFaces, Servlets, JSP, Ajax, jQuery, Spring, Hibernate, RESTful Web Services, Hadoop, Android.
Spring, Hibernate/JPA, EJB3, GWT, Hadoop, SOAP-based and RESTful Web Services
Developed and taught by well-known author
Contact and developer. At public
[email protected] venues or onsite at your location.
for details
 Topics in This Chapter
• JSF flow of control
• The basic steps in using JSF
• Static navigation
– One result mapping
• Dynamic navigation
– Multiple result mappings
• Accessing the request and response
objects
• Common JSF problems

© 2012 Marty Hall

Static Navigation

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 JSF Flow of Control
(Highly Simplified)

Blah.jsp faces-config.xml
- beans declared in managed-bean section
- mapping of return conditions
declared in navigation-rule section

Business
Logic
results

submit form Instantiate Run Action return Choose forward result1.jsp

POST request Blah.faces Bean Controller Method condition JSP result2.jsp
...
Bypass Java code. Form resultN.jsp
specifies return condition.

JSF Flow of Control (Simplified)

• A form is displayed
– Form uses f:view and h:form
• The form is submitted to itself
– Original URL and ACTION URL are http://…/blah.faces
• A bean is instantiated
– Listed in the managed-bean section of faces-config.xml
• The action controller method is invoked
– Listed in the action attribute of h:commandButton
• The action method returns a condition
– A string that matches from-outcome in the navigation
rules in faces-config.xml
• In this example, static condition is specified in form
• A results page is displayed
– The page is specified by to-view-id in the navigation
rules in faces-config.xml
8
 Steps in Using JSF
1) Create a bean
A) Properties for form data
B) Action controller method
C) Placeholders for results data
2) Create an input form
A) Input fields refer to bean properties
B) Button specifies return condition
(or action controller method that will return condition)
3) Edit faces-config.xml
A) Declare the bean
B) Specify navigation rules
4) Create results pages
– Output form data and results data with h:outputText
5) Prevent direct access to JSP pages
– Use a filter that redirects blah.jsp to blah.faces
9

Example: Registration
• Started by copying jsf-blank-myfaces
– Renamed it to jsf-navigation
– Edited .settings/…component file as in previous lecture
• Original URL
– http://hostname/jsf-navigation/register.faces
• When form submitted
– A static page (WEB-INF/results/result.jsp) is displayed
• Static result
– No business logic, beans, or Java code of any sort
• Main points
– Format of original form
– Use of navigation-rule in faces-config.xml
10
 Main Points of This Example
• Input form has following format:
<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core" prefix="f" %>
<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html" prefix="h" %>
<f:view>
HTML markup
<h:form>
HTML markup and h:blah tags
</h:form>
HTML markup
</f:view>
• faces-config.xml specifies navigation rules:
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<!DOCTYPE faces-config PUBLIC …>
<faces-config>
<navigation-rule>
<from-view-id>/blah.jsp</from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<from-outcome>some string</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/something.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>
11 </faces-config>

Step 1: Create a Bean

• Postponed until next lecture
– This example ignores form data
– Button in form directly specifies return condition
• Rather than specifying an action controller method in the
bean that will calculate the return condition

12
 Step 2: Create Input Form
• Basic format
<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core" prefix="f" %>
<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html" prefix="h" %>
<f:view>
…
<BODY>
…
<h:form>
…
</h:form>
…
</BODY>
</f:view>

• Invoking page
– Actual file is blah.jsp
– URL is blah.faces
13

Step 2: Create Input Form

• The h:form element
– ACTION is automatically self (current URL)
– METHOD is automatically POST
• Elements inside h:form
– Use special tags to represent input elements
• h:inputText corresponds to <INPUT TYPE="TEXT">
• h:inputSecret corresponds to <INPUT TYPE="PASSWORD">
• h:commandButton corresponds to <INPUT TYPE="SUBMIT">
– In later sections, we will see that input elements will be associated
with bean properties
– For static navigation, specify simple string as action of
h:commandButton
• String must match navigation rule from faces-config.xml
• More info on h:blah elements
– http://java.sun.com/j2ee/javaserverfaces/1.1/docs/tlddocs/
14
 Step 2: Example Code
(register.jsp)
<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core" prefix="f" %>
<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html" prefix="h" %>
<f:view>
<!DOCTYPE …>
<HTML>
<HEAD>…</HEAD>
<BODY>
<CENTER>
<TABLE BORDER=5>
<TR><TH CLASS="TITLE">New Account Registration</TH></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>
<h:form>
Email address: <h:inputText/><BR>
Password: <h:inputSecret/><BR>
<h:commandButton value="Sign Me Up!" action="register"/>
</h:form>
</CENTER></BODY></HTML>
15 </f:view>

Step 2: Result
• File is …/WebContent/register.jsp
• URL is http://localhost/jsf-navigation/register.faces

16
 Step 3: Edit faces-config.xml
• General format
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<!DOCTYPE faces-config PUBLIC …>
<faces-config>
…
</faces-config>

• Specifying the navigation rules

…
<faces-config>
<navigation-rule>
<from-view-id>/the-input-form.jsp</from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<from-outcome>string-from-action</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/…/something.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>
</faces-config>
17

Step 3: Example Code

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<!DOCTYPE faces-config PUBLIC …>
<faces-config>
<navigation-rule>
<from-view-id>/register.jsp</from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<from-outcome>register</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/result.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>
</faces-config>

18
 Step 4: Create Results Pages
• RequestDispatcher.forward used
– So page can/should be in WEB-INF
• Example code:
– …/WEB-INF/results/result.jsp
<!DOCTYPE …>
<HTML>
<HEAD>…</HEAD>
<BODY>
<CENTER>
<TABLE BORDER=5>
<TR><TH CLASS="TITLE">Success</TH></TR>
</TABLE>
<H2>You have registered successfully.</H2>
</CENTER>
</BODY></HTML>
19

Step 4: Example Result

• Note that URL is unchanged

20
 Step 5: Prevent Direct Access
to JSP Pages
• Filename/URL correspondence
– Actual files are of the form blah.jsp
– URLs used are of the form blah.faces
– You must prevent clients from directly accessing JSP
pages
• Since they would give erroneous results
• Strategies
– You cannot put input-form JSP pages in WEB-INF
• Because URL must correspond directly to file location
– So, use filter in web.xml. But:
• You have to know the extension (.faces)
• Assumes no non-JSF .jsp pages
• This is a major drawback to JSF design
21

Direct Access to JSP Pages

22
 Preventing Direct Access:
FacesRedirectFilter
public class FacesRedirectFilter implements Filter {
private final static String EXTENSION = "faces";

public void doFilter(ServletRequest req,

ServletResponse res,
FilterChain chain)
throws ServletException, IOException {
HttpServletRequest request = (HttpServletRequest)req;
HttpServletResponse response = (HttpServletResponse)res;
String uri = request.getRequestURI();
if (uri.endsWith(".jsp")) {
int length = uri.length();
String newAddress =
uri.substring(0, length-3) + EXTENSION;
response.sendRedirect(newAddress);
} else { // Address ended in "/"
response.sendRedirect("index.faces");
}
}
...
23

Preventing Direct Access:

web.xml
...
<filter>
<filter-name>faces-redirect-filter</filter-name>
<filter-class>
coreservlets.FacesRedirectFilter
</filter-class>
</filter>
<filter-mapping>
<filter-name>faces-redirect-filter</filter-name>
<url-pattern>*.jsp</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>

24
 Preventing Direct Access:
Result
• Either URL
– http://localhost/jsf-navigation/register.faces
– http://localhost/jsf-navigation/register.jsp

25

© 2012 Marty Hall

Dynamic Navigation

Customized Java EE Training: http://courses.coreservlets.com/

Java, JSF 2, PrimeFaces, Servlets, JSP, Ajax, jQuery, Spring, Hibernate, RESTful Web Services, Hadoop, Android.
Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.
 JSF Flow of Control
(Simplified)

Blah.jsp faces-config.xml
- beans declared in managed-bean section
- mapping of return conditions
declared in navigation-rule section

Business
Logic
results

submit form Instantiate Run Action return Choose forward result1.jsp

POST request Blah.faces Bean Controller Method condition JSP result2.jsp
...
resultN.jsp

27

JSF Flow of Control (Simplified)

• A form is displayed
– Form uses f:view and h:form
• The form is submitted to itself
– Original URL and ACTION URL are http://…/blah.faces
• A bean is instantiated
– Listed in the managed-bean section of faces-config.xml
• The action controller method is invoked
– Listed in the action attribute of h:commandButton
• The action method returns a condition
– A string that matches from-outcome in the navigation
rules in faces-config.xml
• A results page is displayed
– The page is specified by to-view-id in the navigation
rules in faces-config.xml
28
 Steps in Using JSF
1) Create a bean
A) Properties for form data
B) Action controller method
C) Placeholders for results data
2) Create an input form
A) Input fields refer to bean properties
B) Button specifies action controller method that will return condition
3) Edit faces-config.xml
A) Declare the bean
B) Specify navigation rules
4) Create results pages
– Output form data and results data with h:outputText
5) Prevent direct access to JSP pages
– Use a filter that redirects blah.jsp to blah.faces
29

Example: Health Plan Signup

• Original URL
– http://hostname/jsf-navigation/signup.faces
• Collects info to see if user qualifies for health plan
• When form submitted, one of two possible
results will be displayed
– User is accepted into health plan
– User is rejected from health plan
• Main points
– Specifying an action controller in the form
– Creating an action controller method in the bean
– Using faces-config.xml to
• Declare bean
30 • Map return conditions to output pages
 Main Points of This Example
• Specify the controller with #{beanName.methodName}
<h:commandButton
value="Sign Me Up!"
action="#{healthPlanController.signup}"/>
• Controller method returns strings corresponding to conditions
– If null is returned, the form is redisplayed
– Unlike with Struts, the controller need not extend a special class
• Use faces-config.xml to declare the controller as follows
<faces-config>
<managed-bean>
<managed-bean-name>controller name</managed-bean-name>
<managed-bean-class>controller class</managed-bean-class>
<managed-bean-scope>request</managed-bean-scope>
</managed-bean>
</faces-config> Scope could also be session or application

• Add multiple navigation-rule entries to faces-config.xml

– One for each possible string returned by the controller
31
– If no string matches, the form is redisplayed

Step 1: Create a Bean

(A) Properties for form data
– Postponed until next lecture
(B) Action controller method
public class HealthPlanController {
public String signup() {
if (Math.random() < 0.2) {
return("accepted");
} else {
return("rejected");
}
}
}
(C) Placeholders for results data
– Postponed until next lecture

32
 Step 2: Create Input Form
• Same general syntax as in previous example
– Except for action of commandButton

<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core" prefix="f" %>

<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html" prefix="h" %>
<f:view>
…
<h:form>
First name: <h:inputText/><BR>
Last name: <h:inputText/><BR>
...
<h:commandButton
value="Sign Me Up!"
action="#{healthPlanController.signup}"/>
</h:form>…
</f:view>
33

Step 2: Result
• File is …/WebContent/signup.jsp
• URL is http://localhost/jsf-navigation/signup.faces

34
 Step 3: Edit faces-config.xml
(A) Declaring the bean
…
<faces-config>
<managed-bean>
<managed-bean-name>
healthPlanController
</managed-bean-name>
<managed-bean-class>
coreservlets.HealthPlanController
</managed-bean-class>
<managed-bean-scope>request</managed-bean-scope>
</managed-bean>
…
</faces-config> Use request scope unless you have
a specific reason to use session scope
or (rarely) application scope

35

Step 3: Edit faces-config.xml

(B) Specifying navigation rules
– Outcomes should match return values of controller
<faces-config>
… (bean definitions
from previous page)
<navigation-rule>
<from-view-id>/signup.jsp</from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<from-outcome>accepted</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/accepted.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
<navigation-case>
<from-outcome>rejected</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/rejected.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>
36 </faces-config>
 Step 4: Create Results Pages
• …/WEB-INF/results/accepted.jsp

<!DOCTYPE …>
<HTML>
<HEAD>…</HEAD>
<BODY>
<CENTER>
<TABLE BORDER=5>
<TR><TH CLASS="TITLE">Accepted!</TH></TR>
</TABLE>
<H2>You are accepted into our health plan.</H2>
Congratulations.
</CENTER>
</BODY></HTML>

37

Step 4: Create Results Pages

(Continued)
• …/WEB-INF/results/rejected.jsp

<!DOCTYPE …>
<HTML>
<HEAD>…</HEAD>
<BODY>
<CENTER>
<TABLE BORDER=5>
<TR><TH CLASS="TITLE">Rejected!</TH></TR>
</TABLE>
<H2>You are rejected from our health plan.</H2>
Get lost.
</CENTER>
</BODY></HTML>

38
 Step 4: Results

39

Step 5: Prevent Direct Access

to JSP Pages
• Use filter that captures url-pattern *.jsp
– No changes from previous example

40
 © 2012 Marty Hall

Notes and
Additional Capabilities

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Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.

Summary
• Wildcards in navigation rule
– * for from-view-id matches any starting page
– Omitting from-outcome results in all values matching
• from-action in addition to from-outcome
– For when different buttons invoke different methods and methods
have same values mapped differently. Overused.
• Getting the request and response objects
ExternalContext context =
FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getExternalContext();
HttpServletRequest request =
(HttpServletRequest)context.getRequest();
HttpServletResponse response =
(HttpServletResponse)context.getResponse();
• Interleaving managed-bean & navigation-rule
– It is legal to alternate back and forth

42
 Wildcards in Navigation Rules
• * for from-view-id matches any starting page
– Used when multiple different pages map same return
value to same result page

• Example
<navigation-rule>
<from-view-id>*</from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<from-outcome>success</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/success.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>

43

Without Wildcards
<navigation-rule>
<from-view-id>/page1.jsp</from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<from-outcome>condition1</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/result1.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
<navigation-case>
<from-outcome>unknown-user</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/unknown.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>
<navigation-rule>
<from-view-id>/page2.jsp</from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<from-outcome>condition2</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/result2.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
<navigation-case>
<from-outcome>unknown-user</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/unknown.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>
44
 With Wildcards
<navigation-rule>
<from-view-id>*</from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<from-outcome>unknown-user</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/unknown.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>
<navigation-rule>
<from-view-id>/page1.jsp</from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<from-outcome>condition1</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/result1.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>
<navigation-rule>
<from-view-id>/page2.jsp</from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<from-outcome>condition2</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/result2.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>

45

Wildcard Matching Return

Conditions
• Omitting from-outcome means all other
return conditions match
– Except for null, which always means redisplay form
• Example
<navigation-rule>
<from-view-id>/some-page.jsp</from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<from-outcome>condition1</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/result1.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
<navigation-case>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/default.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>

46
 Explicit from-outcome
<navigation-rule>
<from-view-id>/page1.jsp</from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<from-outcome>condition1</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/result1.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
<navigation-case>
<from-outcome>condition2</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/result2.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
<navigation-case>
<from-outcome>condition3</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/result2.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
<navigation-case>
<from-outcome>condition4</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/result2.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>
47

Default (Omitted) from-outcome

<navigation-rule>
<from-view-id>/page1.jsp</from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<from-outcome>condition1</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/result1.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
<navigation-case>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/result2.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>

48
 from-action
• Designates the method that you came from
– Suppose you had two buttons that invoked two different methods,
and both returned "error". But you want the two "error" values to
have different results pages.
<navigation-rule>
<from-view-id>/somepage.jsp</from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<from-action>#{beanName.method1}</from-action>
<from-outcome>error</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/err1.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
<navigation-case>
<from-action>#{beanName.method2}</from-action>
<from-outcome>error</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/err2.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>
– Easier to avoid using the same names for different things
– Rarely needed in real life, but some books (JSF The Complete
Reference) use it needlessly.
49

Getting the Request

and Response Objects
• JSF controller methods do not have direct
access to the request and response
– Unlike in Struts, where controller method (execute) gets
request and response automatically
– If they are needed, use static method calls to get them
ExternalContext context =
FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getExternalContext();
HttpServletRequest request =
(HttpServletRequest)context.getRequest();
HttpServletResponse response =
(HttpServletResponse)context.getResponse();
– In some environments, you cast results of getRequest and
getResponse to values other than HttpServletRequest and
HttpServletResponse
• E.g., in a portlet environment, you might cast result to
PortletRequest and PortletResponse
50
 Getting the Request
and Response Objects
• Purpose
– Useful for many request properties
• Explicit session manipulation (e.g., changing inactive
interval or invalidating session)
• Explicit cookie manipulation (e.g., long-lived cookies)
• Reading request headers (e.g., User-Agent)
• Looking up requesting host name
• Not needed to get request parameters
– Bean populated automatically as in next lecture
– Useful for a few response properties
• Setting status codes
• Setting response headers
• Setting long-lived cookies

51

Interleaving managed-bean and

navigation-rule
• If you have several different addresses in
your app, it is OK to alternate
<managed-bean>
Stuff for bean1
</managed-bean>
<navigation-rule>
Rules for address that uses bean1
</navigation-rule>
<managed-bean>
Stuff for bean2
</managed-bean>
<navigation-rule>
Rules for address that uses bean2
</navigation-rule>
– Of course, it is also OK to put all bean defs at the top,
followed by all navigation rules.
• Whichever organization you find easier to manage
52
 © 2012 Marty Hall

Common Problems

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Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.

Pressing Button and Nothing

Happens
• In JSF, many error conditions simply result
in the system redisplaying the form
– No error messages or warnings
– Very confusing to beginning developers
• Debugging strategies for these situations
– Many of the errors cause the process to abort at certain
points. Knowing how far things got is very helpful.
– Use print statements or IDE breakpoints
• Put a print statement in the controller method
• Put a print statement in the empty constructor
– public MyBean() { System.out.println("MyBean built"); }
– Bean should be instantiated twice for request scope
• Put print statements in the bean setter methods
54
 Pressing Button and Nothing
Happens: Common Cases
1. Return value of controller method does not
match from-outcome of navigation-case
• Remember values are case sensitive
2. Using from-action instead of from-outcome
Should be from-outcome, not from-action
<navigation-case>
<from-action>accepted</from-action>
<to-view-id>/WEB-INF/results/accepted.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
• This is really a special case of (1), since there is now no
from-outcome
• This situation occurs frequently with Eclipse users that
don't look carefully at the choices Eclipse offers in
popup menu for the navigation-case entries.
55

Pressing Button and Nothing

Happens: Common Cases
3. Forgetting # in action of h:commandButton
<h:commandButton Should have # here
value="Button Label"
action="{beanName.methodName}"/>
• This is really a special case of (1), since
action="beanName.methodName" means the literal
String "beanName.methodName" is the from-outcome
• In this situation and several others, it is very helpful to
put a print statement in controller method to see if/when
it is invoked
4. Typo in from-view-id
• This is a special case of (1), since the from-outcome
applies to nonexistent page
56
 Pressing Button and Nothing
Happens: Common Cases
5. Controller method returns null
• This is often done on purpose to redisplay the form, but can be
done accidentally as well.
6. Type conversion error
• You declare field to be of type int, but value is not an integer
when you submit.
• Behavior of redisplaying form is useful here.
See validation section.
7. Missing setter method
• You associate textfield with bean property foo, but there is no
setFoo method in your bean.
• Debugging hint: You will see printout for bean being
instantiated, but not for controller method
8. Missing h:form
• If you use h:inputText with no surrounding h:form, textfields will
still appear but nothing will happen when you press submit button
57

Summary
• Basic steps to using JSF
– Create a bean
• For now, only contains controller method
– Create an input form
• The action of h:commandButton refers to controller method
– Edit faces-config.xml
• Declare bean
• Define navigation rules
– Create results pages
– Prevent direct access to JSP pages
• Static navigation
– Specify literal outcome as action of button
• Outcome mapped by faces-config.xml to output page
• Dynamic navigation
– Specify method as action of button
– Method returns outcomes
58 • Outcomes mapped by faces-config.xml to output pages
 © 2012 Marty Hall

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