JavaServer™ Faces Specification

Version 2.0
Ed Burns, Roger Kitain, editors
Ea 0 8
rly 09
20

D
ra
10

ft
Re
vi
ew

See <https://javaserverfaces-spec-public.dev.java.net/>
2

to comment on and discuss this specification.

Sun Microsystems, Inc.

4150 Network Circle
Santa Clara, CA 95054 U.S.A.
650-960-1300

September 2008

Submit comments about this document to [email protected]

Specification: JSR-000314 JavaServer(tm) Faces Specification ("Specification")

Version: 2.0

Status: Early Draft Review 2

Release: 10 September 2008

Copyright 2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc.

4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara, California 95054, U.S.A

All rights reserved.

NOTICE
The Specification is protected by copyright and the information described therein may be protected by one or more U.S. patents, foreign patents, or pending
applications. Except as provided under the following license, no part of the Specification may be reproduced in any form by any means without the prior
written authorization of Sun Microsystems, Inc. ("Sun") and its licensors, if any. Any use of the Specification and the information described therein will be
governed by the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

Subject to the terms and conditions of this license, including your compliance with Paragraphs 1 and 2 below, Sun hereby grants you a fully-paid, non-
exclusive, non-transferable, limited license (without the right to sublicense) under Sun's intellectual property rights to:

1.Review the Specification for the purposes of evaluation. This includes: (i) developing implementations of the Specification for your internal, non-
commercial use; (ii) discussing the Specification with any third party; and (iii) excerpting brief portions of the Specification in oral or written communications
which discuss the Specification provided that such excerpts do not in the aggregate constitute a significant portion of the Technology.
2.Distribute implementations of the Specification to third parties for their testing and evaluation use, provided that any such implementation:
(i) does not modify, subset, superset or otherwise extend the Licensor Name Space, or include any public or protected packages, classes, Java interfaces, fields
or methods within the Licensor Name Space other than those required/authorized by the Specification or Specifications being implemented;
(ii) is clearly and prominently marked with the word "UNTESTED" or "EARLY ACCESS" or "INCOMPATIBLE" or "UNSTABLE" or "BETA" in any list
of available builds and in proximity to every link initiating its download, where the list or link is under Licensee's control; and
(iii) includes the following notice:
"This is an implementation of an early-draft specification developed under the Java Community Process (JCP) and is made available for testing and evaluation
purposes only. The code is not compatible with any specification of the JCP."
The grant set forth above concerning your distribution of implementations of the specification is contingent upon your agreement to terminate development
and distribution of your "early draft" implementation as soon as feasible following final completion of the specification. If you fail to do so, the foregoing grant
shall be considered null and void.
No provision of this Agreement shall be understood to restrict your ability to make and distribute to third parties applications written to the Specification.
Other than this limited license, you acquire no right, title or interest in or to the Specification or any other Sun intellectual property, and the Specification may
only be used in accordance with the license terms set forth herein. This license will expire on the earlier of: (a) two (2) years from the date of Release listed
above; (b) the date on which the final version of the Specification is publicly released; or (c) the date on which the Java Specification Request (JSR) to which
the Specification corresponds is withdrawn. In addition, this license will terminate immediately without notice from Sun if you fail to comply with any
provision of this license. Upon termination, you must cease use of or destroy the Specification.
"Licensor Name Space" means the public class or interface declarations whose names begin with "java", "javax", "com.sun" or their equivalents in any
subsequent naming convention adopted by Sun through the Java Community Process, or any recognized successors or replacements thereof
TRADEMARKS
No right, title, or interest in or to any trademarks, service marks, or trade names of Sun or Sun's licensors is granted hereunder. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun
logo, Java, JavaServer, JavaServer Faces are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES
THE SPECIFICATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND IS EXPERIMENTAL AND MAY CONTAIN DEFECTS OR DEFICIENCIES WHICH CANNOT OR
WILL NOT BE CORRECTED BY SUN. SUN MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT THAT
THE CONTENTS OF THE SPECIFICATION ARE SUITABLE FOR ANY PURPOSE OR THAT ANY PRACTICE OR IMPLEMENTATION OF SUCH
CONTENTS WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY THIRD PARTY PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, TRADE SECRETS OR OTHER RIGHTS. This document does not
represent any commitment to release or implement any portion of the Specification in any product.

THE SPECIFICATION COULD INCLUDE TECHNICAL INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. CHANGES ARE PERIODICALLY
ADDED TO THE INFORMATION THEREIN; THESE CHANGES WILL BE INCORPORATED INTO NEW VERSIONS OF THE SPECIFICATION, IF
ANY. SUN MAY MAKE IMPROVEMENTS AND/OR CHANGES TO THE PRODUCT(S) AND/OR THE PROGRAM(S) DESCRIBED IN THE
SPECIFICATION AT ANY TIME. Any use of such changes in the Specification will be governed by the then-current license for the applicable version of the
Specification.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
TO THE EXTENT NOT PROHIBITED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL SUN OR ITS LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING
WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOST REVENUE, PROFITS OR DATA, OR FOR SPECIAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL OR PUNITIVE
DAMAGES, HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF THE THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO ANY FURNISHING,
PRACTICING, MODIFYING OR ANY USE OF THE SPECIFICATION, EVEN IF SUN AND/OR ITS LICENSORS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

You will hold Sun (and its licensors) harmless from any claims based on your use of the Specification for any purposes other than the limited right of evaluation
as described above, and from any claims that later versions or releases of any Specification furnished to you are incompatible with the Specification provided
to you under this license.

RESTRICTED RIGHTS LEGEND

If this Software is being acquired by or on behalf of the U.S. Government or by a U.S. Government prime contractor or subcontractor (at any tier), then the
Government's rights in the Software and accompanying documentation shall be only as set forth in this license; this is in accordance with 48 C.F.R. 227.7201
through 227.7202-4 (for Department of Defense (DoD) acquisitions) and with 48 C.F.R. 2.101 and 12.212 (for non-DoD acquisitions).

REPORT
You may wish to report any ambiguities, inconsistencies or inaccuracies you may find in connection with your evaluation of the Specification ("Feedback").
To the extent that you provide Sun with any Feedback, you hereby: (i) agree that such Feedback is provided on a non-proprietary and non-confidential basis,
and (ii) grant Sun a perpetual, non-exclusive, worldwide, fully paid-up, irrevocable license, with the right to sublicense through multiple levels of sublicensees,
to incorporate, disclose, and use without limitation the Feedback for any purpose related to the Specification and future versions, implementations, and test
suites thereof.

GENERAL TERMS
Any action related to this Agreement will be governed by California law and controlling U.S. federal law. The U.N. Convention for the International Sale of
Goods and the choice of law rules of any jurisdiction will not apply.

The Specification is subject to U.S. export control laws and may be subject to export or import regulations in other countries. Licensee agrees to comply strictly
with all such laws and regulations and acknowledges that it has the responsibility to obtain such licenses to export, re-export or import as may be required after
delivery to Licensee.

This Agreement is the parties' entire agreement relating to its subject matter. It supersedes all prior or contemporaneous oral or written communications,
proposals, conditions, representations and warranties and prevails over any conflicting or additional terms of any quote, order, acknowledgment, or other
communication between the parties relating to its subject matter during the term of this Agreement. No modification to this Agreement will be binding, unless
in writing and signed by an authorized representative of each party.
Contents

Preface 1
Changes between 1.2 Final and Early Draft Review 2 1
Section 2.1 “Request Processing Lifecycle Scenarios” 1
Section 2.2 “Standard Request Processing Lifecycle Phases” 1
Section 2.2.1 “Restore View” 2
Section 2.2.2 “Apply Request Values” 2
Section 2.2.2.1 “Apply Request Values Partial Processing” 2
Section 2.2.3 “Process Validations” 2
Section 2.2.3.1 “Partial Validations Partial Processing” 2
Section 2.2.4 “Update Model Values” 2
Section 2.2.4.1 “Update Model Values Partial Processing” 2
Section 2.2.6 “Render Response” 3
New Section 2.6 “Resource Handling” 3
New Section 2.6.2 “Rendering Resources” 3
New Section 2.6.2.1 “Relocatable Resources” 3
New Section 2.6.2.2 “Resource Rendering Using Annotations” 3
Section 3.1.8 “Component Tree Navigation” 3
Section 3.1.10 “Generic Attributes” 4
Section 3.1.10.1 “Special Attributes” 4

Contents iv
 Section 3.1.12 “Component Specialization Methods” 4
Section 3.1.13 “Lifecycle Management Methods” 4
Section 3.1.14 “Utility Methods” 4
Section 3.2.5.1 “Properties” 4
Section 3.2.6.2 “Methods” 4
Section 3.2.7 “SystemEventListenerHolder” 5
Section 3.3.2 “Converter” 5
Section 3.4.1 “Overview” 5
Section 3.4.2.6 “Event Broadcasting” 5
Section 3.4.3.1 “Event Classes” 5
Section 3.4.3.4 “Listener Registration By Annotation” 5
Section 3.5.2 “Validator Classes” 5
Section 4.1.17.2 “Properties” 6
Specify the viewMap property on UIViewRoot. 6
Section 4.1.17.3 “Methods” 6
Section 4.1.17.4 “Events” 6
Section 4.1.17.5 “Partial Processing” 6
Section 4.2.1.2 “Methods” 6
Section 3.6 “Composite User Interface Components” 6
Section 5.2.1 “MethodExpression Syntax and Semantics” 6
Section 5.4.1 “Managed Bean Lifecycle Annotations” 7
Section 5.6.1.1 “Faces Implicit Object ELResolver for Markup Pages” and
Section 5.6.2.1 “Implicit Object ELResolver for Programmatic Access”
7
Section 5.6.1.2 “ManagedBean ELResolver” 7
Section 5.6.2.1 “Implicit Object ELResolver for Programmatic Access” 7
Section 5.6.2.4 “Resource ELResolver” 7
Section 6.1.2 “Attributes” 7
Section 6.1.8 “ResponseStream and ResponseWriter” 8

v JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

Section 6.1.10 “Partial Processing Constants And Methods” 8
Section 6.1.11 “Access To The Current FacesContext Instance” 8
Section 7.1.8 “ProjectStage Property” 8
Section 7.1.13 “System Event Methods” 8
Section 7.5.1 “Overview” 8
Section 7.5.2 “Default ViewHandler Implementation” 8
Section 8.1 “RenderKit” 9
Section 8.2 “Renderer” 9
Section 9.4.3 “<f:convertDateTime>” 9
Section 9.4.4 “<f:convertNumber>” 9
Section 9.4.14 “<f:validateDoubleRange>” 9
Section 9.4.15 “<f:validateLength>” 9
Section 9.4.16 “<f:validateLongRange>” 9
Section 9.4.20 “<f:view>” 9
Section “Facelets and its use in Web Applications” 10
Section 11.1.3 “Application Configuration Parameters” 10
Section 11.4.4 “Configuration Impact on JSF Runtime” 10
Section 11.5 “Annotations that correspond to and may take the place of entries in
the Application Configuration Resources” 10
Section 12.2 “PhaseEvent” 10
Chapter 13 “Ajax Integration 10
Section 13.1 “Ajax JavaScript Resource” 11
Section 13.1.1 “Ajax Resource Loading” 11
Section 13.1.1.1 “The Annotation Approach” 11
Section 13.1.1.2 “The Resource API Approach” 11
Section 13.1.1.3 “The Page Declaration Language Approach” 11
Section 13.2 “JavaScript Namespacing” 11
Section 13.3 “Ajax JavaScript API” 11
Section 13.3.1 “Collecting and Encoding View State” 12

Contents vi
 Section 13.3.1.1 “Use Case” 12
Section 13.3.2 “Sending an Ajax Request” 12
Section 13.3.2.1 “Usage” 12
Section 13.3.2.2 “Request Sending Specifics” 12
Section 13.3.2.3 “Use Case” 12
Section 13.3.2.4 “Ajax Request Queueing” 12
Section 13.3.2.5 “Request Callback Function Specifics” 13
Section 13.3.3 “Processing The Ajax Response” 13
Section 13.4 “Partial View Traversal” 13
Section 13.4.1 “Partial View Execute” 13
Section 13.4.2 “Partial View Render” 13
Section 13.4.3 “Sending The Response to The Client” 13
Section 1.1 “XML Schema Definition” 13
Standard HTML RenderKit specification 14
component-family: javax.faces.Graphic renderer-type:
javax.faces.Image 14
component-family: javax.faces.Output renderer-type: javax.faces.Body
14
component-family: javax.faces.Output renderer-type: javax.faces.Head
14
component-family: javax.faces.Output renderer-type:
javax.faces.resource.Script 14
component-family: javax.faces.Output renderer-type:
javax.faces.resource.Stylesheet 14
General Changes 14
Other Java™ Platform Specifications 15
Related Documents and Specifications 16
Terminology 16
Providing Feedback 16
Acknowledgements 16

vii JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

1. Overview 1–17
1.1 Solving Practical Problems of the Web 1–17
1.2 Specification Audience 1–18
1.2.1 Page Authors 1–18
1.2.2 Component Writers 1–19
1.2.3 Application Developers 1–20
1.2.4 Tool Providers 1–20
1.2.5 JSF Implementors 1–21
1.3 Introduction to JSF APIs 1–21
1.3.1 package javax.faces 1–22
1.3.2 package javax.faces.application 1–22
1.3.3 package javax.faces.component 1–22
1.3.4 package javax.faces.component.html 1–22
1.3.5 package javax.faces.context 1–22
1.3.6 package javax.faces.convert 1–23
1.3.7 package javax.faces.el 1–23
1.3.8 package javax.faces.lifecycle 1–23
1.3.9 package javax.faces.event 1–23
1.3.10 package javax.faces.render 1–23
1.3.11 package javax.faces.validator 1–24
1.3.12 package javax.faces.webapp 1–24

2. Request Processing Lifecycle 2–1

2.1 Request Processing Lifecycle Scenarios 2–3
2.1.1 Non-Faces Request Generates Faces Response 2–3
2.1.2 Faces Request Generates Faces Response 2–3
2.1.3 Faces Request Generates Non-Faces Response 2–5
2.2 Standard Request Processing Lifecycle Phases 2–5
2.2.1 Restore View 2–5

Contents viii
 2.2.2 Apply Request Values 2–7
2.2.2.1 Apply Request Values Partial Processing 2–8
2.2.3 Process Validations 2–8
2.2.3.1 Partial Validations Partial Processing 2–9
2.2.4 Update Model Values 2–10
2.2.4.1 Update Model Values Partial Processing 2–10
2.2.5 Invoke Application 2–11
2.2.6 Render Response 2–11
2.3 Common Event Processing 2–13
2.4 Common Application Activities 2–14
2.4.1 Acquire Faces Object References 2–14
2.4.1.1 Acquire and Configure Lifecycle Reference 2–14
2.4.1.2 Acquire and Configure FacesContext Reference 2–15
2.4.2 Create And Configure A New View 2–15
2.4.2.1 Create A New View 2–15
2.4.2.2 Configure the Desired RenderKit 2–16
2.4.2.3 Configure The View’s Components 2–17
2.4.2.4 Store the new View in the FacesContext 2–17
2.5 Concepts that impact several lifecycle phases 2–17
2.5.1 Value Handling 2–17
2.5.1.1 Apply Request Values Phase 2–18
2.5.1.2 Process Validators Phase 2–18
2.5.1.3 Executing Validation 2–18
2.5.1.4 Update Model Values Phase 2–18
2.5.2 Localization and Internationalization (L10N/I18N) 2–19
2.5.2.1 Determining the active Locale 2–19
2.5.2.2 Determining the Character Encoding 2–20
2.5.2.3 Localized Text 2–20

ix JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 2.5.2.4 Localized Application Messages 2–21
2.5.3 State Management 2–24
2.5.3.1 State Management Considerations for the Custom Component
Author 2–25
2.5.3.2 State Management Considerations for the JSF Implementor
2–26
2.6 Resource Handling 2–27
2.6.1 Packaging Resources 2–27
2.6.1.1 Packaging Resources into the Web Application Root 2–27
2.6.1.2 Packaging Resources into the Classpath 2–27
2.6.1.3 Resource Identifiers 2–28
2.6.1.4 Libraries of Localized and Versioned Resources 2–29
2.6.2 Rendering Resources 2–33
2.6.2.1 Relocatable Resources 2–33
2.6.2.2 Resource Rendering Using Annotations 2–34

3. User Interface Component Model 3–1

3.1 UIComponent and UIComponentBase 3–2
3.1.1 Component Identifiers 3–2
3.1.2 Component Type 3–3
3.1.3 Component Family 3–3
3.1.4 ValueExpression properties 3–3
3.1.5 Component Bindings 3–4
3.1.6 Client Identifiers 3–5
3.1.7 Component Tree Manipulation 3–5
3.1.8 Component Tree Navigation 3–6
3.1.9 Facet Management 3–8
3.1.10 Generic Attributes 3–9
3.1.10.1 Special Attributes 3–10
3.1.11 Render-Independent Properties 3–11

Contents x
 3.1.12 Component Specialization Methods 3–12
3.1.13 Lifecycle Management Methods 3–14
3.1.14 Utility Methods 3–15
3.2 Component Behavioral Interfaces 3–16
3.2.1 ActionSource 3–16
3.2.1.1 Properties 3–17
3.2.1.2 Methods 3–17
3.2.1.3 Events 3–18
3.2.2 ActionSource2 3–18
3.2.2.1 Properties 3–19
3.2.2.2 Methods 3–19
3.2.2.3 Events 3–19
3.2.3 NamingContainer 3–19
3.2.4 StateHolder 3–20
3.2.4.1 Properties 3–20
3.2.4.2 Methods 3–20
3.2.4.3 Events 3–21
3.2.5 ValueHolder 3–21
3.2.5.1 Properties 3–22
3.2.5.2 Methods 3–22
3.2.5.3 Events 3–22
3.2.6 EditableValueHolder 3–23
3.2.6.1 Properties 3–23
3.2.6.2 Methods 3–24
3.2.6.3 Events 3–25
3.2.7 SystemEventListenerHolder 3–25
3.2.7.1 Properties 3–25
3.2.7.2 Methods 3–25

xi JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 3.2.7.3 Events 3–26
3.3 Conversion Model 3–27
3.3.1 Overview 3–27
3.3.2 Converter 3–27
3.3.3 Standard Converter Implementations 3–29
3.4 Event and Listener Model 3–31
3.4.1 Overview 3–31
3.4.2 Application Events 3–33
3.4.2.1 Event Classes 3–33
3.4.2.2 Listener Classes 3–34
3.4.2.3 Phase Identifiers 3–35
3.4.2.4 Listener Registration 3–35
3.4.2.5 Event Queueing 3–35
3.4.2.6 Event Broadcasting 3–36
3.4.3 System Events 3–36
3.4.3.1 Event Classes 3–37
3.4.3.2 Listener Classes 3–37
3.4.3.3 Listener Registration 3–38
3.4.3.4 Listener Registration By Annotation 3–38
3.4.3.5 Event Broadcasting 3–38
3.5 Validation Model 3–39
3.5.1 Overview 3–39
3.5.2 Validator Classes 3–39
3.5.3 Validation Registration 3–39
3.5.4 Validation Processing 3–40
3.5.5 Standard Validator Implementations 3–41
3.6 Composite User Interface Components 3–42
3.6.1 Non-normative Background 3–42

Contents xii
 3.6.1.1 What does it mean to be a JSF User Interface component?
3–42
3.6.1.2 How does one make a custom JSF User Interface component
(JSF 1.2 and earlier)? 3–43
3.6.1.3 How does one make a composite component? 3–44
3.6.1.4 A simple composite component example 3–45
3.6.1.5 Walk through of the run-time for the simple composite
component example 3–47
3.6.1.6 Composite Component Terms 3–48
3.6.2 Composite Component Metadata 3–49

4. Standard User Interface Components 4–1

4.1 Standard User Interface Components 4–1
4.1.1 UIColumn 4–4
4.1.1.1 Component Type 4–4
4.1.1.2 Properties 4–4
4.1.1.3 Methods 4–4
4.1.1.4 Events 4–4
4.1.2 UICommand 4–5
4.1.2.1 Component Type 4–5
4.1.2.2 Properties 4–5
4.1.2.3 Methods 4–5
4.1.2.4 Events 4–5
4.1.3 UIData 4–6
4.1.3.1 Component Type 4–6
4.1.3.2 Properties 4–6
4.1.3.3 Methods 4–7
4.1.3.4 Events 4–8
4.1.4 UIForm 4–9
4.1.4.1 Component Type 4–9

xiii JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 4.1.4.2 Properties 4–9
4.1.4.3 Methods. 4–9
4.1.4.4 Events 4–10
4.1.5 UIGraphic 4–11
4.1.5.1 Component Type 4–11
4.1.5.2 Properties 4–11
4.1.5.3 Methods 4–11
4.1.5.4 Events 4–11
4.1.6 UIInput 4–12
4.1.6.1 Component Type 4–12
4.1.6.2 Properties 4–12
4.1.6.3 Methods 4–13
4.1.6.4 Events 4–14
4.1.7 UIMessage 4–15
4.1.7.1 Component Type 4–15
4.1.7.2 Properties 4–15
4.1.7.3 Methods. 4–15
4.1.7.4 Events 4–16
4.1.8 UIMessages 4–17
4.1.8.1 Component Type 4–17
4.1.8.2 Properties 4–17
4.1.8.3 Methods. 4–17
4.1.8.4 Events 4–17
4.1.9 UIOutput 4–18
4.1.9.1 Component Type 4–18
4.1.9.2 Properties 4–18
4.1.9.3 Methods 4–18
4.1.9.4 Events 4–18

Contents xiv
 4.1.10 UIPanel 4–19
4.1.10.1 Component Type 4–19
4.1.10.2 Properties 4–19
4.1.10.3 Methods 4–19
4.1.10.4 Events 4–19
4.1.11 UIParameter 4–20
4.1.11.1 Component Type 4–20
4.1.11.2 Properties 4–20
4.1.11.3 Methods 4–20
4.1.11.4 Events 4–20
4.1.12 UISelectBoolean 4–21
4.1.12.1 Component Type 4–21
4.1.12.2 Properties 4–21
4.1.12.3 Methods 4–21
4.1.12.4 Events 4–21
4.1.13 UISelectItem 4–22
4.1.13.1 Component Type 4–22
4.1.13.2 Properties 4–22
4.1.13.3 Methods 4–23
4.1.13.4 Events 4–23
4.1.14 UISelectItems 4–24
4.1.14.1 Component Type 4–24
4.1.14.2 Properties 4–24
4.1.14.3 Methods 4–24
4.1.14.4 Events 4–25
4.1.15 UISelectMany 4–26
4.1.15.1 Component Type 4–26
4.1.15.2 Properties 4–26

xv JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 4.1.15.3 Methods 4–26
4.1.15.4 Events 4–27
4.1.16 UISelectOne 4–28
4.1.16.1 Component Type 4–28
4.1.16.2 Properties 4–28
4.1.16.3 Methods 4–28
4.1.16.4 Events 4–28
4.1.17 UIViewRoot 4–29
4.1.17.1 Component Type 4–29
4.1.17.2 Properties 4–29
4.1.17.3 Methods 4–30
4.1.17.4 Events 4–31
4.1.17.5 Partial Processing 4–31
4.2 Standard UIComponent Model Beans 4–32
4.2.1 DataModel 4–32
4.2.1.1 Properties 4–32
4.2.1.2 Methods 4–33
4.2.1.3 Events 4–33
4.2.1.4 Concrete Implementations 4–33
4.2.2 SelectItem 4–34
4.2.2.1 Properties 4–34
4.2.2.2 Methods 4–34
4.2.2.3 Events 4–34
4.2.3 SelectItemGroup 4–35
4.2.3.1 Properties 4–35
4.2.3.2 Methods 4–35
4.2.3.3 Events 4–35

5. Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5–1

Contents xvi
 5.1 Value Expressions 5–2
5.1.1 Overview 5–2
5.1.2 Value Expression Syntax and Semantics 5–3
5.2 MethodExpressions 5–3
5.2.1 MethodExpression Syntax and Semantics 5–5
5.3 The Managed Bean Facility 5–5
5.3.1 Managed Bean Configuration Example 5–10
5.4 Leveraging Java EE 5 Annotations in Managed Beans 5–13
5.4.1 Managed Bean Lifecycle Annotations 5–14
5.5 How Faces Leverages the Unified EL 5–15
5.5.1 ELContext 5–15
5.5.1.1 Lifetime, Ownership and Cardinality 5–15
5.5.1.2 Properties 5–16
5.5.1.3 Methods 5–16
5.5.1.4 Events 5–16
5.5.2 ELResolver 5–16
5.5.2.1 Lifetime, Ownership, and Cardinality 5–17
5.5.2.2 Properties 5–17
5.5.2.3 Methods 5–17
5.5.2.4 Events 5–18
5.5.3 ExpressionFactory 5–18
5.5.3.1 Lifetime, Ownership, and Cardinality 5–18
5.5.3.2 Properties 5–18
5.5.3.3 Methods 5–19
5.5.3.4 Events 5–19
5.6 ELResolver Instances Provided by Faces 5–19
5.6.1 Faces ELResolver for Markup Pages 5–20
5.6.1.1 Faces Implicit Object ELResolver for Markup Pages 5–21

xvii JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 5.6.1.2 ManagedBean ELResolver 5–23
5.6.1.3 Resource ELResolver 5–25
5.6.1.4 ResourceBundle ELResolver for Markup Pages 5–25
5.6.1.5 ELResolvers in the application configuration resources 5–
27
5.6.1.6 VariableResolver Chain Wrapper 5–28
5.6.1.7 PropertyResolver Chain Wrapper 5–29
5.6.1.8 ELResolvers from Application.addELResolver() 5–30
5.6.2 ELResolver for Programmatic Access 5–30
5.6.2.1 Implicit Object ELResolver for Programmatic Access 5–33
5.6.2.2 The CompositeELResolver 5–38
5.6.2.3 ManagedBean ELResolver 5–38
5.6.2.4 Resource ELResolver 5–38
5.6.2.5 el.ResourceBundleELResolver 5–40
5.6.2.6 ResourceBundle ELResolver for Programmatic Access 5–
40
5.6.2.7 Map, List, Array, and Bean ELResolvers 5–40
5.6.2.8 ScopedAttribute ELResolver 5–40
5.7 Current Expression Evaluation APIs 5–42
5.7.1 ELResolver 5–42
5.7.2 ValueExpression 5–42
5.7.3 MethodExpression 5–43
5.7.4 Expression Evaluation Exceptions 5–43
5.8 Deprecated Expression Evaluation APIs 5–43
5.8.1 VariableResolver and the Default VariableResolver 5–43
5.8.2 PropertyResolver and the Default PropertyResolver 5–44
5.8.3 ValueBinding 5–44
5.8.4 MethodBinding 5–45
5.8.5 Expression Evaluation Exceptions 5–46

Contents xviii
 6. Per-Request State Information 6–1
6.1 FacesContext 6–1
6.1.1 Application 6–1
6.1.2 Attributes 6–2
6.1.3 ELContext 6–2
6.1.4 ExternalContext 6–2
6.1.5 ViewRoot 6–5
6.1.6 Message Queue 6–5
6.1.7 RenderKit 6–6
6.1.8 ResponseStream and ResponseWriter 6–6
6.1.9 Flow Control Methods 6–7
6.1.10 Partial Processing Constants And Methods 6–8
6.1.11 Access To The Current FacesContext Instance 6–9
6.1.12 CurrentPhaseId 6–10
6.2 FacesMessage 6–10
6.3 ResponseStream 6–11
6.4 ResponseWriter 6–11
6.5 FacesContextFactory 6–13

7. Application Integration 7–1

7.1 Application 7–1
7.1.1 ActionListener Property 7–2
7.1.2 DefaultRenderKitId Property 7–2
7.1.3 NavigationHandler Property 7–3
7.1.4 StateManager Property 7–3
7.1.5 ELResolver Property 7–4
7.1.6 ELContextListener Property 7–4
7.1.7 ViewHandler Property 7–5
7.1.8 ProjectStage Property 7–5

xix JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 7.1.9 Acquiring ExpressionFactory Instance 7–5
7.1.10 Programmatically Evaluating Expressions 7–6
7.1.11 Object Factories 7–6
7.1.12 Internationalization Support 7–8
7.1.13 System Event Methods 7–9
7.1.13.1 Subscribing to system events 7–9
7.1.13.2 Unsubscribing from system events 7–10
7.2 ApplicationFactory 7–10
7.3 Application Actions 7–11
7.4 NavigationHandler 7–11
7.4.1 Overview 7–11
7.4.2 Default NavigationHandler Implementation 7–12
7.4.3 Example NavigationHandler Configuration 7–15
7.5 ViewHandler 7–18
7.5.1 Overview 7–18
7.5.2 Default ViewHandler Implementation 7–20
7.6 StateManager 7–24
7.6.1 Overview 7–24
7.6.2 State Saving Alternatives and Implications 7–25
7.6.3 State Saving Methods. 7–26
7.6.4 State Restoring Methods 7–26
7.6.5 Convenience Methods 7–27
7.7 PageDeclarationLanguage 7–27
7.8 ResourceHandler 7–28
7.9 Deprecated APIs 7–28
7.9.1 PropertyResolver Property 7–28
7.9.2 VariableResolver Property 7–29
7.9.3 Acquiring ValueBinding Instances 7–29

Contents xx
 7.9.4 Acquiring MethodBinding Instances 7–30
7.9.5 Object Factories 7–30
7.9.6 StateManager 7–31
7.9.7 ResponseStateManager 7–31

8. Rendering Model 8–1

8.1 RenderKit 8–1
8.2 Renderer 8–3
8.3 ResponseStateManager 8–5
8.4 RenderKitFactory 8–6
8.5 Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation 8–7
8.6 The Concrete HTML Component Classes 8–8

9. Integration with JSP 9–1

9.1 UIComponent Custom Actions 9–2
9.2 Using UIComponent Custom Actions in JSP Pages 9–4
9.2.1 Declaring the Tag Libraries 9–4
9.2.2 Including Components in a Page 9–4
9.2.3 Creating Components and Overriding Attributes 9–5
9.2.4 Deleting Components on Redisplay 9–6
9.2.5 Representing Component Hierarchies 9–7
9.2.6 Registering Converters, Event Listeners, and Validators 9–7
9.2.7 Using Facets 9–8
9.2.8 Interoperability with JSP Template Text and Other Tag Libraries 9–9
9.2.9 Composing Pages from Multiple Sources 9–9
9.3 UIComponent Custom Action Implementation Requirements 9–10
9.3.1 Considerations for Custom Actions written for JavaServer Faces 1.1 and
1.0 9–13
9.3.1.1 Past and Present Tag constraints 9–13
9.3.1.2 Faces 1.0 and 1.1 Taglib migration story 9–14

xxi JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

9.4 JSF Core Tag Library 9–14
9.4.1 <f:actionListener> 9–16
Syntax 9–16
Body Content 9–16
Attributes 9–16
Constraints 9–16
Description 9–16
9.4.2 <f:attribute> 9–18
Syntax 9–18
Body Content 9–18
Attributes 9–18
Constraints 9–18
Description 9–18
9.4.3 <f:convertDateTime> 9–19
Syntax 9–19
Body Content 9–19
Attributes 9–20
Constraints 9–20
Description 9–21
9.4.4 <f:convertNumber> 9–23
Syntax 9–23
Body Content 9–23
Attributes 9–24
Constraints 9–24
Description 9–25
9.4.5 <f:converter> 9–26
Syntax 9–26
Body Content 9–26

Contents xxii
 Attributes 9–26
Constraints 9–26
Description 9–26
9.4.6 <f:facet> 9–28
Syntax 9–28
Body Content 9–28
Attributes 9–28
Constraints 9–28
Description 9–28
9.4.7 <f:loadBundle> 9–29
Syntax 9–29
Body Content 9–29
Attributes 9–29
Constraints 9–29
Description 9–29
9.4.8 <f:param> 9–30
Syntax 9–30
Body Content 9–30
Attributes 9–30
Constraints 9–30
Description 9–31
9.4.9 <f:phaseListener> 9–32
Syntax 9–32
Body Content 9–32
Attributes 9–32
Constraints 9–32
Description 9–32
9.4.10 <f:selectItem> 9–34

xxiii JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 Syntax 9–34
Body Content 9–34
Attributes 9–35
Constraints 9–35
Description 9–35
9.4.11 <f:selectItems> 9–36
Syntax 9–36
Body Content 9–36
Attributes 9–36
Constraints 9–36
Description 9–37
9.4.12 <f:setPropertyActionListener> 9–38
Syntax 9–38
Body Content 9–38
Attributes 9–38
Constraints 9–38
Description 9–39
9.4.13 <f:subview> 9–40
Syntax 9–40
Body Content 9–40
Attributes 9–40
Constraints 9–40
Description 9–41
9.4.14 <f:validateDoubleRange> 9–44
Syntax 9–44
Body Content 9–44
Attributes 9–44
Constraints 9–44

Contents xxiv
 Description 9–45
9.4.15 <f:validateLength> 9–46
Syntax 9–46
Body Content 9–46
Attributes 9–46
Constraints 9–46
Description 9–47
9.4.16 <f:validateLongRange> 9–48
Syntax 9–48
Body Content 9–48
Attributes 9–48
Constraints 9–48
Description 9–49
9.4.17 <f:validator> 9–50
Syntax 9–50
Body Content 9–50
Attributes 9–50
Constraints 9–50
Description 9–50
9.4.18 <f:valueChangeListener> 9–52
Syntax 9–52
Body Content 9–52
Attributes 9–52
Constraints 9–52
Description 9–52
9.4.19 <f:verbatim> 9–54
Syntax 9–54
Body Content 9–54

xxv JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 Attributes 9–54
Constraints 9–54
Description 9–54
9.4.20 <f:view> 9–55
Syntax 9–55
Body Content 9–55
Attributes 9–55
Constraints 9–55
Description 9–56
9.5 Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library 9–57

10. Facelets and its use in Web Applications 10–1

10.1 Non-normative Background 10–1
10.1.1 Differences between JSP and Facelets 10–1
10.1.2 Differences between Pre JSF 2.0 Facelets and Facelets in JSF 2.0 10–2
10.2 Specification for Facelets in JSF 2.0 10–3
10.2.1 General Requirements 10–4
10.2.2 Requirements specific to composite components 10–4
10.3 Standard Facelet Tag Libraries 10–4
10.3.1 JSF Core Tag Library 10–4
10.3.2 Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library 10–4
10.3.3 Facelet Templating Tag Library 10–4
10.3.4 Composite Component Tag Library 10–4
10.3.5 JSTL Core and Function Tag Libraries 10–5
10.4 Creating UIComponent Tags in Facelets 10–5
10.5 Assertions relating to Integration between Facelets and the Request Processing
Lifecycle 10–5
10.6 Assertions relating to the construction of the view hierarchy 10–5

11. Using JSF in Web Applications 11–1

Contents xxvi
 11.1 Web Application Deployment Descriptor 11–1
11.1.1 Servlet Definition 11–2
11.1.2 Servlet Mapping 11–2
11.1.3 Application Configuration Parameters 11–3
11.2 Included Classes and Resources 11–4
11.2.1 Application-Specific Classes and Resources 11–5
11.2.2 Servlet and JSP API Classes (javax.servlet.*) 11–5
11.2.3 JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL) API Classes (javax.servlet.jsp.jstl.*)
11–5
11.2.4 JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL) Implementation Classes 11–5
11.2.5 JavaServer Faces API Classes (javax.faces.*) 11–5
11.2.6 JavaServer Faces Implementation Classes 11–6
11.2.6.1 FactoryFinder 11–6
11.2.6.2 FacesServlet 11–7
11.2.6.3 UIComponentELTag 11–9
11.2.6.4 FacetTag 11–9
11.2.6.5 ValidatorTag 11–9
11.3 Deprecated APIs in the webapp package 11–9
11.3.1 AttributeTag 11–9
11.3.2 ConverterTag 11–9
11.3.3 UIComponentBodyTag 11–10
11.3.4 UIComponentTag 11–10
11.3.5 ValidatorTag 11–10
11.4 Application Configuration Resources 11–10
11.4.1 Overview 11–10
11.4.2 Application Startup Behavior 11–11
11.4.3 Application Configuration Resource Format 11–12
11.4.4 Configuration Impact on JSF Runtime 11–13
11.4.5 Delegating Implementation Support 11–15

xxvii JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 11.4.6 Example Application Configuration Resource 11–19
11.5 Annotations that correspond to and may take the place of entries in the Application
Configuration Resources 11–20
11.5.1 Annotations that relate to artifacts that reside in a page 11–20
11.5.2 Annotations related to artifacts that do not reside in a page 11–21

12. Lifecycle Management 12–1

12.1 Lifecycle 12–1
12.2 PhaseEvent 12–2
12.3 PhaseListener 12–3
12.4 LifecycleFactory 12–4

13. Ajax Integration 13–1

13.1 Ajax JavaScript Resource 13–1
13.1.1 Ajax Resource Loading 13–1
13.1.1.1 The Annotation Approach 13–2
13.1.1.2 The Resource API Approach 13–2
13.1.1.3 The Page Declaration Language Approach 13–3
13.2 JavaScript Namespacing 13–4
13.3 Ajax JavaScript API 13–5
13.3.1 Collecting and Encoding View State 13–5
13.3.1.1 Use Case 13–6
13.3.2 Sending an Ajax Request 13–6
13.3.2.1 Usage 13–7
13.3.2.2 Request Sending Specifics 13–7
13.3.2.3 Use Case 13–8
13.3.2.4 Ajax Request Queueing 13–8
13.3.2.5 Request Callback Function Specifics 13–8
13.3.3 Processing The Ajax Response 13–9
13.3.4 Determining An Application’s Project Stage 13–9

Contents xxviii
 13.3.4.1 Use Case 13–9
13.4 Partial View Traversal 13–9
13.4.1 Partial View Execute 13–10
13.4.2 Partial View Render 13–11
13.4.3 Sending The Response to The Client 13–11

14. Appendix A - JSF Metadata A–1

1.1 XML Schema Definition A–1
1.2 XML Schema Definition for facelet-taglib files A–59

15. Appendix B - Change Log B–67

2.1 Changes Between 1.1 and 1.2 B–67
Unified Expression Language (EL) 67
2.1.0.1 Guide to Deprecated Methods Relating to the Unified EL and
their Corresponding Replacements B–67
Guide to Deprecated Methods Relating to State Management and their
Corresponding Replacements 71
JavaServer Faces 1.2 Backwards Compatibility 72
Breakages in Backwards Compatability 73
General changes 73
Preface 78
Section 2.2.1 “Restore View” 78
Section 2.2.6 “Render Response” 78
Section 2.4.2.1 “Create A New View” 78
Section 2.5.2.4 “Localized Application Messages” 79
Section 3.1.10 “Generic Attributes” 79
Section 3.1.12 “Component Specialization Methods” 79
Add new method, encodeAll(), which is now the preferred method for
developers to call to render a child or facet(). 79
Section 4.1.4 “UIForm” 79

xxix JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

UIData Section 4.1.3.2 “Properties” 79
UIInput Section 4.1.6 “UIInput” 79
UIInput Section 4.1.6.3 “Methods” 79
Section 4.1.17 “UIViewRoot” 79
Section 5.1.2 and 5.1.3 “ValueExpression Syntax” and “ValueExpression
Semantics” 80
Section 5.2.1 “MethodExpression Syntax and Semantics” 80
Section 5.4 “Leveraging Java EE 5 Annotations in Managed Beans” 80
Section 5.5.3 “ExpressionFactory” 80
Section 5.6.1.4 “ResourceBundle ELResolver for Markup Pages” 80
Section 7.5.1 “Overview” ViewHandler 80
Section 7.5.2 “Default ViewHandler Implementation” 80
State Saving Section 7.6.1 “Overview” 81
Section 7.6.2 “State Saving Alternatives and Implications” 81
Section 8.3 “ResponseStateManager” 81
Section 9.1 “UIComponent Custom Actions” 82
Section 9.2.8 “Interoperability with JSP Template Text and Other Tag
Libraries” 82
Section “Integration with JSP” 82
Section 9.3.1.2 “Faces 1.0 and 1.1 Taglib migration story” 82
Section 9.4 “JSF Core Tag Library” 82
Section 9.4.2 “<f:attribute>” 82
Section 9.4.12 “<f:setPropertyActionListener>” 83
Section 9.4.20 “<f:view>” 83
Section 9.5 “Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library” 83
Section 11.2.6.2 “FacesServlet” 83
Section 11.3 “Deprecated APIs in the webapp package” 83
Section 11.4.2 “Application Startup Behavior” 83
Chapter A “XML Schema Definition 83

Contents xxx
xxxi JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008
Preface

This is the JavaServer Faces 2.0 (JSF 2.0) specification, developed by the JSR-314 expert
group under the Java Community Process (see <http://www.jcp.org> for more information
about the JCP).

Changes between 1.2 Final and Early Draft

Review 2

Section 2.1 “Request Processing Lifecycle Scenarios”

Modified to define and explain resource requests and responses.

Section 2.2 “Standard Request Processing Lifecycle

Phases”
Specify how and when the currentPhaseId property of the current FacesContext
must be updated.

Preface 1
 Section 2.2.1 “Restore View”
Modified to indicate that the AfterAddToParent event must be sent after the view was
created. Also specify that if the PDL is Facelets, the tree must be fully constructed before
exiting Restore View.

Section 2.2.2 “Apply Request Values”

Specified additional behavior to recognize partial requests and to perform partial processing.

Section 2.2.2.1 “Apply Request Values Partial

Processing”
Specified behavior for partial processing.

Section 2.2.3 “Process Validations”

Specified additional behavior to recognize partial requests and to perform partial processing.

Section 2.2.3.1 “Partial Validations Partial Processing”

Specified behavior for partial processing.

Section 2.2.4 “Update Model Values”

Specified additional behavior to recognize partial requests and to perform partial processing.

Section 2.2.4.1 “Update Model Values Partial

Processing”
Specified behavior for partial processing.

2 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

Section 2.2.6 “Render Response”
Generalized to remove JSP specific language.

Added the requirement for (partial requests) to prevent writing to the response at the start of
this phase (to prevent content from being written outside f:view)

New Section 2.6 “Resource Handling”

This section is the starting point for the specification of the Resource Handler facility, which
is also specified in the JavaDocs and the Standard RenderKit Docs.

New Section 2.6.2 “Rendering Resources”

This section briefly talks about how resources (such as images, stylesheets and scripts) use
the resource handling mechanism.

New Section 2.6.2.1 “Relocatable Resources”

This section outlines the mechanism that script and stylesheet resources use to render
themselves in a different location (with respect to tag or component placement in the view).

New Section 2.6.2.2 “Resource Rendering Using

Annotations”
This section describes the use of an annotation to mark that a component requires a resource.

Section 3.1.8 “Component Tree Navigation”

Added descriptions for UIComponent.getCurrentComponent and
UIComponent.getCurrentCompositeComponent.

Preface 3
 Section 3.1.10 “Generic Attributes”
Described additional responsibilities for Map get() method if the component instance is a
composite component.

Section 3.1.10.1 “Special Attributes”

Describe UIComponent contants that are used in attribute Map(s).

Section 3.1.12 “Component Specialization Methods”

Mentioned the default behavior of UIComponentBasse encodeChildren if no associated
renderer. Mentioned encodeBegin() must publish BeforeRenderEvent.

Section 3.1.13 “Lifecycle Management Methods”

Added pointers to pushComponentToEL() popComponentFromEL() in support of
“component” implicit object.

Section 3.1.14 “Utility Methods”

Added UIComponent utility method getResourceBundleMap().

Section 3.2.5.1 “Properties”

Mentioned ResourceDependency/ResourceDependencies lookup for ValueHolder
setConverter method.

Section 3.2.6.2 “Methods”

Mentioned ResourceDependency/ResourceDependencies lookup for EditableValueHolder
addValidator method..

4 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

Section 3.2.7 “SystemEventListenerHolder”
Added section describing this new behavioral interface.

Section 3.3.2 “Converter”

Added verbage about Resource annotations attached to Converters.

Section 3.4.1 “Overview”

Updated UML diagram of event package

Moved existing event content to be in new subsection: Section 3.4.2 “Application Events”,
and created a new subsection Section 3.4.3 “System Events”

Section 3.4.2.6 “Event Broadcasting”

Clarification made: throwing an AbortProcessingException tells an implementation that no
further broadcast of the current event occurs. Does not affect future events.

Section 3.4.3.1 “Event Classes”

Added descriptions for ApplicationPostConstructEvent and ApplicationPreDestroyEvent.

Section 3.4.3.4 “Listener Registration By Annotation”

Added verbage about ListenerFor and ListenersFor annotations.

Section 3.5.2 “Validator Classes”

Added verbage about Resource annotations attached to Validators.

Preface 5
 Section 4.1.17.2 “Properties”
Specify the viewMap property on UIViewRoot.

Section 4.1.17.3 “Methods”

Specify new methods on UIViewRoot for handling resources for the view.

Section 4.1.17.4 “Events”

Added UIViewRoot getPhaseListeners().

Section 4.1.17.5 “Partial Processing”

Specify additional behavior for UIViewRoot methods to faciliate partial processing.

Section 4.2.1.2 “Methods”

Specify iterator() method for DataModel.

Section 3.6 “Composite User Interface Components”

New section specifying composite components.

Section 5.2.1 “MethodExpression Syntax and

Semantics”
Modify content relating to managed-bean-scope to include “view” scope.

6 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

Section 5.4.1 “Managed Bean Lifecycle Annotations”
Modife content to clarify when @PreDestroy must be called in the case of view scoped
managed beans.

Section 5.6.1.1 “Faces Implicit Object ELResolver for

Markup Pages” and Section 5.6.2.1 “Implicit Object
ELResolver for Programmatic Access”
Specify how the new implicit object ”resource“ must be handled by the Implicit Object
ELResolver.

Specify how viewScope and component are resolved.

Section 5.6.1.2 “ManagedBean ELResolver”

Modify setValue() to allow for atomic lazy creation. This eliminates the need to do a get()
before doing a set().

Section 5.6.2.1 “Implicit Object ELResolver for

Programmatic Access”
Add a new implicit object: “resource”. This allows easily encoding resources into markup
using EL expressions

Corrected behavior of getType with respect to "requestScope", "sessionScope", or

“applicationScope” - should return null, not Object.class.

Section 5.6.2.4 “Resource ELResolver”

This section specifies the behavior of the Resource EL Resolver

Section 6.1.2 “Attributes”

Add new section after 6.1.1 documenting the new Map returned from
FacesContext.getAttributes().

Preface 7
 Section 6.1.8 “ResponseStream and ResponseWriter”
Add FacesContext enableResponseWriting method.

Section 6.1.10 “Partial Processing Constants And

Methods”
Specify the FacesContext contants and methods that facilitate partial request processing.

Section 6.1.11 “Access To The Current FacesContext

Instance”
Specify how this method must behave during application startup time.

Section 7.1.8 “ProjectStage Property”

This section documents the new ProjectStage property. This is similar in use to the
RAILS_ENV environment variable from the Ruby on Rails framework.

Section 7.1.13 “System Event Methods”

New section describing system events.

Section 7.5.1 “Overview”

In createView(), if the PDL is Facelets, make sure the view is fully populated before
returning.

Section 7.5.2 “Default ViewHandler Implementation”

Modify the viewId derivation algorithm to deal with the new DEFAULT_SUFFIX definition.

Modify getActionURL() to remove the use of DEFAULT_SUFFIX and instead take a simpler
implementation.

8 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

Section 8.1 “RenderKit”
New methods on RenderKit: getComponentFamilies() and
getRendererTypes().

Section 8.2 “Renderer”

Mentioned the ListenerFor annotation.

Section 9.4.3 “<f:convertDateTime>”

Extends ConverterELTag, not ConverterTag.

Section 9.4.4 “<f:convertNumber>”

Extends ConverterELTag, not ConverterTag

Section 9.4.14 “<f:validateDoubleRange>”

Extends ValidatorELTag, not ValidatorTag

Section 9.4.15 “<f:validateLength>”

Extends ValidatorELTag, not ValidatorTag

Section 9.4.16 “<f:validateLongRange>”

Extends ValidatorELTag, not ValidatorTag

Section 9.4.20 “<f:view>”

Extends UIComponentELTag, not UIComponentBodyTag

Preface 9
 Section “Facelets and its use in Web Applications”
New chapter insterted after Chapter 9, titled, “Integration with Facelets”. This implies
increasing the remaining chapter numbers by one.

Section 11.1.3 “Application Configuration Parameters”

New javax.faces.PROJECT_STAGE ServletContext init param.

New javax.faces.INTERPRET_EMPTY_STRING_SUBMITTED_VALUES_AS_NULL
ServletContext init param.

New javax.faces.DISABLE_FACES_PDL_VIEWHANDLER ServletContext init param.

Modifiy meaning of javax.faces.DEFAULT_SUFFIX init param.

Section 11.4.4 “Configuration Impact on JSF Runtime”

Specify requirements for handling resource-handler elements within the application
configuration resources.

Specify requirements for handling faces-lifecycle-listener elements within the

application configuration resources.

Section 11.5 “Annotations that correspond to and may

take the place of entries in the Application
Configuration Resources”
New section detailing new annotations.

Section 12.2 “PhaseEvent”

Statement should read: encapsulated by FacesContext...

Chapter 13 “Ajax Integration

New chapter describing how Ajax will integrate with JavaServer Faces.

10 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

Section 13.1 “Ajax JavaScript Resource”
This section describes the standard Ajax JavaScript resource that will be used in JavaServer
Faces.

Section 13.1.1 “Ajax Resource Loading”

This section describes how the Ajax resource will leverage the resource loading feature.

Section 13.1.1.1 “The Annotation Approach”

This section mentions the use of the resource annotation to specify that a component or
renderer requires the Ajax ressource.

Section 13.1.1.2 “The Resource API Approach”

Component authors can also specify that a custom component or renderer requires the Ajax
resource by using the resource APIs.

Section 13.1.1.3 “The Page Declaration Language

Approach”
Page authors can make the Ajax resource available through the standard resource tags.

Section 13.2 “JavaScript Namespacing”

This section discusses the JavaScript namespacing requirements for the Ajax resource to
avoid collisions with other JavaScript libraries.

Section 13.3 “Ajax JavaScript API”

This section describes the JavaScript functions that will be available to allow clients to
perform Ajax interactions with JavaServer Faces.

Preface 11
 Section 13.3.1 “Collecting and Encoding View State”
This section describes the process of collecting and encoding form view state that will be
sent to the server - a common operation for JavaServer Faces Ajax frameworks.

Section 13.3.1.1 “Use Case”

Specific use case for the view state function described in Section 13.3.1 “Collecting and
Encoding View State”

Section 13.3.2 “Sending an Ajax Request”

This section describes the process of sending an Ajax request to the server.

Section 13.3.2.1 “Usage”

One example of using the javas.faces.Ajax.ajaxRequest function.

Section 13.3.2.2 “Request Sending Specifics”

Describe the steps involved for javax.faces.Ajax.ajaxRequest to send a request.

Section 13.3.2.3 “Use Case”

An example of invoking the javax.faces.Ajax.ajaxRequest function from a Faces component.

Section 13.3.2.4 “Ajax Request Queueing”

Higher level requirements about queueing Ajax requests before they are sent.

12 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

Section 13.3.2.5 “Request Callback Function
Specifics”
Describes the functionality when a response comes back from the server.

Section 13.3.3 “Processing The Ajax Response”

Describes the requirements of javax.faces.Ajax.ajaxResponse - the function that gets called
from the Ajax request callback function.

Section 13.4 “Partial View Traversal”

This section provides a summary of how Faces can process one or more components in a
view - know as partial processing.

Section 13.4.1 “Partial View Execute”

This section describes how one or more components can be processed in the “execute”
portion of the request processing lifecycle.

Section 13.4.2 “Partial View Render”

This section describes how one or more components can be processed in the “render” portion
of the request processing lifecycle.

Section 13.4.3 “Sending The Response to The Client”

Describes the server side responsibilities for preparing and sending the response markup
back to the client.

Section 1.1 “XML Schema Definition”

Add the resource-handler element.

Add the faces-lifecycle-listener element and its children.

Preface 13
 Standard HTML RenderKit specification

component-family: javax.faces.Graphic renderer-type:

javax.faces.Image
Spec for what to do if “name”, “library” or “target” attributes are present

component-family: javax.faces.Output renderer-type:

javax.faces.Body
This is a new Renderer in the standard-html-renderkit

component-family: javax.faces.Output renderer-type:

javax.faces.Head
This is a new Renderer in the standard-html-renderkit

component-family: javax.faces.Output renderer-type:

javax.faces.resource.Script
This is a new Renderer in the standard-html-renderkit

component-family: javax.faces.Output renderer-type:

javax.faces.resource.Stylesheet
This is a new Renderer in the standard-html-renderkit

General Changes
The numbers in the text below refer to issue numbers in the issue tracker found at
<https://javaserverfaces-spec-public.dev.java.net/servlets/ProjectIssues>.
■ 100 - New methods on RenderKit: getComponentFamilies() and
getRendererTypes().
■ 170 - Allow commandButton to have f:param children.
■ 175 - Non-normatively clarify that the value of the "src" attribute will have the context-
root prepended to it if the value starts with "/".

14 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

■ 199 - Spec updates to clarify commandLink.
■ 201 - Clean up convertNumber locale attribute to match with convertDateTime locale
attribute.
■ 226 - Require that SelectOneListBox and all similar renderers set "" if no request
parameter can be found for the component instance.
■ 228 - add selectedClass and unselectedClass to selectManyCheckbox
■ 232 - Make javax.faces.model.DataModel implement Iterable.
■ 259 - For selectOneRadio and selectManyCheckbox, normatively require the "style" and
"border" elements to end up on the respective attributes on the rendered "table".
■ 310 - Add context-param for setting the default timezone of DateTimeConverter instances
■ 311 - Make the documentation in the spec prose document and the javadocs for the “first”
property of UIData be consistent. In both cases, the value returned is relative to “zero”,
not “one”.
■ 317 - Make it so you if you try to do setValue on a managedBean that is not yet
instantiated, it gets automatically instantiated first.
■ 331 - add getPhaseListeners() to UIViewRoot.
■ 361 - Section 3.1.5, fix missed ValueBinding to ValueExpression change.

Other Java™ Platform Specifications

JSF is based on the following Java API specifications:
■ JavaServer Pages™ Specification, version 2.1 (JSP™) <http://java.sun.com/products/jsp/>
■ Java™ Servlet Specification, version 2.5 (Servlet) <http://java.sun.com/products/servlet/>
■ Java™2 Platform, Standard Edition, version 5.0 <http://java.sun.com/j2se/>
■ Java™2 Platform, Enterprise Edition, version 5.0 <http://java.sun.com/j2ee/>
■ JavaBeans™ Specification, version 1.0.1
<http://java.sun.com/products/javabeans/docs/spec.html>
■ JavaServer Pages™ Standard Tag Library, version 1.2 (JSTL)
<http://java.sun.com/products/jsp/jstl/>

Therefore, a JSF container must support all of the above specifications. This requirement
allows faces applications to be portable across a variety of JSF implementations.

In addition, JSF is designed to work synergistically with other web-related Java APIs,
including:
■ Portlet Specification, 1.0 JSR-168 <http://www.jcp.org/jsr/detail/168.jsp>
■ Portlet Specification, 2.0 JSR-286 <http://www.jcp.org/jsr/detail/286.jsp>
■ JSF Portlet Bridge Specification, JSR-301 <http://www.jcp.org/jsr/detail/301.jsp>

Preface 15
 Related Documents and Specifications
The following documents and specifications of the World Wide Web Consortium will be of
interest to JSF implementors, as well as developers of applications and components based on
JavaServer Faces.
■ Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), version 4.01 <http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/>
■ Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML), version 1.0
<http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1>
■ Extensible Markup Language (XML), version 1.0 (Second Edition)
<http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml>

The class and method Javadoc documentation for the classes and interfaces in
javax.faces (and its subpackages) are incorporated by reference as requirements of this
Specification.

The JSP tag library for the HTML_BASIC standard RenderKit is specified in the TLDDocs
and incorporated by reference in this Specification.

Terminology
The key words MUST, MUST NOT, REQUIRED, SHALL, SHALL NOT, SHOULD,
SHOULD NOT, RECOMMENDED, MAY, and OPTIONAL in this document are to be
interpreted as described in
■ Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels (RFC 2119) <http://www.rfc-
editor.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt>

Providing Feedback
We welcome any and all feedback about this specification. Please email your comments to
<[email protected]>.

Please note that, due to the volume of feedback that we receive, you will not normally
receive a reply from an engineer. However, each and every comment is read, evaluated, and
archived by the specification team.

Acknowledgements
The JavaServer Faces Specification (version 2.0) is the result of the diligent efforts of the
JSR-314 Expert Group, working under the auspices of the Java Community Process.

16 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 1

Overview

JavaServer Faces (JSF) is a user interface (UI) framework for Java web applications. It is
designed to significantly ease the burden of writing and maintaining applications that run on
a Java application server and render their UIs back to a target client. JSF provides ease-of-
use in the following ways:
■ Makes it easy to construct a UI from a set of reusable UI components
■ Simplifies migration of application data to and from the UI
■ Helps manage UI state across server requests
■ Provides a simple model for wiring client-generated events to server-side application code
■ Allows custom UI components to be easily built and re-used

Most importantly, JSF establishes standards which are designed to be leveraged by tools to
provide a developer experience which is accessible to a wide variety of developer types,
ranging from corporate developers to systems programmers. A “corporate developer” is
characterized as an individual who is proficient in writing procedural code and business
logic, but is not necessarily skilled in object-oriented programming. A “systems
programmer” understands object-oriented fundamentals, including abstraction and designing
for re-use. A corporate developer typically relies on tools for development, while a system
programmer may define his or her tool as a text editor for writing code.

Therefore, JSF is designed to be tooled, but also exposes the framework and programming
model as APIs so that it can be used outside of tools, as is sometimes required by systems
programmers.

1.1 Solving Practical Problems of the Web

JSF’s core architecture is designed to be independent of specific protocols and markup.
However it is also aimed directly at solving many of the common problems encountered
when writing applications for HTML clients that communicate via HTTP to a Java
application server that supports servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSP) based applications.

Chapter 1 Overview 1-17

 These applications are typically form-based, and are comprised of one or more HTML pages
with which the user interacts to complete a task or set of tasks. JSF tackles the following
challenges associated with these applications:
■ Managing UI component state across requests
■ Supporting encapsulation of the differences in markup across different browsers and
clients
■ Supporting form processing (multi-page, more than one per page, and so on)
■ Providing a strongly typed event model that allows the application to write server-side
handlers (independent of HTTP) for client generated events
■ Validating request data and providing appropriate error reporting
■ Enabling type conversion when migrating markup values (Strings) to and from application
data objects (which are often not Strings)
■ Handling error and exceptions, and reporting errors in human-readable form back to the
application user
■ Handling page-to-page navigation in response to UI events and model interactions.

1.2 Specification Audience

The JavaServer Faces Specification, and the technology that it defines, is addressed to
several audiences that will use this information in different ways. The following sections
describe these audiences, the roles that they play with respect to JSF, and how they will use
the information contained in this document. As is the case with many technologies, the same
person may play more than one of these roles in a particular development scenario; however,
it is still useful to understand the individual viewpoints separately.

1.2.1 Page Authors

A page author is primarily responsible for creating the user interface of a web application.
He or she must be familiar with the markup and scripting languages (such as HTML and
JavaScript) that are understood by the target client devices, as well as the rendering
technology (such as JavaServer Pages) used to create dynamic content. Page authors are
often focused on graphical design and human factors engineering, and are generally not
familiar with programming languages such as Java or Visual Basic (although many page
authors will have a basic understanding of client side scripting languages such as JavaScript).

Page authors will generally assemble the content of the pages being created from libraries of
prebuilt user interface components that are provided by component writers, tool providers,
and JSF implementors. The components themselves will be represented as configurable
objects that utilize the dynamic markup capabilities of the underlying rendering technology.
When JavaServer Pages are in use, for example, components will be represented as JSP
custom actions, which will support configuring the attributes of those components as custom

1-18 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 action attributes in the JSP page. In addition, the pages produced by a page author will be
used by the JSF framework to create component tree hierarchies, called “views”, that
represent the components on those pages.

Page authors will generally utilize development tools, such as HTML editors, that allow them
to deal directly with the visual representation of the page being created. However, it is still
feasible for a page author that is familiar with the underlying rendering technology to
construct pages “by hand” using a text editor.

1.2.2 Component Writers

Component writers are responsible for creating libraries of reusable user interface objects.
Such components support the following functionality:
■ Convert the internal representation of the component’s properties and attributes into the
appropriate markup language for pages being rendered (encoding).
■ Convert the properties of an incoming request—parameters, headers, and cookies—into
the corresponding properties and attributes of the component (decoding)
■ Utilize request-time events to initiate visual changes in one or more components, followed
by redisplay of the current page.
■ Support validation checks on the syntax and semantics of the representation of this
component on an incoming request, as well as conversion into the internal form that is
appropriate for this component.
■ Saving and restoring component state across requests

As will be discussed in Chapter 8 “Rendering Model,” the encoding and decoding

functionality may optionally be delegated to one or more Render Kits, which are responsible
for customizing these operations to the precise requirements of the client that is initiating a
particular request (for example, adapting to the differences between JavaScript handling in
different browsers, or variations in the WML markup supported by different wireless clients).

The component writer role is sometimes separate from other JSF roles, but is often
combined. For example, reusable components, component libraries, and render kits might be
created by:
■ A page author creating a custom “widget” for use on a particular page
■ An application developer providing components that correspond to specific data objects in
the application’s business domain
■ A specialized team within a larger development group responsible for creating
standardized components for reuse across applications
■ Third party library and framework providers creating component libraries that are portable
across JSF implementations
■ Tool providers whose tools can leverage the specific capabilities of those libraries in
development of JSF-based applications
■ JSF implementors who provide implementation-specific component libraries as part of
their JSF product suite

Chapter 1 Overview 1-19

 Within JSF, user interface components are represented as Java classes that follow the design
patterns outlined in the JavaBeans Specification. Therefore, new and existing tools that
facilitate JavaBean development can be leveraged to create new JSF components. In addition,
the fundamental component APIs are simple enough for developers with basic Java
programming skills to program by hand.

1.2.3 Application Developers

Application Developers are responsible for providing the server-side functionality of a web
application that is not directly related to the user interface. This encompasses the following
general areas of responsibility:
■ Define mechanisms for persistent storage of the information required by JSF-based web
applications (such as creating schemas in a relational database management system)
■ Create a Java object representation of the persistent information, such as Entity Enterprise
JavaBeans (Entity EJBs), and call the corresponding beans as necessary to perform
persistence of the application’s data.
■ Encapsulate the application’s functionality, or business logic, in Java objects that are
reusable in web and non-web applications, such as Session EJBs.
■ Expose the data representation and functional logic objects for use via JSF, as would be
done for any servlet- or JSP-based application.

Only the latter responsibility is directly related to JavaServer Faces APIs. In particular, the
following steps are required to fulfill this responsibility:
■ Expose the underlying data required by the user interface layer as objects that are
accessible from the web tier (such as via request or session attributes in the Servlet API),
via value reference expressions, as described in Chapter 4 “Standard User Interface
Components.”
■ Provide application-level event handlers for the events that are enqueued by JSF
components during the request processing lifecycle, as described in Section 2.2.5 “Invoke
Application”.

Application modules interact with JSF through standard APIs, and can therefore be created
using new and existing tools that facilitate general Java development. In addition, application
modules can be written (either by hand, or by being generated) in conformance to an
application framework created by a tool provider.

1.2.4 Tool Providers

Tool providers, as their name implies, are responsible for creating tools that assist in the
development of JSF-based applications, rather than creating such applications directly. JSF
APIs support the creation of a rich variety of development tools, which can create
applications that are portable across multiple JSF implementations. Examples of possible
tools include:

1-20 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 ■ GUI-oriented page development tools that assist page authors in creating the user
interface for a web application
■ IDEs that facilitate the creation of components (either for a particular page, or for a
reusable component library)
■ Page generators that work from a high level description of the desired user interface to
create the corresponding page and component objects
■ IDEs that support the development of general web applications, adapted to provide
specialized support (such as configuration management) for JSF
■ Web application frameworks (such as MVC-based and workflow management systems)
that facilitate the use of JSF components for user interface design, in conjunction with
higher level navigation management and other services
■ Application generators that convert high level descriptions of an entire application into
the set of pages, UI components, and application modules needed to provide the required
application functionality

Tool providers will generally leverage the JSF APIs for introspection of the features of
component libraries and render kit frameworks, as well as the application portability implied
by the use of standard APIs in the code generated for an application.

1.2.5 JSF Implementors

Finally, JSF implementors will provide runtime environments that implement all of the
requirements described in this specification. Typically, a JSF implementor will be the
provider of a Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) application server, although it is
also possible to provide a JSF implementation that is portable across J2EE servers.

Advanced features of the JSF APIs allow JSF implementors, as well as application
developers, to customize and extend the basic functionality of JSF in a portable way. These
features provide a rich environment for server vendors to compete on features and quality of
service aspects of their implementations, while maximizing the portability of JSF-based
applications across different JSF implementations.

1.3 Introduction to JSF APIs

This section briefly describes major functional subdivisions of the APIs defined by
JavaServer Faces. Each subdivision is described in its own chapter, later in this specification.

Chapter 1 Overview 1-21

1.3.1 package javax.faces
This package contains top level classes for the JavaServer(tm) Faces API. The most
important class in the package is FactoryFinder, which is the mechanism by which users
can override many of the key pieces of the implementation with their own.

Please see Section 11.2.6.1 “FactoryFinder”.

1.3.2 package javax.faces.application

This package contains APIs that are used to link an application’s business logic objects to
JavaServer Faces, as well as convenient pluggable mechanisms to manage the execution of
an application that is based on JavaServer Faces. The main class in this package is
Application.

Please see Section 7.1 “Application”.

1.3.3 package javax.faces.component

This package contains fundamental APIs for user interface components.

Please see Chapter 3 “User Interface Component Model.

1.3.4 package javax.faces.component.html

This package contains concrete base classes for each valid combination of component +
renderer.

1.3.5 package javax.faces.context

This package contains classes and interfaces defining per-request state information. The
main class in this package is FacesContext, which is the access point for all per-request
information, as well as the gateway to several other helper classes.

Please see Section 6.1 “FacesContext”.

1-22 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

1.3.6 package javax.faces.convert
This package contains classes and interfaces defining converters. The main class in this
package is Converter.

Please see Section 3.3 “Conversion Model”.

1.3.7 package javax.faces.el

As of version 1.2 of this specification, all classes and interfaces in this package have been
deprecated in favor of the Unified Expression Language (EL) from JSP 2.1.

Please see Chapter 5 “Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility.

1.3.8 package javax.faces.lifecycle

This package contains classes and interfaces defining lifecycle management for the
JavaServer Faces implementation. The main class in this package is Lifecycle.
Lifecycle is the gateway to executing the request processing lifecycle.

Please see Chapter 2 “Request Processing Lifecycle.

1.3.9 package javax.faces.event

This package contains interfaces describing events and event listeners, and concrete event
implementation classes. All component-level events extend from FacesEvent and all
component-level listeners extend from FacesListener.

Please see Section 3.4 “Event and Listener Model”.

1.3.10 package javax.faces.render

This package contains classes and interfaces defining the rendering model. The main class in
this package is RenderKit. RenderKit maintains references to a collection of
Renderer instances which provide rendering capability for a specific client device type.

Please see Chapter 8 “Rendering Model.

Chapter 1 Overview 1-23

1.3.11 package javax.faces.validator
Interface defining the validator model, and concrete validator implementation classes.

Please see Section 3.5 “Validation Model”

1.3.12 package javax.faces.webapp

Classes required for integration of JavaServer Faces into web applications, including a
standard servlet, base classes for JSP custom component tags, and concrete tag
implementations for core tags.

Please see Chapter 11 “Using JSF in Web Applications.

1-24 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

2

Request Processing Lifecycle

Web user interfaces generally follow a pattern where the user-agent sends one or more
requests to the server with the end goal of displaying a user-interface. In the case of Web
browsers, an initial HTTP GET or POST request is made to the server, which responds with
a document which the browser interprets and automatically makes subsequent requests on the
user’s behalf. The responses to each of these subsequent requests are usually images,
JavaScript files, CSS Style Sheets, and other artifacts that fit “into” the original document. If
the JSF lifecycle is involved in rendering the initial response, the entire process of initial
request, the response to that request, and any subsequent requests made automatically by the
user-agent, and their responses, is called a Faces View Request/Response for discussion. The
following graphic illustrates a Faces View Request/Response.

Chapter 2 Request Processing Lifecycle 2-1

 Each Faces View Request/Response goes through a well-defined request processing lifecycle
made up of phases. There are three different scenarios that must be considered, each with its
own combination of phases and activities:
■ Non-Faces Request generates Faces Response
■ Faces Request generates Faces Response
■ Faces Request generates Non-Faces Response

Where the terms being used are defined as follows:

■ Faces Response—A response that was created by the execution of the Render Response
phase of the request processing lifecycle.
■ Non-Faces Response—A response that was not created by the execution of the render
response phase of the request processing lifecycle. Examples would be a servlet-generated
or JSP-rendered response that does not incorporate JSF components, a response that sets
an HTTP status code other than the usual 200 (such as a redirect), or a response whose
HTTP body consists entirely of the bytes of an in page resource, such as a JavaScript file,
a CSS file, an image, or an applet. This last scenario is considered a special case of a
Non-Faces Response and will be referred to as a Faces Resource Response for the
remainder of this specification.
■ Faces Request—A request that was sent from a previously generated Faces response.
Examples would be a hyperlink or form submit from a rendered user interface component,
where the request URI was crafted (by the component or renderer that created it) to
identify the view to use for processing the request. Another example is a request for a
resource that the user-agent was instructed to fetch an artifact such as an image, a
JavaScript file, a CSS stylesheet, or an applet. This last scenario is considered a special
case of a Faces Request and will be referred to as a Faces Resource Request for the
remainder of this specification.
■ Non-Faces Request—A request that was sent to an application component (e.g. a servlet
or JSP page), rather than directed to a Faces view.

In addition, of course, your web application may receive non-Faces requests that generate
non-Faces responses. Because such requests do not involve JavaServer Faces at all, their
processing is outside the scope of this specification, and will not be considered further.

READER NOTE: The dynamic behavior descriptions in this Chapter make forward
references to the sections that describe the individual classes and interfaces. You will
probably find it useful to follow the reference and skim the definition of each new class or
interface as you encounter them, then come back and finish the behavior description. Later,
you can study the characteristics of each JSF API in the subsequent chapters.

2-2 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

2.1 Request Processing Lifecycle Scenarios
Each of the scenarios described above has a lifecycle that is composed of a particular set of
phases, executed in a particular order. The scenarios are described individually in the
following subsections.

2.1.1 Non-Faces Request Generates Faces Response

An application that is processing a non-Faces request may use JSF to render a Faces response
to that request. In order to accomplish this, the application must perform the common
activities that are described in the following sections:
■ Acquire Faces object references, as described in Section 2.4.1 “Acquire Faces Object
References”, below.
■ Create a new view, as described in Section 2.4.2 “Create And Configure A New View”,
below.
■ Store the view into the FacesContext by calling the setViewRoot() method on the
FacesContext.
■ Call the render() method on the Lifecycle instance that was acquired. This signals
the JSF implementation to begin processing at the Render Response phase of the request
processing lifecycle.

2.1.2 Faces Request Generates Faces Response

The most common lifecycle will be the case where a previous Faces response includes user
interface controls that will submit a subsequent request to this web application, utilizing a
request URI that is mapped to the JSF implementation’s controller, as described in
Section 11.1.2 “Servlet Mapping”. Because such a request will be initially handled by the

Chapter 2 Request Processing Lifecycle 2-3

 JSF implementation, the application need not take any special steps—its event listeners,
validators, and application actions will be invoked at appropriate times as the standard
request processing lifecycle, described in the following diagrams, is invoked.

The “Handle Resource Request” box, and its subsequent boxes, are explained in Section 2.6
“Resource Handling”. The following diagram explains the “Execute and Render Lifecycle”
box.

The behavior of the individual phases of the request processing lifecycle are described in
individual subsections of Section 2.2 “Standard Request Processing Lifecycle Phases”. Note
that, at the conclusion of several phases of the request processing lifecycle, common event
processing logic (as described in Section 2.3 “Common Event Processing”) is performed to
broadcast any FacesEvents generated by components in the component tree to interested
event listeners.

2-4 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

2.1.3 Faces Request Generates Non-Faces Response
Normally, a JSF-based application will utilize the Render Response phase of the request
processing lifecycle to actually create the response that is sent back to the client. In some
circumstances, however, this behavior might not be desirable. For example:
■ A Faces Request needs to be redirected to a different web application resource (via a call
to HttpServletResponse.sendRedirect).
■ A Faces Request causes the generation of a response using some other technology (such
as a servlet, or a JSP page not containing JSF components).
■ A Faces Request causes the generation of a response simply by serving up the bytes of a
resource, such as an image, a JavaScript file, a CSS file, or an applet

In any of these scenarios, the application will have used the standard mechanisms of the
servlet or portlet API to create the response headers and content. It is then necessary to tell
the JSF implementation that the response has already been created, so that the Render
Response phase of the request processing lifecycle should be skipped. This is accomplished
by calling the responseComplete() method on the FacesContext instance for the
current request, prior to returning from event handlers or application actions.

2.2 Standard Request Processing Lifecycle

Phases
The standard phases of the request processing lifecycle are described in the following
subsections.

[P1-start-currentPhaseId]The default request lifecycle processing implementation must

ensure that the currentPhaseId property of the FacesContext instance for this
request is set with the proper PhaseId constant for the current phase as the first instruction
at the beginning of each phase.[P1-end]

2.2.1 Restore View

[P1-start-restoreView]The JSF implementation must perform the following tasks during the
Restore View phase of the request processing lifecycle:
■ Call initView() on the ViewHandler. This will set the character encoding properly
for this request.
■ Examine the FacesContext instance for the current request. If it already contains a
UIViewRoot:

Chapter 2 Request Processing Lifecycle 2-5

 ■ Set the locale on this UIViewRoot to the value returned by the
getRequestLocale() method on the ExternalContext for this request.
■ For each component in the component tree, determine if a ValueExpression for
“binding” is present. If so, call the setValue() method on this
ValueExpression, passing the component instance on which it was found.
■ Take no further action during this phase, and return. The presence of a UIViewRoot
already installed in the FacesContext before the Restore View Phase implementation
indicates that the phase should assume the view has already been restored by other
means.
■ Determine if this request is a postback or initial request by executing the following
algorithm. Find the render-kit-id for the current request by calling
calculateRenderKitId() on the Application’s ViewHandler. Get that
RenderKit’s ResponseStateManager and call its isPostback() method,
passing the current FacesContext.
■ A request that is a non-postback request must call
FacesContext.renderResponse() to cause intervening phases to be skipped.
■ If the request is a postback, call ViewHandler.restoreView(), passing the
FacesContext instance for the current request and the view identifier, and returning a
UIViewRoot for the restored view. If the return from
ViewHandler.restoreView() is null, throw a ViewExpiredException with an
appropriate error message.
javax.faces.application.ViewExpiredException is a FacesException
that must be thrown to signal to the application that the expected view was not returned
for the view identifier. An application may choose to perform some action based on this
exception.
■ For each component in the component tree, determine if a ValueExpression for
“binding” is present. If so, call the setValue() method on this
ValueExpression, passing the component instance on which it was found. Do this
in a “parent-first” fashion, calling the setValue() method and then traversing the
children.
■ Store the restored UIViewRoot in the FacesContext.
■ If the request is a non-postback, call ViewHandler.createView(), passing the
FacesContext instance for the current request and the view identifier. If Facelets is the
page definition language, the view must be completely populated during
ViewHandler.createView()as described in the Javadocs. After calling
createView() take the following actions:
■ Subscribe the newly created UIViewRoot instance to the AfterAddToParent
event, passing the UIViewRoot instance itself as the listener.
■ Store the new UIViewRoot instance in the FacesContext.
■ Call renderResponse() on the FacesContext.
■ Publish an AfterAddToParent event with the created UIViewRoot as the event
source.[P1-end]

2-6 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 At the end of this phase, the viewRoot property of the FacesContext instance for the
current request will reflect the saved configuration of the view generated by the previous
Faces Response, or a new view returned by ViewHandler.createView() for the view
identifier.

The implementation for this phase must not derive a new view identifier based on the servlet
mapping. This must be delegated to the default ViewHandler implementation. See
Section 7.5.2 “Default ViewHandler Implementation”.

2.2.2 Apply Request Values

The purpose of the Apply Request Values phase of the request processing lifecycle is to give
each component the opportunity to update its current state from the information included in
the current request (parameters, headers, cookies, and so on). When the information from the
current request has been examined to update the component’s current state, the component is
said to have a “local value”.

[P1-start-applyRequestDecode]During the Apply Request Values phase, the JSF

implementation must call the processDecodes() method of the UIViewRoot of the
component tree.[P1-end] This will normally cause the processDecodes() method of
each component in the tree to be called recursively, as described in the Javadocs for the
UIComponent.processDecodes() method. [P1-start-partialDecode] The
processDecodes() method must determine if the current request is a “partial request”
by calling FacesContext.isAjaxRequest(). If
FacesContext.isAjaxRequest() returns true, perform the sequence of steps as
outlined in Section 2.2.2.1 “Apply Request Values Partial Processing”.[P1-end] Details of the
decoding process follow. [P1-start-applyRequestConversion]For UIInput components, data
conversion must occur as described in the UIInput Javadocs.[P1-end]

During the decoding of request values, some components perform special processing,
including:
■ Components that implement ActionSource (such as UICommand), which recognize
that they were activated, will queue an ActionEvent. The event will be delivered at the
end of Apply Request Values phase if the immediate property of the component is
true, or at the end of Invoke Application phase if it is false.
■ Components that implement EditableValueHolder (such as UIInput), and whose
immediate property is set to true, will cause the conversion and validation processing
(including the potential to fire ValueChangeEvent events) that normally happens
during Process Validations phase to occur during Apply Request Values phase instead.

As described in Section 2.3 “Common Event Processing”, the processDecodes()

method on the UIViewRoot component at the root of the component tree will have caused
any queued events to be broadcast to interested listeners.

Chapter 2 Request Processing Lifecycle 2-7

 At the end of this phase, all EditableValueHolder components in the component tree
will have been updated with new submitted values included in this request (or enough data to
reproduce incorrect input will have been stored, if there were conversion errors). In addition,
conversion and validation will have been performed on EditableValueHolder
components whose immediate property is set to true. Conversions and validations that
failed will have caused messages to be enqueued via calls to the addMessage() method of
the FacesContext instance for the current request, and the valid property on the
corresponding component(s) will be set to false.

If any of the decode() methods that were invoked, or an event listener that processed a
queued event, called responseComplete() on the FacesContext instance for the
current request, clear the remaining events from the event queue and terminate lifecycle
processing of the current request. [P1-start-applyRequestComplete]If any of the decode()
methods that were invoked, or an event listener that processed a queued event, called
renderResponse() on the FacesContext instance for the current request, clear the
remaining events from the event queue and transfer control to the Render Response phase of
the request processing lifecycle. Otherwise, control must proceed to the Process Validations
phase.[P1-end]

2.2.2.1 Apply Request Values Partial Processing

[P1-start-apply-partial-processing]Determine the list of components that will participate in
the decoding process by calling FacesContext.getExecutePhaseClientIds(). If
FacesContext.getExecutePhaseClientIds() returns an empty list, then the list
of component identifiers is determined from calling
FacesContext.getRenderPhaseClientIds(). For each component in the list, call
UIComponentBase.invokeOnComponent to perform processDecodes() on each
component. Whether or not any components have been processed, call
FacesContext.getPartialResponseWriter() to obtain an instance of a writer that
uses a content type of “text/xml”. Call FacesContext.setResponseWriter()
passing the writer instance. If partial processing was not performed because no component
identifiers were specified, or FacesContext.isAjaxRequest() returned false,
perform processDecodes() on all components in the tree.[P1-end]

2.2.3 Process Validations

As part of the creation of the view for this request, zero or more Validator instances may
have been registered for each component. In addition, component classes themselves may
implement validation logic in their validate() methods.

[P1-start-validation]During the Process Validations phase of the request processing lifecycle,

the JSF implementation must call the processValidators() method of the
UIViewRoot of the tree.[P1-end] This will normally cause the processValidators()
method of each component in the tree to be called recursively, as described in the API

2-8 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 reference for the UIComponent.processValidators() method. [P1-start-
partialValidate] The processValidators() method must determine if the current
request is a “partial request” by calling FacesContext.isAjaxRequest(). If
FacesContext.isAjaxRequest() returns true, perform the sequence of steps as
outlined in Section 2.2.3.1 “Partial Validations Partial Processing”.[P1-end] Note that
EditableValueHolder components whose immediate property is set to true will
have had their conversion and validation processing performed during Apply Request Values
phase.

During the processing of validations, events may have been queued by the components
and/or Validators whose validate() method was invoked. As described in Section 2.3
“Common Event Processing”, the processValidators() method on the UIViewRoot
component at the root of the component tree will have caused any queued events to be
broadcast to interested listeners.

At the end of this phase, all conversions and configured validations will have been
completed. Conversions and Validations that failed will have caused messages to be
enqueued via calls to the addMessage() method of the FacesContext instance for the
current request, and the valid property on the corresponding components will have been set
to false.

If any of the validate() methods that were invoked, or an event listener that processed a
queued event, called responseComplete() on the FacesContext instance for the
current request, clear the remaining events from the event queue and terminate lifecycle
processing of the current request. [P1-start-validationValidate]If any of the validate()
methods that were invoked, or an event listener that processed a queued event, called
renderResponse() on the FacesContext instance for the current request, clear the
remaining events from the event queue and transfer control to the Render Response phase of
the request processing lifecycle. Otherwise, control must proceed to the Update Model
Values phase.[P1-end]

2.2.3.1 Partial Validations Partial Processing

[P1-start-val-partial-processing]Determine the list of components that will participate in the
validation process by calling FacesContext.getExecutePhaseClientIds(). If
FacesContext.getExecutePhaseClientIds() returns an empty list, then the list
of component identifiers is determined from calling
FacesContext.getRenderPhaseClientIds(). For each component in the list, call
UIComponentBase.invokeOnComponent to perform processValidators() on
each component. If partial processing was not performed because no component identifiers
were specified, or FacesContext.isAjaxRequest() returned false, perform
processValidators() on all components in the tree.[P1-end]

Chapter 2 Request Processing Lifecycle 2-9

2.2.4 Update Model Values
If this phase of the request processing lifecycle is reached, it is assumed that the incoming
request is syntactically and semantically valid (according to the validations that were
performed), that the local value of every component in the component tree has been updated,
and that it is now appropriate to update the application's model data in preparation for
performing any application events that have been enqueued.

[P1-start-updateModel]During the Update Model Values phase, the JSF implementation must
call the processUpdates() method of the UIViewRoot component of the tree.[P1-
end] This will normally cause the processUpdates() method of each component in the
tree to be called recursively, as described in the API reference for the
UIComponent.processUpdates() method. [P1-start-partialUpdate] The
processUpdates() method must determine if the current request is a “partial request”
by calling FacesContext.isAjaxRequest(). If
FacesContext.isAjaxRequest() returns true, perform the sequence of steps as
outlined in Section 2.2.4.1 “Update Model Values Partial Processing”. [P1-end]The actual
model update for a particular component is done in the updateModel() method for that
component.

During the processing of model updates, events may have been queued by the components
whose updateModel() method was invoked. As described in Section 2.3 “Common Event
Processing”, the processUpdates() method on the UIViewRoot component at the root
of the component tree will have caused any queued events to be broadcast to interested
listeners.

At the end of this phase, all appropriate model data objects will have had their values
updated to match the local value of the corresponding component, and the component local
values will have been cleared.

If any of the updateModel() methods that were invoked, or an event listener that
processed a queued event, called responseComplete() on the FacesContext instance
for the current request, clear the remaining events from the event queue and terminate
lifecycle processing of the current request. [P1-start-updateModelComplete]If any of the
updateModel() methods that was invoked, or an event listener that processed a queued
event, called renderResponse() on the FacesContext instance for the current
request, clear the remaining events from the event queue and transfer control to the Render
Response phase of the request processing lifecycle. Otherwise, control must proceed to the
Invoke Application phase.[P1-end]

2.2.4.1 Update Model Values Partial Processing

[P1-start-upd-partial-processing]Determine the list of components that will participate in the
update process by calling FacesContext.getExecutePhaseClientIds(). If
FacesContext.getExecutePhaseClientIds() returns an empty list, then the list
of component identifiers is determined from calling

2-10 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 FacesContext.getRenderPhaseClientIds(). For each component in the list, call
UIComponentBase.invokeOnComponent to perform processUpdates() on each
component. If partial processing was not performed because no component identifiers were
specified, or FacesContext.isAjaxRequest() returned false, perform
processUpdates() on all components in the tree.[P1-end]

2.2.5 Invoke Application

If this phase of the request processing lifecycle is reached, it is assumed that all model
updates have been completed, and any remaining event broadcast to the application needs to
be performed. [P1-start-invokeApplication]The implementation must ensure that the
processApplication() method of the UIViewRoot instance is called.[P1-end] The
default behavior of this method will be to broadcast any queued events that specify a phase
identifier of PhaseId.INVOKE_APPLICATION. If responseComplete()was called
on the FacesContext instance for the current request, clear the remaining events from the
event queue and terminate lifecycle processing of the current request. If
renderResponse() was called on the FacesContext instance for the current request,
clear the remaining events from the event queue.

Advanced applications (or application frameworks) may replace the default

ActionListener instance by calling the setActionListener() method on the
Application instance for this application. [P1-start-invokeApplicationListener]However,
the JSF implementation must provide a default ActionListener instance that behaves as
described in Section 7.1.1 “ActionListener Property”.[P1-end]

2.2.6 Render Response

This phase accomplishes two things:

1. Causes the response to be rendered to the client

2. Causes the state of the response to be saved for processing on subsequent requests.

JSF supports a range of approaches that JSF implementations may utilize in creating the
response text that corresponds to the contents of the response view, including:
■ Deriving all of the response content directly from the results of the encoding methods (on
either the components or the corresponding renderers) that are called.
■ Interleaving the results of component encoding with content that is dynamically generated
by application programming logic.
■ Interleaving the results of component encoding with content that is copied from a static
“template” resource.
■ Interleaving the results of component encoding by embedding calls to the encoding
methods into a dynamic resource (such as representing the components as custom tags in
a JSP page).

Chapter 2 Request Processing Lifecycle 2-11

 Because of the number of possible options, the mechanism for implementing the Render
Response phase cannot be specified precisely. [P1-start-renderResponse]However, all JSF
implementations of this phase must conform to the following requirements:
■ JSF implementations must provide a default ViewHandler implementation that is
capable of handling views written in JSP as well as views written in the Faces Page
Description Language (PDL). In the case of JSP, the ViewHandler must perform a
RequestDispatcher.forward() call to a web application resource whose context-
relative path is equal to the view identifier of the component tree.
■ If all of the response content is being derived from the encoding methods of the
component or associated Renderers, the component tree should be walked in the same
depth-first manner as was used in earlier phases to process the component tree, but subject
to the additional constraints listed here.
■ If the response content is being interleaved from additional sources and the encoding
methods, the components may be selected for rendering in any desired order1.
■ During the rendering process, additional components may be added to the component tree
based on information available to the ViewHandler implementation2. However, before
adding a new component, the ViewHandler implementation must first check for the
existence of the corresponding component in the component tree. If the component
already exists (perhaps because a previous phase has pre-created one or more
components), the existing component’s properties and attributes must be utilized.
■ Under no circumstances should a component be selected for rendering when its parent
component, or any of its ancestors in the component tree, has its rendersChildren
property set to true. In such cases, the parent or ancestor component must render the
content of this child component when the parent or ancestor was selected.
■ If the isRendered() method of a component returns false, the renderer for that
component must not generate any markup, and none of its facets or children (if any)
should be rendered.
■ It must be possible for the application to programmatically modify the component tree at
any time during the request processing lifecycle (except during the rendering of the view)
and have the system behave as expected. For example, the following must be permitted.
Modification of the view during rendering may lead to undefined results. It must be
possible to allow components added by the templating system (such as JSP) to be
removed from the tree before rendering. It must be possible to programmatically add
components to the tree and have them render in the proper place in the hierarchy. It must
be possible to re-order components in the tree before rendering. These manipulations do
require that any components added to the tree have ids that are unique within the scope of
the closest parent NamingContainer component. The value of the
rendersChildren property is handled as expected, and may be either true or
false.
■ For partial requests, where partial view rendering is required, there must be no content
written outside of the view (outside f:view). Response writing must be disabled.
Response writing must be enabled again at the start of encodeBegin.

1. Typically, component selection will be driven by the occurrence of special markup (such as the existence of a JSP
custom tag) in the template text associated with the component tree.
2. For example, this technique is used when custom tags in JSP pages are utilized as the rendering technology, as described
in Chapter 9 “Integration with JSP.

2-12 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 When each particular component in the component tree is selected for rendering, calls to its
encodeXxx() methods must be performed in the manner described in Section 3.1.12
“Component Specialization Methods”. For components that implement ValueHolder (such
as UIInput and UIOutput), data conversion must occur as described in the UIOutput
Javadocs.

Upon completion of rendering, the completed state of the view must have been saved using
the methods of the class StateManager. This state information must be made accessible
on a subsequent request, so that the Restore View can access it.[P1-end] For more on
StateManager, see Section 7.6.3 “State Saving Methods.”

2.3 Common Event Processing

For a complete description of the event processing model for JavaServer Faces components,
see Section 3.4 “Event and Listener Model”.

During several phases of the request processing lifecycle, as described in Section 2.2
“Standard Request Processing Lifecycle Phases”, the possibility exists for events to be
queued (via a call to the queueEvent() method on the source UIComponent instance, or
a call to the queue() method on the FacesEvent instance), which must now be broadcast
to interested event listeners. The broadcast is performed as a side effect of calling the
appropriate lifecycle management method (processDecodes(),
processValidators(), processUpdates(), or processApplication()) on the
UIViewRoot instance at the root of the current component tree.

[P1-start-eventBroadcast]For each queued event, the broadcast() method of the source

UIComponent must be called to broadcast the event to all event listeners who have
registered an interest, on this source component for events of the specified type, after which
the event is removed from the event queue.[P1-end] See the API reference for the
UIComponent.broadcast() method for the detailed functional requirements.

It is also possible for event listeners to cause additional events to be enqueued for processing
during the current phase of the request processing lifecycle. [P1-start-eventOrder]Such
events must be broadcast in the order they were enqueued, after all originally queued events
have been broadcast, before the lifecycle management method returns.[P1-end]

Chapter 2 Request Processing Lifecycle 2-13

2.4 Common Application Activities
The following subsections describe common activities that may be undertaken by an
application that is using JSF to process an incoming request and/or create an outgoing
response. Their use is described in Section 2.1 “Request Processing Lifecycle Scenarios”, for
each request processing lifecycle scenario in which the activity is relevant.

2.4.1 Acquire Faces Object References

This phase is only required when the request being processed was not submitted from a
previous response, and therefore did not initiate the Faces Request Generates Faces
Response lifecycle. In order to generate a Faces Response, the application must first acquire
references to several objects provided by the JSF implementation, as described below.

2.4.1.1 Acquire and Configure Lifecycle Reference

[P1-start-lifeReference]As described in Section 12.1 “Lifecycle”, the JSF implementation
must provide an instance of javax.faces.lifecycle.Lifecycle that may be
utilized to manage the remainder of the request processing lifecycle.[P1-end] An application
may acquire a reference to this instance in a portable manner, as follows:

LifecycleFactory lFactory = (LifecycleFactory)

FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.LIFECYCLE_FACTORY);
Lifecycle lifecycle =
lFactory.getLifecycle(LifecycleFactory.DEFAULT_LIFECYCLE);

It is also legal to specify a different lifecycle identifier as a parameter to the

getLifecycle() method, as long as this identifier is recognized and supported by the JSF
implementation you are using. However, using a non-default lifecycle identifier will
generally not be portable to any other JSF implementation.

2-14 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

2.4.1.2 Acquire and Configure FacesContext Reference
[P1-start-contextReference]As described in Section 6.1 “FacesContext”, the JSF
implementation must provide an instance of javax.faces.context.FacesContext
to contain all of the per-request state information for a Faces Request or a Faces Response.
An application that is processing a Non-Faces Request, but wants to create a Faces Response,
must acquire a reference to a FacesContext instance as follows

FacesContextFactory fcFactory = (FacesContextFactory)

FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.FACES_CONTEXT_FACTORY);
FacesContext facesContext =
fcFactory.getFacesContext(context, request, response,
lifecycle);

where the context, request, and response objects represent the corresponding
instances for the application environment.[P1-end] For example, in a servlet-based
application, these would be the ServletContext, HttpServletRequest, and
HttpServletResponse instances for the current request.

2.4.2 Create And Configure A New View

When a Faces response is being intially created, or when the application decides it wants to
create and configure a new view that will ultimately be rendered, it may follow the steps
described below in order to set up the view that will be used. You must start with a reference
to a FacesContext instance for the current request.

2.4.2.1 Create A New View

Views are represented by a data structure rooted in an instance of
javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot, and identified by a view identifier whose
meaning depends on the ViewHandler implementation to be used during the Render
Response phase of the request processing lifecycle3. The ViewHandler provides a factory
method that may be utilized to construct new component trees, as follows:

String viewId = ...identifier of the desired Tree...;

ViewHandler viewHandler = application.getViewHandler();
UIViewRoot view = viewHandler.createView(facesContext, viewId);

3. The default ViewHandler implementation performs a RequestDispatcher.forward call to the web

application resource that will actually perform the rendering, so it expects the tree identifier to be the context-relative
path (starting with a / character) of the web application resource

Chapter 2 Request Processing Lifecycle 2-15

 [P1-start-createViewRoot]The UIViewRoot instance returned by the createView()
method must minimally contain a single UIViewRoot provided by the JSF implementation,
which must encapsulate any implementation-specific component management that is
required.[P1-end] Optionally, a JSF implementation’s ViewHandler may support the
automatic population of the returned UIViewRoot with additional components, perhaps
based on some external metadata description.

[P1-start-createView]The caller of ViewHandler.createView() must cause the

FacesContext to be populated with the new UIViewRoot. Applications must make sure
that it is safe to discard any state saved in the view rooted at the UIViewRoot currently
stored in the FacesContext.[P1-end] If Facelets is the page definition language,
FacesContext.setViewRoot()must be called before returning from
ViewHandler.createView(). Refer to Section 7.5.2 “Default ViewHandler
Implementation” for more ViewHandler details.

2.4.2.2 Configure the Desired RenderKit

[P1-start-defaultRenderkit]The UIViewRoot instance provided by the ViewHandler, as
described in the previous subsection, must automatically be configured to utilize the default
javax.faces.render.RenderKit implementation provided by the JSF
implementation, as described in Section 8.1 “RenderKit”. This RenderKit must support the
standard components and Renderers described later in this specification, to maximize the
portability of your application.[P1-end]

However, a different RenderKit instance provided by your JSF implementation (or as an

add-on library) may be utilized instead, if desired. A reference to this RenderKit instance
can be obtained from the standard RenderKitFactory, and then assigned to the
UIViewRoot instance created previously, as follows:

String renderKitId = ... identifier of desired RenderKit ...;

RenderKitFactory rkFactory = (RenderKitFactory)
FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.RENDER_KIT_FACTORY);
RenderKit renderKit = rkFactory.getRenderKit(renderKitId,
facesContext);
view.setRenderKitId(renderKitId);

As described in Chapter 8, changing the RenderKit being used changes the set of
Renderers that will actually perform decoding and encoding activities. Because the
components themselves store only a rendererType property (a logical identifier of a
particular Renderer), it is thus very easy to switch between RenderKits, as long as they
support renderers with the same renderer types.

2-16 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 [P1-start-calcRenderkitId]The default ViewHandler must call
calculateRenderKitId() on itself and set the result into the UIViewRoot’s
renderKitId property.[P1-end] This allows applications that use alternative RenderKits
to dynamically switch on a per-view basis.

2.4.2.3 Configure The View’s Components

At any time, the application can add new components to the view, remove them, or modify
the attributes and properties of existing components. For example, a new FooComponent
(an implementation of UIComponent) can be added as a child to the root UIViewRoot in
the component tree as follows:

FooComponent component = ...create a FooComponent instance...;

facesContext.getViewRoot().getChildren().add(component);

2.4.2.4 Store the new View in the FacesContext

[P1-start-setViewRoot]Once the view has been created and configured, the FacesContext
instance for this request must be made aware of it by calling setViewRoot().[P1-end]

2.5 Concepts that impact several lifecycle phases

This section is intended to give the reader a “big picture” perspective on several complex
concepts that impact several request processing lifecycle phases.

2.5.1 Value Handling

At a fundamental level, JavaServer Faces is a way to get values from the user, into your
model tier for processing. The process by which values flow from the user to the model has
been documented elsewhere in this spec, but a brief holistic survey comes in handy. The
following description assumes the JSP/HTTP case, and that all components have Renderers.

Chapter 2 Request Processing Lifecycle 2-17

2.5.1.1 Apply Request Values Phase
The user presses a button that causes a form submit to occur. This causes the state of the
form to be sent as name=value pairs in the POST data of the HTTP request. The JSF
request processing lifecycle is entered, and eventually we come to the Apply Request Values
Phase. In this phase, the decode() method for each Renderer for each UIComponent
in the view is called. The Renderer takes the value from the request and passes it to the
setSubmittedValue() method of the component, which is, of course, an instance of
EditableValueHolder. If the component has the "immediate" property set to true,
we execute validation immediately after decoding. See below for what happens when we
execute validation.

2.5.1.2 Process Validators Phase

processValidators() is called on the root of the view. For each
EditableValueHolder in the view, If the “immediate” property is not set, we execute
validation for each UIInput in the view. Otherwise, validation has already occurred and
this phase is a no-op.

2.5.1.3 Executing Validation

Please see the javadocs for UIInput.validate() for more details, but basically, this
method gets the submitted value from the component (set during Apply Request Values),
gets the Renderer for the component and calls its getConvertedValue(), passing the
submitted value. If a conversion error occurs, it is dealt with as described in the javadocs for
that method. Otherwise, all validators attached to the component are asked to validate the
converted value. If any validation errors occur, they are dealt with as described in the
javadocs for Validator.validate(). The converted value is pushed into the
component's setValue() method, and a ValueChangeEvent is fired if the value has
changed.

2.5.1.4 Update Model Values Phase

For each UIInput component in the view, its updateModel() method is called. This
method only takes action if a local value was set when validation executed and if the page
author configured this component to push its value to the model tier. This phase simply
causes the converted local value of the UIInput component to be pushed to the model in
the way specified by the page author. Any errors that occur as a result of the attempt to push
the value to the model tier are dealt with as described in the javadocs for
UIInput.updateModel().

2-18 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

2.5.2 Localization and Internationalization (L10N/I18N)
JavaServer Faces is fully internationalized. The I18N capability in JavaServer Faces builds
on the I18N concepts offered in the Servlet, JSP and JSTL specifications. I18N happens at
several points in the request processing lifecycle, but it is easiest to explain what goes on by
breaking the task down by function.

2.5.2.1 Determining the active Locale

JSF has the concept of an active Locale which is used to look up all localized resources.
Converters must use this Locale when performing their conversion. This Locale is stored
as the value of the locale JavaBeans property on the UIViewRoot of the current
FacesContext. The application developer can tell JSF what locales the application
supports in the applications’ WEB-INF/faces-config.xml file. For example:
<faces-config>
<application>
<locale-config>
<default-locale>en</default-locale>
<supported-locale>de</supported-locale>
<supported-locale>fr</supported-locale>
<supported-locale>es</supported-locale>
</locale-config>
</application>

This application’s default locale is en, but it also supports de, fr, and es locales. These
elements cause the Application instance to be populated with Locale data. Please see
the javadocs for details.

The UIViewRoot’s Locale is determined and set by the ViewHandler during the
execution of the ViewHandler’s createView() method. [P1-start-locale]This method
must cause the active Locale to be determined by looking at the user’s preferences
combined with the application’s stated supported locales.[P1-end] Please see the javadocs for
details.

The application can call UIViewRoot.setLocale() directly, but it is also possible for
the page author to override the UIViewRoot’s locale by using the locale attribute on the
<f:view> tag. [P1-start-localeValue]The value of this attribute must be specified as
language[{-|_}country[{-|_}variant]] without the colons, for example
"ja_JP_SJIS". The separators between the segments must be '-' or '_'.[P1-end]

In all cases where JSP is utilized, the active Locale is set under “request scope” into the
JSTL class javax.servlet.jsp.jstl.core.Config, under the key
Config.FMT_LOCALE.

Chapter 2 Request Processing Lifecycle 2-19

2.5.2.2 Determining the Character Encoding
The request and response character encoding are set and interpreted as follows.

On an initial request to a Faces webapp, the request character encoding is left unmodified,
relying on the underlying request object (e.g., the servlet or portlet request) to parse request
parameter correctly.

[P1-start-setLocale]At the beginning of the render-response phase, the ViewHandler must

ensure that the response Locale is set to be that of the UIViewRoot, for example by calling
ServletResponse.setLocale() when running in the servlet environment.[P1-end]
Setting the response Locale may affect the response character encoding, see the Servlet and
Portlet specifications for details.

[P1-start-encoding]At the end of the render-response phase, the ViewHandler must store the
response character encoding used by the underlying response object (e.g., the servlet or
portlet response) in the session (if and only if a session already exists) under a well known,
implementation-dependent key.

On a subsequent postback, before any of the ExternalContext methods for accessing request
parameters are invoked, the ViewHandler must examine the Content-Type header to read the
charset attribute and use its value to set it as the request encoding for the underlying request
object. If the Content-Type header doesn't contain a charset attribute, the encoding previously
stored in the session (if and only if a session already exists), must be used to set the encoding
for the underlying request object. If no character encoding is found, the request encoding
must be left unmodified.[P1-end]

The above algorithm allows an application to use the mechanisms of the underlying
technologies to adjust both the request and response encoding in an application-specific
manner, for instance using the page directive with a fixed character encoding defined in the
contentType attribute in a JSP page, see the Servlet, Portlet and JSP specifications for details.
Note, though, that the character encoding rules prior to Servlet 2.4 and JSP 2.0 are imprecise
and special care must be taken for portability between containers.

2.5.2.3 Localized Text

There is no direct support for this in the API, but the JSP layer provides a convenience tag
that converts a ResourceBundle into a java.util.Map and stores it in the scoped
namespace so all may get to it. This section describes how resources displayed to the end
user may be localized. This includes images, labels, button text, tooltips, alt text, etc.

Since most JSF components allow pulling their display value from the model tier, it is easy
to do the localization at the model tier level. As a convenience, JSF provides the
<f:loadBundle> tag, which takes a ResourceBundle and loads it into a Map, which is
then stored in the scoped namespace in request scope, thus making its messages available
using the same mechanism for accessing data in the model tier. For example:
<f:loadBundle basename=”com.foo.industryMessages.chemical”

2-20 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 var=”messages” />
<h:outputText value=”#{messages.benzene}” />

This must cause the ResourceBundle named

com.foo.industryMessages.chemical to be loaded as a Map into the request scope
under the key messages. Localized content can then be pulled out of it using the normal
value expression syntax.

2.5.2.4 Localized Application Messages

This section describes how JSF handles localized error and informational messages that
occur as a result of conversion, validation, or other application actions during the request
processing lifecycle. The JSF class javax.faces.application.FacesMessage is
provided to encapsulate summary, detail, and severity information for a message. [P1-start-
bundle]A JSF implementation must provide a javax.faces.Messages
ResourceBundle containing all of the necessary keys for the standard messages. The
required keys (and a non-normative indication of the intended message text) are as follows:
■ javax.faces.component.UIInput.CONVERSION -- {0}: Conversion error occurred
■ javax.faces.component.UIInput.REQUIRED -- {0}: Validation Error: Value is required
■ javax.faces.component.UIInput.UPDATE -- {0}: An error occurred when processing your
submitted information
■ javax.faces.component.UISelectOne.INVALID -- {0}: Validation Error: Value is not valid
■ javax.faces.component.UISelectMany.INVALID -- {0}: Validation Error: Value is not
valid
■ javax.faces.converter.BigDecimalConverter.DECIMAL={2}: ''{0}'' must be a signed
decimal number.
■ javax.faces.converter.BigDecimalConverter.DECIMAL_detail={2}: ''{0}'' must be a
signed decimal number consisting of zero or more digits, that may be followed by a
decimal point and fraction. Example: {1}
■ javax.faces.converter.BigIntegerConverter.BIGINTEGER={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number
consisting of one or more digits.
■ javax.faces.converter.BigIntegerConverter.BIGINTEGER_detail={2}: ''{0}'' must be a
number consisting of one or more digits. Example: {1}
■ javax.faces.converter.BooleanConverter.BOOLEAN={1}: ''{0}'' must be 'true' or 'false'.
■ javax.faces.converter.BooleanConverter.BOOLEAN_detail={1}: ''{0}'' must be 'true' or
'false'. Any value other than 'true' will evaluate to 'false'.
■ javax.faces.converter.ByteConverter.BYTE={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number between 0 and
255.
■ javax.faces.converter.ByteConverter.BYTE_detail={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number between
0 and 255. Example: {1}

Chapter 2 Request Processing Lifecycle 2-21

 ■ javax.faces.converter.CharacterConverter.CHARACTER={1}: ''{0}'' must be a valid
character.
■ javax.faces.converter.CharacterConverter.CHARACTER_detail={1}: ''{0}'' must be a
valid ASCII character.
■ javax.faces.converter.DateTimeConverter.DATE={2}: ''{0}'' could not be understood as a
date.
■ javax.faces.converter.DateTimeConverter.DATE_detail={2}: ''{0}'' could not be
understood as a date. Example: {1}
■ javax.faces.converter.DateTimeConverter.TIME={2}: ''{0}'' could not be understood as a
time.
■ javax.faces.converter.DateTimeConverter.TIME_detail={2}: ''{0}'' could not be
understood as a time. Example: {1}
■ javax.faces.converter.DateTimeConverter.DATETIME={2}: ''{0}'' could not be
understood as a date and time.
■ javax.faces.converter.DateTimeConverter.DATETIME_detail={2}: ''{0}'' could not be
understood as a date and time. Example: {1}
■ javax.faces.converter.DateTimeConverter.PATTERN_TYPE={1}: A 'pattern' or 'type'
attribute must be specified to convert the value ''{0}''.
■ javax.faces.converter.DoubleConverter.DOUBLE={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number consisting
of one or more digits.
■ javax.faces.converter.DoubleConverter.DOUBLE_detail={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number
between 4.9E-324 and 1.7976931348623157E308 Example: {1}
■ javax.faces.converter.EnumConverter.ENUM={2}: ''{0}'' must be convertible to an enum.
■ javax.faces.converter.EnumConverter.ENUM_detail={2}: ''{0}'' must be convertible to an
enum from the enum that contains the constant ''{1}''.
■ javax.faces.converter.EnumConverter.ENUM_NO_CLASS={1}: ''{0}'' must be
convertible to an enum from the enum, but no enum class provided.
■ javax.faces.converter.EnumConverter.ENUM_NO_CLASS_detail={1}: ''{0}'' must be
convertible to an enum from the enum, but no enum class provided.
■ javax.faces.converter.FloatConverter.FLOAT={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number consisting of
one or more digits.
■ javax.faces.converter.FloatConverter.FLOAT_detail={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number
between 1.4E-45 and 3.4028235E38 Example: {1}
■ javax.faces.converter.IntegerConverter.INTEGER={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number
consisting of one or more digits.
■ javax.faces.converter.IntegerConverter.INTEGER_detail={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number
between -2147483648 and 2147483647 Example: {1}
■ javax.faces.converter.LongConverter.LONG={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number consisting of
one or more digits.

2-22 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

■ javax.faces.converter.LongConverter.LONG_detail={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number between
-9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807 Example: {1}
■ javax.faces.converter.NumberConverter.CURRENCY={2}: ''{0}'' could not be understood
as a currency value.
■ javax.faces.converter.NumberConverter.CURRENCY_detail={2}: ''{0}'' could not be
understood as a currency value. Example: {1}
■ javax.faces.converter.NumberConverter.PERCENT={2}: ''{0}'' could not be understood as
a percentage.
■ javax.faces.converter.NumberConverter.PERCENT_detail={2}: ''{0}'' could not be
understood as a percentage. Example: {1}
■ javax.faces.converter.NumberConverter.NUMBER={2}: ''{0}'' is not a number.
■ javax.faces.converter.NumberConverter.NUMBER_detail={2}: ''{0}'' is not a number.
Example: {1}
■ javax.faces.converter.NumberConverter.PATTERN={2}: ''{0}'' is not a number pattern.
■ javax.faces.converter.NumberConverter.PATTERN_detail={2}: ''{0}'' is not a number
pattern. Example: {1}
■ javax.faces.converter.ShortConverter.SHORT={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number consisting of
one or more digits.
■ javax.faces.converter.ShortConverter.SHORT_detail={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number
between -32768 and 32767 Example: {1}
■ javax.faces.converter.STRING={1}: Could not convert ''{0}'' to a string.
■ javax.faces.validator.DoubleRangeValidator.MAXIMUM -- {1}: Validation Error: Value is
greater than allowable maximum of ‘’{0}’’
■ javax.faces.validator.DoubleRangeValidator.MINIMUM -- {1}: Validation Error: Value is
less than allowable minimum of ‘’{0}’’
■ javax.faces.validator.DoubleRangeValidator.NOT_IN_RANGE -- {2}: Validation Error:
Specified attribute is not between the expected values of {0} and {1}.
■ javax.faces.validator.DoubleRangeValidator.TYPE -- {0}: Validation Error: Value is not of
the correct type
■ javax.faces.validator.LengthValidator.MAXIMUM -- {1}: Validation Error: Value is
greater than allowable maximum of ‘’{0}’’
■ javax.faces.validator.LengthValidator.MINIMUM -- {1}: Validation Error: Value is less
than allowable minimum of ‘’{0}’’
■ javax.faces.validator.LongRangeValidator.MAXIMUM -- {1}: Validation Error: Value is
greater than allowable maximum of ‘’{0}’’
■ javax.faces.validator.LongRangeValidator.MINIMUM -- {1}: Validation Error Value is
less than allowable minimum of ‘’{0}’’
■ javax.faces.validator.LongRangeValidator.NOT_IN_RANGE={2}: Validation Error:
Specified attribute is not between the expected values of {0} and {1}.

Chapter 2 Request Processing Lifecycle 2-23

 ■ javax.faces.validator.LongRangeValidator.TYPE -- {0}: Validation Error: Value is not of
the correct type

The following message keys are deprecated:

■ javax.faces.validator.NOT_IN_RANGE -- Specified attribute is not between the expected
values of {0} and {1}[P1-end]

A JSF application may provide its own messages, or overrides to the standard messages by
supplying a <message-bundle> element to in the application configuration resources.
Since the ResourceBundle provided in the Java platform has no notion of summary or
detail, JSF adopts the policy that ResourceBundle key for the message looks up the
message summary. The detail is stored under the same key as the summary, with _detail
appended. [P1-start-bundleKey]These ResourceBundle keys must be used to look up the
necessary values to create a localized FacesMessage instance. Note that the value of the
summary and detail keys in the ResourceBundle may contain parameter substitution
tokens, which must be substituted with the appropriate values using
java.text.MessageFormat.[P1-end] Replace the last parameter substitution token
shown in the messages above with the input component’s label attribute. For example,
{1} for “DoubleRangeValidator.MAXIMUM”, {2} for
“ShortConverter.SHORT”. The label attribute is a generic attribute. Please see
Section 3.1.10 “Generic Attributes” and Section 8.5 “Standard HTML RenderKit
Implementation” for more information on these attributes. If the input component’s label
attribute is not specified, use the component’s client identifier.

These messages can be displayed in the page using the UIMessage and UIMessages
components and their corresponding tags, <h:message> and <h:messages>.

[P1-start-facesMessage]The following algorithm must be used to create a FacesMessage

instance given a message key.
■ Call getMessageBundle() on the Application instance for this web application,
to determine if the application has defined a resource bundle name. If so, load that
ResourceBundle and look for the message there.
■ If not there, look in the javax.faces.Messages resource bundle.
■ In either case, if a message is found, use the above conventions to create a
FacesMessage instance.[P1-end]

2.5.3 State Management

JavaServer Faces introduces a powerful and flexible system for saving and restoring the state
of the view between requests to the server. It is useful to describe state management from
several viewpoints. For the page author, state management happens transparently. For the app
assembler, state management can be configured to save the state in the client or on the server
by setting the ServletContext InitParameter named
javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD to either client or server. The value of
this parameter directs the state management decisions made by the implementation.

2-24 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

2.5.3.1 State Management Considerations for the Custom Component
Author
Since the component developer cannot know what the state saving method will be at runtime,
they must be aware of state management. As shown in Section FIGURE 4-1 “The
javax.faces.component package”, all JSF components implement the StateHolder
interface. As a consequence the standard components provide implementations of
StateHolder to suit their needs. [P1-start-componentStateHolder]A custom component
that extends UIComponent directly, and does not extend any of the standard components
must implement StateHolder manually.[P1-end]Please see Section 3.2.4 “StateHolder”
for details.

A custom component that does extend from one of the standard components and maintains
its own state, in addition to the state maintained by the superclass must take special care to
implement StateHolder correctly. [P1-start-saveState]Notably, calls to saveState()
must not alter the state in any way.[P1-end] The subclass is responsible for saving and
restoring the state of the superclass. Consider this example. My custom component
represents a “slider” ui widget. As such, it needs to keep track of the maximum value,
minimum value, and current values as part of its state.

Chapter 2 Request Processing Lifecycle 2-25

 public class Slider extends UISelectOne {
protected Integer min = null;
protected Integer max = null;
protected Integer cur = null;

// ... details omitted

public Object saveState(FacesContext context) {
Object values[] = new Object[4];
values[0] = super.saveState(context);
values[1] = min;
values[2] = max;
values[3] = cur;
}

public void restoreState(FacesContext context, Object state) {

Object values[] = (Object {}) state; // guaranteed to succeed
super.restoreState(context, values[0]);
min = (Integer) values[1];
max = (Integer) values[2];
cur = (Integer) values[3];
}

Note that we call super.saveState() and super.restoreState() as appropriate.

This is absolutely vital! Failing to do this will prevent the component from working.

2.5.3.2 State Management Considerations for the JSF Implementor

The intent of the state management facility is to make life easier for the page author, app
assembler, and component author. However, the complexity has to live somewhere, and the
JSF implementor is the lucky role. Here is an overview of the key players. Please see the
javadocs for each individual class for more information.

Key Players in State Management

■ ViewHandler the entry point to the state management system. Uses a helper class,
StateManager, to do the actual work. In the JSP case, delegates to the tag handler for
the <f:view> tag for some functionality.
■ StateManager abstraction for the hard work of state saving. Uses a helper class,
ResponseStateManager, for the rendering technology specific decisions.

2-26 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 ■ ResponseStateManager abstraction for rendering technology specific state
management decisions.
■ UIComponent directs process of saving and restoring individual component state.

2.6 Resource Handling

As shown in the diagram in Section 2.1.2 “Faces Request Generates Faces Response”, [P1-
start isResourceRequest rules] the JSF run-time must determine if the current Faces Request
is a Faces Resource Request or a View Request. This must be accomplished by calling
Application.getResourceHandler().isResourceRequest(). [P1-end] Most
of the normative specification for resource handling is contained in the Javadocs for
ResourceHandler and its related classes. This section contains the specification for
resource handling that fits best in prose, rather than in Javadocs.

2.6.1 Packaging Resources

ResourceHandler defines a path based packaging convention for resources. The default
implementation of ResourceHandler must support packaging resources in the web application
root or in the classpath, according to the following specification.Other implementations of
ResourceHandler are free to package resources however they like.

2.6.1.1 Packaging Resources into the Web Application Root

[P1-start web app packaging ] The default implementation must support packaging resources
in the web application root under the path

resources/<resourceIdentifier>

relative to the web app root. Resources packaged into the web app root must be accessed
using the getResource*() methods on ExternalContext.[P1-end]

2.6.1.2 Packaging Resources into the Classpath

[P1-start classpath packaging ]For the default implementation, resources packaged in the
classpath must reside under the JAR entry name:

META-INF/resources/<resourceIdentifier>

Chapter 2 Request Processing Lifecycle 2-27

 Resources packaged into the classpath must be accessed using the getResource*()
methods of the ClassLoader obtained by calling the getContextClassLoader()
method of the curreth Thread.[P1-end]

2.6.1.3 Resource Identifiers

<resourceIdentifier> consists of several segments, specified as follows.

[P1-start requirements for something to be considered a valid resourceIdentifier]

[localePrefix/][libraryName/][libraryVersion/]resourceName[/reso
urceVersion]

The run-time must enforce the following rules to consider a <resourceIdentifier>s

valid. A <resourceIdentifier> that does not follow these rules must not be considered
valid and must be ignored silently.
■ Segments in square brackets [] are optional.
■ The segments must appear in the order shown above.
■ If libraryVersion is present, it must be preceded by libraryName.
■ If libraryVersion is present, any leaf files under libraryName must be ignored.
■ If resourceVersion is present, it must be preceded by resourceName.
■ There must be a ’/’ between adjacent segments in a <resourceIdentifier>
■ If libraryVersion or resourceVersion are present, both must be a ’_’ separated list of
integers, neither starting nor ending with ’_’
■ If resourceVersion is present, it must be a version number in the same format as
libraryVersion. An optional “file extension” may be used with the resourceVersion. If “file
extension” is used, a “.” character, followed by a “file extension” must be appended to the
version number. See the following table for an example.

[P1-end]

The following examples illustrate the nine valid combinations of the above resource
identifier segments.
library
resource
localePrefx libraryName Version resourceName
Version Description actual resourceIdentifier
[optional] [optional] [optional [required]
[optional]
]
A non-localized, non-
versioned image
duke.gif resource called duke.gif
"duke.gif", not in a
library

2-28 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 A non-localized, non-
versioned image
resource called
corporate duke.gif corporate/duke.gif
"duke.gif" in a
library called
"corporate"
A non-localized, non-
versioned image
resource called
corporate 2_3 duke.gif corporate/2_3/duke.gif
"duke.gif", in version
2_3 of the
"corporate" library
A non-localized, version
1.3.4 script resource
basic 2_3 script.js 1_3_4.js called "script.js", in basic/2_3/script.js/1_3_4.js
versioned 2_3
library called "basic".
A non-versioned style
resource called
de header.css de/header.css
"header.css"
localized for locale "de"
Version 1_4_2 of style
resource
de_AT footer.css 1_4_2.css "footer.css", de_AT/footer.css/1_4_2.css
localized for locale
"de_AT"
Version 2_4 of style
resource called, "menu-
menu- bar.css" in non-
zh extraFancy 2_4.css zh/extraFancy/menu-bar.css/2_4.css
bar.css versioned library,
"extraFancy",
localized for locale "zh"
Non-versioned script
resource called,
ajaxTransa "ajaxTransaction.
ja mild 0_1 ja/mild/0_1/ajaxTransaction.js
ction.js js", in version 0_1 of
library called "mild",
localized for locale "ja"
Version 1_0 of image
resource called
"bg.png", in version
de_ch grassy 1_0 bg.png 1_0.png de_ch/grassy/1_0/bg.png/1_0.png
1_0 of library called
"grassy" localized for
locale "de_ch"

2.6.1.4 Libraries of Localized and Versioned Resources

An important feature of the resource handler is the ability for resources to be localized,
versioned, and collected into libraries. The localization and versioning scheme is completely
hidden behind the API of ResourceHandler and Resource and is not exposed in any
way to the JSF run-time.

Chapter 2 Request Processing Lifecycle 2-29

 [P1-start resource versioning] The default implementation of
ResourceHandler.createResource(), for all variants of that method, must
implement the following to discover which actual resource will be encapsulated within the
returned Resource instance. An implementation may perform caching of the resource
meta-data to improve performance if the ProjectStage is not
ProjectStage.Production.

Using the resourceName and libraryName arguments to createResource(), and the

resource packaging scheme specified in Section 2.6.1.1 “Packaging Resources into the Web
Application Root”, Section 2.6.1.2 “Packaging Resources into the Classpath”, and
Section 2.6.1.3 “Resource Identifiers”, discover the file or entry that contains the bytes of the
resource. The algorithm is specified in pseudocode.

function createResource(resourceName, libraryName) {

var prefix = web app root resource prefix;
var resourceLoader = web app resource loader;
// these are shorthand for the prefix and resource loading
// facility specified in Section 2.6.1.1. They are
// not actual API per se.
var resource = null;
var resourceId = deriveResourceId(prefix, resourceLoader,
resourceName, libraryName);
if (null == resourceId) {
prefix = classpath resource prefix;
resourceLoader = classpath resource loader;
// these are shorthand for the prefix and resource
// loading facility specified in Section 2.6.1.2. They are
// not actual API per se.
resourceId = deriveResourceId(prefix, resourceLoader,
resourceName, libraryName);
}
if (null != resourceId) {
resource = create the resource using the resourceId;
}
return resource;
}

function deriveResourceId(prefix, resourceLoader,

2-30 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 resourceName, libraryName) {
var localePrefix = getLocalePrefix();
var resourceVersion = null;
var libraryVersion = null;
var resourceId;
if (null != localePrefix) {
prefix = localePrefix + ‘/’ + prefix;
}
if (null != libraryName) {
var libraryPaths = resourceLoader.getResourcePaths(
prefix + ‘/’ + libraryName);
if (null != libraryPaths && !libraryPaths.isEmpty()) {
libraryVersion = // execute the comment
// Look in the libraryPaths for versioned libraries.
// If one or more versioned libraries are found, take
// the one with the “highest” version number as the value
// of libraryVersion. If no versioned libraries
// are found, let libraryVersion remain null.
}
if (null != libraryVersion) {
libraryName = libraryName + ‘/’ + libraryVersion;
}
var resourcePaths = resourceLoader.getResourcePaths(
prefix + ‘/’ + libraryName + ‘/’ + resourceName);
if (null != resourcePaths && !resourcePaths.isEmpty()) {
resourceVersion = // execute the comment
// Look in the resourcePaths for versioned resources.
// If one or more versioned resources are found, take
// the one with the “highest” version number as the value
// of resourceVersion. If no versioned libraries
// are found, let resourceVersion remain null.
}
if (null != resourceVersion) {
resourceId = prefix + ’/’ + libraryName + ’/’ +
resourceName + ‘/’ + resourceVersion;
}

Chapter 2 Request Processing Lifecycle 2-31

 else {
resourceId = prefix + ’/’ + libraryName + ’/’ + resourceName;
}
} // end of if (null != libraryName)
else {
// libraryName == null
var resourcePaths = resourceLoader.getResourcePaths(
prefix + ‘/’ + resourceName);
if (null != resourcePaths && !resourcePaths.isEmpty()) {
resourceVersion = // execute the comment
// Look in the resourcePaths for versioned resources.
// If one or more versioned resources are found, take
// the one with the “highest” version number as the value
// of resourceVersion. If no versioned libraries
// are found, let resourceVersion remain null.
}
if (null != resourceVersion) {
resourceId = prefix + ’/’ + resourceName + ’/’ +
resourceVersion;
}
else {
resourceId = prefix + ’/’ + resourceName;
}
} // end of else, when libraryName == null
return resourceId;
}

function getLocalePrefix() {
var localePrefix;
var appBundleName = facesContext.application.messageBundle;
if (null != appBundleName) {
var locale =
facesContext.application.viewHandler.calculateLocale();
ResourceBundle appBundle = ResourceBundle.getBundle(
appBundleName, locale);
localePrefix = appBundle.getString(ResourceHandler.

2-32 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 LOCALE_PREFIX);
}
// Any MissingResourceException instances that are encountered
// in the above code must be swallowed by this method, and null
// returned;
return localePrefix;
}

[P1-end]

2.6.2 Rendering Resources

Resources such as images, stylesheets and scripts use the resource handling mechanism as
outlined in Section 2.6.1 “Packaging Resources”. So, for example:

<h:graphicImage name=”Planets.gif” library=”images”/>

<h:graphicImage value=”#{resource[‘images:Planets.gif’]}”/>

These entries render exactly the same markup. In addition to using the name and library
attributes, stylesheet and script resources can be “relocated” to other parts of the view. For
example, we could specify that a script resource be rendered within an HTML “head”,
“body” or “form” element in the page.

2.6.2.1 Relocatable Resources

Relocatable resources are resources that can be told where to render themselves, and this
rendered location may be different than the resource tag placement in the view. For example,
a portion of the view may be described in the page description language as follows:
<f:view contentType="text/html"/>
<h:head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
charset=iso-8859-1" />
<title>Example View</title>
</h:head>
<h:body>
<h:form>
<h:outputScript name=”ajax.js” library=”javax.faces”
target=”head”/>

Chapter 2 Request Processing Lifecycle 2-33

 </h:form>
</h:body>
</f:view>
The <h:outputScript> tag refers to the renderer, ScriptRenderer, that listens for
AfterAddToParentEvent event types:

@ListenerFor(facesEventClass=AfterAddToParentEvent.class,
sourceClass=UIOutput.class)
public class ScriptRenderer extends Renderer implements
ComponentSystemEventListener {...

Refer to Section 3.4 “Event and Listener Model”. When the component for this resource is
added to the view, the ScriptRenderer processEvent method adds the component to a
facet (named by the target attribute) under the view root. using the UIViewRoot
component resource methods as described in Section 4.1.17.3 “Methods”.
The <h:head> and <h:body> tags refer to the renderers HeadRenderer and BodyRenderer
respectively, described in Section 8.5 “Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation”. During
the rendering phase, the encode methods for these renderers render all component resources
under the facet child (named by target) under the UIViewRoot using the UIViewRoot
component resource methods as described in Section 4.1.17.3 “Methods”.
Existing component libraries (with existing head and body components), that want to use this
resource loading feature must follow the rendering requirements described in Section 8.5
“Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation”.

2.6.2.2 Resource Rendering Using Annotations

Components and renderers may be declared as requiring a resource using the
@ResourceDependency annotation. The implementation must scan for the presence of
this annotation on the component that was added to the List of child components. Check
for the presence of the annotation on the renderer for this component (if there is a renderer
for the component). The annotation check must be done immediately after the component is
added to the List. Refer to Section 3.1.7 “Component Tree Manipulation”for detailed
information.

2-34 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

3

User Interface Component Model

A JSF user interface component is the basic building block for creating a JSF user interface.
A particular component represents a configurable and reusable element in the user interface,
which may range in complexity from simple (such as a button or text field) to compound
(such as a tree control or table). Components can optionally be associated with corresponding
objects in the data model of an application, via value expressions.

JSF also supports user interface components with several additional helper APIs:
■ Converters—Pluggable support class to convert the markup value of a component to and
from the corresponding type in the model tier.
■ Events and Listeners—An event broadcast and listener registration model based on the
design patterns of the JavaBeans Specification, version 1.0.1.
■ Validators—Pluggable support classes that can examine the local value of a component
(as received in an incoming request) and ensure that it conforms to the business rules
enforced by each Validator. Error messages for validation failures can be generated and
sent back to the user during rendering.

The user interface for a particular page of a JSF-based web application is created by
assembling the user interface components for a particular request or response into a view.
The view is a tree of classes that implement UIComponent. The components in the tree
have parent-child relationships with other components, starting at the root element of the
tree, which must be an instance of UIViewRoot. Components in the tree can be anonymous
or they can be given a component identifier by the framework user. Components in the tree
can be located based on component identifiers, which must be unique within the scope of the
nearest ancestor to the component that is a naming container. For complex rendering
scenarios, components can also be attached to other components as facets.

This chapter describes the basic architecture and APIs for user interface components and the
supporting APIs.

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-1

3.1 UIComponent and UIComponentBase
The base abstract class for all user interface components is
javax.faces.component.UIComponent. This class defines the state information and
behavioral contracts for all components through a Java programming language API, which
means that components are independent of a rendering technology such as JavaServer Pages
(JSP). A standard set of components (described in Chapter 4 “Standard User Interface
Components”) that add specialized properties, attributes, and behavior, is also provided as a
set of concrete subclasses.

Component writers, tool providers, application developers, and JSF implementors can also
create additional UIComponent implementations for use within a particular application. To
assist such developers, a convenience subclass,
javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase, is provided as part of JSF. This class
provides useful default implementations of nearly every UIComponent method, allowing
the component writer to focus on the unique characteristics of a particular UIComponent
implementation.

The following subsections define the key functional capabilities of JSF user interface
components.

3.1.1 Component Identifiers

public String getId();

public void setId(String componentId);

[N/T-start may-component-identifier] Every component may be named by a component

identifier that must conform to the following rules:
■ They must start with a letter (as defined by the Character.isLetter() method).
■ Subsequent characters must be letters (as defined by the Character.isLetter()
method), digits as defined by the Character.isDigit() method, dashes (‘-’), or
underscores (‘_’).

[P1-end] To minimize the size of responses generated by JavaServer Faces, it is

recommended that component identifiers be as short as possible.

If a component has been given an identifier, it must be unique in the namespace of the closest
ancestor to that component that is a NamingContainer (if any).

3-2 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

3.1.2 Component Type
While not a property of UIComponent, the component-type is an important piece of
data related to each UIComponent subclass that allows the Application instance to
create new instances of UIComponent subclasses with that type. Please see Section 7.1.11
“Object Factories” for more on component-type.

Component types starting with “javax.faces.” are reserved for use by the JSF specification.

3.1.3 Component Family

public String getFamily();

Each standard user interface component class has a standard value for the component family,
which is used to look up renderers associated with this component. Subclasses of a generic
UIComponent class will generally inherit this property from its superclass, so that renderers
who only expect the superclass will still be able to process specialized subclasses.

Component families starting with “javax.faces.” are reserved for use by the JSF specification.

3.1.4 ValueExpression properties

Properties and attributes of standard concrete component classes may be value expression
enabled. This means that, rather than specifying a literal value as the parameter to a property
or attribute setter, the caller instead associates a ValueExpression (see Section 5.8.3
“ValueBinding”) whose getValue() method must be called (by the property getter) to
return the actual property value to be returned if no value has been set via the corresponding
property setter. If a property or attribute value has been set, that value must be returned by
the property getter (shadowing any associated value binding expression for this property).

Value binding expressions are managed with the following method calls:

public ValueExpression getValueExpression(String name);

public void setValueExpression(String name, ValueExpression

expression);

where name is the name of the attribute or property for which to establish the value
expression. [P1-start setValueExpression rules] The implementation of
setValueExpression must detemine if the expression is a literal by calling
ValueExpression.isLiteralText() on the expression argument. If the

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-3

 expression argument is literal text, then ValueExpression.getValue() must be
called on the expression argument. The result must be used as the value argument,
along with the name argument to this component’s getAttributes().put(name,
value) method call. [P1-end] [P1-start which properties are value expression enabled] For
the standard component classes defined by this specification, all attributes, and all properties
other than id and parent, are value expression enabled. [P1-end]

In previous versions of this specification, this concept was called “value binding”. Methods
and classes referring to this concept are deprecated, but remain implemented to preserve
backwards compatibility.

public ValueBinding getValueBinding(String name);

public void setValueBinding(String name, ValueBinding binding);

Please consult the javadoc for these methods to learn how they are implemented in terms of
the new “value expression” concept.

3.1.5 Component Bindings

A component binding is a special value expression that can be used to facilitate “wiring up”
a component instance to a corresponding property of a JavaBean that is associated with the
page, and wants to manipulate component instances programatically. It is established by
calling setValueExpression() (see Section 3.1.4 “ValueExpression properties”) with
the special property name binding.

The specified ValueExpression must point to a read-write JavaBeans property of type

UIComponent (or appropriate subclass). Such a component binding is used at two different
times during the processing of a Faces Request:
■ [P3-start how a component binding is used from a JSP page] When a component instance
is first created (typically by virtue of being referenced by a UIComponentELTag in a
JSP page), the JSF implementation will retrieve the ValueExpression for the name
binding, and call getValue() on it. If this call returns a non-null UIComponent
value (because the JavaBean programmatically instantiated and configured a component
already), that instance will be added to the component tree that is being created. If the call
returns null, a new component instance will be created, added to the component tree,
and setValue() will be called on the ValueExpression (which will cause the
property on the JavaBean to be set to the newly created component instance). [P3-end]
■ [P1-start how a component binding is used when restoring the tree]When a component
tree is recreated during the Restore View phase of the request processing lifecycle, for
each component that has a ValueExpression associated with the name “binding”,
setValue() will be called on it, passing the recreated component instance. [P1-end]

3-4 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 Component bindings are often used in conjunction with JavaBeans that are dynamically
instantiated via the Managed Bean Creation facility (see Section 5.8.1 “VariableResolver and
the Default VariableResolver”). It is strongly recommend that application developers place
managed beans that are pointed at by component binding expressions in “request” scope.
This is because placing it in session or application scope would require thread-safety, since
UIComponent instances depends on running inside of a single thread.

3.1.6 Client Identifiers

Client identifiers are used by JSF implementations, as they decode and encode components,
for any occasion when the component must have a client side name. Some examples of such
an occasion are:
■ to name request parameters for a subsequent request from the JSF-generated page.
■ to serve as anchors for client side scripting code.
■ to serve as anchors for client side accessibility labels.

public String getClientId(FacesContext context);

protected String getContainerClientId(FacesContext context);

The client identifier is derived from the component identifier (or the result of calling
UIViewRoot.createUniqueId() if there is not one), and the client identifier of the
closest parent component that is a NamingContainer according to the algorithm specified
in the javadoc for UIComponent.getClientId(). The Renderer associated with this
component, if any, will then be asked to convert this client identifier to a form appropriate
for sending to the client. The value returned from this method must be the same throughout
the lifetime of the component instance unless setId() is called, in which case it will be
recalculated by the next call to getClientId().

3.1.7 Component Tree Manipulation

public UIComponent getParent();

public void setParent(UIComponent parent);

Components that have been added as children of another component can identify the parent
by calling the getParent method. For the root node component of a component tree, or
any component that is not part of a component tree, getParent will return null. In some
special cases, such as transient components, it is possible that a component in the tree will
return null from getParent(). The setParent() method should only be called by the

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-5

 List instance returned by calling the getChildren() method, or the Map instance
returned by calling the getFacets() method, when child components or facets are being
added, removed, or replaced.

public List<UIComponent> getChildren();

Return a mutable List that contains all of the child UIComponents for this component
instance. [P1-start requirements of UIComponent.getChildren() ] The returned List
implementation must support all of the required and optional methods of the List interface,
as well as update the parent property of children that are added and removed, as described in
the Javadocs for this method. [P1-end] Note that the add() methods have a special
requirement to cause the AfterAddToParent method to be fired, as well as the processing
of the ResourceDependency annotation. See the javadocs for getChildren() for
details.

public int getChildCount();

A convenience method to return the number of child components for this component. [P2-
start UIComponent.getChildCount requirements.] If there are no children, this method must
return 0. The method must not cause the creation of a child component list, so it is preferred
over calling getChildren().size() when there are no children. [P2-end]

3.1.8 Component Tree Navigation

public UIComponent findComponent(String expr);

Search for and return the UIComponent with an id that matches the specified search
expression (if any), according to the algorithm described in the Javadocs for this method.

public Iterator<UIComponent> getFacetsAndChildren();

Return an immutable Iterator over all of the facets associated with this component (in an
undetermined order), followed by all the child components associated with this component
(in the order they would be returned by getChildren())..

public boolean invokeOnComponent(FacesContext context, String

clientId, ContextCallback callback) throws FacesException;

3-6 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

Starting at this component in the view, search for the UIComponent whose
getClientId() method returns a String that exactly matches the argument clientId
using the algorithm specified in the Javadocs for this method. If such a UIComponent is
found, call the invokeContextCallback() method on the argument callback
passing the current FacesContext and the found UIComponent. Upon normal return from
the callback, return true to the caller. If the callback throws an exception, it must be
wrapped inside of a FacesException and re-thrown. If no such UIComponent is found,
return false to the caller.

Special consideration should be given to the implementation of invokeOnComponent()

for UIComponent classes that handle iteration, such as UIData. Iterating components
manipulate their own internal state to handle iteration, and doing so alters the clientIds of
components nested within the iterating component. Implementations of
invokeOnComponent() must guarantee that any state present in the component or
children is restored before returning. Please see the Javadocs for
UIData.invokeOnComponent() for details.

The ContextCallback interface is specified as follows..

public interface ContextCallback {

public void invokeContextCallback(FacesContext context,
UIComponent target);

Please consult the Javadocs for more details on this interface.

public static UIComponent getCurrentComponent(FacesContext

context);

Returns the UIComponent instance that is currently being processed.

public static UIComponent

getCurrentCompositeComponent(FacesContext context);

Returns the closest ancestor component relative to getCurrentComponent that is a

composite component, or null if no such component is exists.

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-7

3.1.9 Facet Management
JavaServer Faces supports the traditional model of composing complex components out of
simple components via parent-child relationships that organize the entire set of components
into a tree, as described in Section 3.1.7 “Component Tree Manipulation”. However, an
additional useful facility is the ability to define particular subordinate components that have
a specific role with respect to the owning component, which is typically independent of the
parent-child relationship. An example might be a “data grid” control, where the children
represent the columns to be rendered in the grid. It is useful to be able to identify a
component that represents the column header and/or footer, separate from the usual child
collection that represents the column data.

To meet this requirement, JavaServer Faces components offer support for facets, which
represent a named collection of subordinate (but non-child) components that are related to
the current component by virtue of a unique facet name that represents the role that particular
component plays. Although facets are not part of the parent-child tree, they participate in
request processing lifecycle methods, as described in Section 3.1.13 “Lifecycle Management
Methods”.

public Map<String, UIComponent> getFacets();

Return a mutable Map representing the facets of this UIComponent, keyed by the facet name.

public UIComponent getFacet(String name);

A convenience method to return a facet value, if it exists, or null otherwise. If the

requested facet does not exist, no facets Map must not be created, so it is preferred over
calling getFacets().get() when there are no Facets.

For easy use of components that use facets, component authors may include type-safe getter
and setter methods that correspond to each named facet that is supported by that component
class. For example, a component that supports a header facet of type UIHeader should
have methods with signatures and functionality as follows:

public UIHeader getHeader() {

return ((UIHeader) getFacet(“header”);
}

public void setHeader(UIHeader header) {

getFacets().put(“header”, header);
}

3-8 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

3.1.10 Generic Attributes
public Map<String, Object> getAttributes();

The render-independent characteristics of components are generally represented as JavaBean

component properties with getter and setter methods (see Section 3.1.11 “Render-
Independent Properties”). In addition, components may also be associated with generic
attributes that are defined outside the component implementation class. Typical uses of
generic attributes include:
■ Specification of render-dependent characteristics, for use by specific Renderers.
■ General purpose association of application-specific objects with components.

The attributes for a component may be of any Java programming language object type, and
are keyed by attribute name (a String). However, see Section 7.6.2 “State Saving Alternatives
and Implications” for implications of your application’s choice of state saving method on the
classes used to implement attribute values.

Attribute names that begin with javax.faces are reserved for use by the JSF
specification. Names that begin with javax are reserved for definition through the Java
Community Process. Implementations are not allowed to define names that begin with
javax.

[P1-start attribute property transparency rules] The Map returned by getAttributes()

must also support attribute-property transparency, which operates as follows:
■ When the get() method is called, if the specified attribute name matches the name of a
readable JavaBeans property on the component implementation class, the value returned
will be acquired by calling the appropriate property getter method, and wrapping Java
primitive values (such as int) in their corresponding wrapper classes (such as
java.lang.Integer) if necessary. If the specified attribute name does not match the
name of a readable JavaBeans property on the component implementation class, consult
the internal data-structure to in which generic attributes are stored. If no entry exists in the
internal data-structure, see if there is a ValueExpression for this attribute name by
calling getValueExpression(), passing the attribute name as the key. If a
ValueExpression exists, call getValue() on it, returning the result. If an
ELException is thrown wrap it in a FacesException and re-throw it. If the current
component instance contains an attribute with the key
“javax.faces.application.Resource.ComponentResource” it is a composite component and
the get() method must take additional responsibilities:
■ If the value returned from get() is a ValueExpression, call
ValueExpression.getValue(ELContext) and return the result. Otherwise,
return the actual value.

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-9

 ■ When the put() method is called, if the specified attribute name matches the name of a
writable JavaBeans property on the component implementation class, the appropriate
property setter method will be called. If the specified attribute name does not match the
name of a writable JavaBeans property, simply put the value in the data-structure for
generic attributes.
■ When the remove() method is called, if the specified attribute name matches the name
of a JavaBeans property on the component, an IllegalArgumentException must be
thrown.
■ When the containsKey() method is called, if the specified attribute name matches the
name of a JavaBeans property, return false. Otherwise, return true if and only if the
specified attribute name exists in the internal data-structure for the generic attributes.

The Map returned by getAttributes() must also conform to the entire contract for the
Map interface. [P1-end]

3.1.10.1 Special Attributes

UIComponent Constants

public static final String CURRENT_COMPONENT =

"javax.faces.component.CURRENT_COMPONENT";

This is used as a key in the FacesContext attributes Map to indicate the component that
is currently being processed.

public static final String CURRENT_COMPOSITE_COMPONENT =

"javax.faces.component.CURRENT_COMPOSITE_COMPONENT";

This is used as a key in the FacesContext attributes Map to indicate the composite
component that is currently being processed.

public static final String BEANINFO_KEY =

"javax.faces.component.BEANINFO_KEY";

This is a key in the component attributes Map whose value is a java.beans.BeanInfo

describing the composite component.

public static final String FACETS_KEY =

"javax.faces.component.FACETS_KEY";

3-10 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 This is a key in the composite component BeanDescriptor whose value is a
Map<PropertyDescriptor> that contains meta-information for the declared facets for the
composite component.

public static final String COMPOSITE_COMPONENT_TYPE_KEY =

"javax.faces.component.COMPOSITE_COMPONENT_TYPE";

This is a key in the composite component BeanDescriptor whose value is a

ValueExpression that evaluates to the of the component-type of the composite
component root.

public static final String COMPOSITE_FACET_NAME =

"javax.faces.component.COMPOSITE_FACET_NAME";

This is a key in the Map<PropertyDescriptor> that is returned by using the key

FACETS_KEY. The value of this constant is also used as the key in the Map returned from
getFacets(). In this case, the value of this key is the facet (the UIPanel) that is the
parent of all the components in the composite implementation section of the
composite component PDL file.

Refer to the javax.faces.component.UIComponent Javadocs for more detailed

information.

3.1.11 Render-Independent Properties

The render-independent characteristics of a user interface component are represented as
JavaBean component properties, following JavaBeans naming conventions. Specifically, the
method names of the getter and/or setter methods are determined using standard JavaBeans
component introspection rules, as defined by java.beans.Introspector. The render-
independent properties supported by all UIComponents are described in the following
table:

Name Access Type Description

id RW String The component identifier, as described in Section 3.1.1

“Component Identifiers”.
parent RW UIComponent The parent component for which this component is a child or a
facet.
rendered RW boolean A flag that, if set to true, indicates that this component should be
processed during all phases of the request processing lifecycle. The
default value is “true”.

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-11

Name Access Type Description

rendererType RW String Identifier of the Renderer instance (from the set of Renderer
instances supported by the RenderKit associated with the
component tree we are processing. If this property is set, several
operations during the request processing lifecycle (such as decode
and the encodeXxx family of methods) will be delegated to a
Renderer instance of this type. If this property is not set, the
component must implement these methods directly.
rendersChildr RO boolean A flag that, if set to true, indicates that this component manages
en the rendering of all of its children components (so the JSF
implementation should not attempt to render them). The default
implementation in UIComponentBase delegates this setting to
the associated Renderer, if any, and returns false otherwise.
transient RW boolean A flag that, if set to true, indicates that this component must not
be included in the state of the component tree. The default
implementation in UIComponentBase returns false for this
property.

The method names for the render-independent property getters and setters must conform to
the design patterns in the JavaBeans specification. See Section 7.6.2 “State Saving
Alternatives and Implications” for implications of your application’s choice of state saving
method on the classes used to implement property values.

3.1.12 Component Specialization Methods

The methods described in this section are called by the JSF implementation during the
various phases of the request processing lifecycle, and may be overridden in a concrete
subclass to implement specialized behavior for this component.

public boolean broadcast(FacesEvent event) throws

AbortProcessingException;

The broadcast() method is called during the common event processing (see Section 2.3
“Common Event Processing”) at the end of several request processing lifecycle phases. For
more information about the event and listener model, see Section 3.4 “Event and Listener
Model”. Note that it is not necessary to override this method to support additional event
types.

public void decode(FacesContext context);

3-12 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

This method is called during the Apply Request Values phase of the request processing
lifecycle, and has the responsibility of extracting a new local value for this component from
an incoming request. The default implementation in UIComponentBase delegates to a
corresponding Renderer, if the rendererType property is set, and does nothing
otherwise.

Generally, component writers will choose to delegate decoding and encoding to a

corresponding Renderer by setting the rendererType property (which means the
default behavior described above is adequate).

public void encodeAll(FacesContext context) throws IOException

public void encodeBegin(FacesContext context) throws IOException;

public void encodeChildren(FacesContext context) throws

IOException;

public void encodeEnd(FacesContext context) throws IOException;

These methods are called during the Render Response phase of the request processing
lifecycle. encodeAll() will cause this component and all its children and facets that return
true from isRendered() to be rendered, regardless of the value of the
getRendersChildren() return value. encodeBegin(), encodeChildren(), and
encodeEnd()have the responsibility of creating the response data for the beginning of this
component, this component’s children (only called if the rendersChildren property of
this component is true), and the ending of this component, respectively. Typically, this will
involve generating markup for the output technology being supported, such as creating an
HTML <input> element for a UIInput component. For clients that support it, the encode
methods might also generate client-side scripting code (such as JavaScript), and/or
stylesheets (such as CSS). The default implementations in UIComponentBase
encodeBegin() and encodeEnd() delegate to a corresponding Renderer, if the
rendererType property is true, and do nothing otherwise. [P1-start-comp-special]The
default implementation in UIComponentBase encodeChildren() must iterate over its
children and call encodeAll() for each child component. encodeBegin() must
publish a BeforeRenderEvent.[P1-end]

Generally, component writers will choose to delegate encoding to a corresponding

Renderer, by setting the rendererType property (which means the default behavior
described above is adequate).

public void queueEvent(FacesEvent event);

Enqueue the specified event for broadcast at the end of the current request processing
lifecycle phase. Default behavior is to delegate this to the queueEvent() of the parent
component, normally resulting in broadcast via the default behavior in the UIViewRoot
lifecycle methods.

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-13

 The component author can override any of the above methods to customize the behavior of
their component.

3.1.13 Lifecycle Management Methods

The following methods are called by the various phases of the request processing lifecycle,
and implement a recursive tree walk of the components in a component tree, calling the
component specialization methods described above for each component. These methods are
not generally overridden by component writers, but doing so may be useful for some
advanced component implementations. See the javadocs for detailed information on these
methods

In order to support the “component” implicit object (See Section 5.6.2.1 “Implicit Object
ELResolver for Programmatic Access”), the following methods have been added to
UIComponent

protected void pushComponentToEL(FacesContext context);

protected void popComponentFromEL(FacesContext context)

pushComponentToEL() and popComponentFromEL() must be called inside each of

the lifecycle management methods in this section as specified in the javadoc for that method.

public void processRestoreState(FacesContext context, Object

state);

Perform the component tree processing required by the Restore View phase of the request
processing lifecycle for all facets of this component, all children of this component, and this
component itself.

public void processDecodes(FacesContext context);

Perform the component tree processing required by the Apply Request Values phase of the
request processing lifecycle for all facets of this component, all children of this component,
and this component itself

public void processValidators(FacesContext context);

3-14 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 Perform the component tree processing required by the Process Validations phase of the
request processing lifecycle for all facets of this component, all children of this component,
and this component itself.

public void processUpdates(FacesContext context);

Perform the component tree processing required by the Update Model Values phase of the
request processing lifecycle for all facets of this component, all children of this component,
and this component itself.

public void processSaveState(FacesContext context);

Perform the component tree processing required by the state saving portion of the Render
Response phase of the request processing lifecycle for all facets of this component, all
children of this component, and this component itself.

3.1.14 Utility Methods

protected FacesContext getFacesContext();

Return the FacesContext instance for the current request.

protected Renderer getRenderer(FacesContext context);

Return the Renderer that is associated this UIComponent, if any, based on the values of
the family and rendererType properties currently stored as instance data on the
UIComponent.

protected void addFacesListener(FacesListener listener);

protected void removeFacesListener(FacesListener listener);

These methods are used to register and deregister an event listener. They should be called
only by a public addXxxListener() method on the component implementation class, which
provides typesafe listener registration.

public Map<String, String> getResourceBundleMap();

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-15

 Return a Map of the ResourceBundle for this component. Please consult
the Javadocs for more information.

3.2 Component Behavioral Interfaces

In addition to extending UIComponent, component classes may also implement one or
more of the behavioral interfaces described below. Components that implement these
interfaces must provide the corresponding method signatures and implement the described
functionality.

3.2.1 ActionSource
The ActionSource interface defines a way for a component to indicate that wishes to be a
source of ActionEvent events, including the ability invoke application actions (see
Section 7.3 “Application Actions”) via the default ActionListener facility (see
Section 7.1.1 “ActionListener Property”).

3-16 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

3.2.1.1 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the ActionSource interface:

Name Access Type Description

action RW MethodBindi DEPRECATED A MethodBinding (see

ng Section 5.8.4 “MethodBinding”) that must (if
non-null) point at an action method (see
Section 7.3 “Application Actions”). The
specified method will be called during the
Apply Request Values or Invoke Application
phase of the request processing lifecycle, as
described in Section 2.2.5 “Invoke
Application”. This method is replaced by the
actionExpression property on
ActionSource2. See the javadocs for the
backwards compatibility implementation
strategy.
actionListener RW MethodBinding DEPRECATED A MethodBinding (see
Section 5.8.4 “MethodBinding”) that (if non-
null) must point at a method accepting an
ActionEvent, with a return type of void.
Any ActionEvent that is sent by this
ActionSource will be passed to this method
along with the processAction() method of
any registered ActionListeners, in either
Apply Request Values or Invoke Application
phase, depending upon the state of the
immediate property. See the javadocs for the
backwards compatibility implementation
strategy.
immediate RW boolean A flag indicating that the default
ActionListener should execute
immediately (that is, during the Apply Request
Values phase of the request processing
lifecycle, instead of waiting for Invoke
Application phase). The default value of this
property must be false.

3.2.1.2 Methods
ActionSource adds no new processing methods.

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-17

3.2.1.3 Events
A component implementing ActionSource is a source of ActionEvent events. There
are three important moments in the lifetime of an ActionEvent:
■ when an the event is created
■ when the event is queued for later processing
■ when the listeners for the event are notified

ActionEvent creation occurs when the system detects that the component implementing
ActionSource has been activated. For example, a button has been pressed. This happens
when the decode() processing of the Apply Request Values phase of the request
processing lifecycle detects that the corresponding user interface control was activated.

ActionEvent queueing occurs immediately after the event is created.

Event listeners that have registered an interest in ActionEvents fired by this component
(see below) are notified at the end of the Apply Request Values or Invoke Application phase,
depending upon the immediate property of the originating UICommand.

ActionSource includes the following methods to register and deregister

ActionListener instances interested in these events. See Section 3.4 “Event and Listener
Model” for more details on the event and listener model provided by JSF.

public void addActionListener(ActionListener listener);

public void removeActionListener(ActionListener listener);

In addition to manually registered listeners, the JSF implementation provides a default

ActionListener that will process ActionEvent events during the Apply Request
Values or Invoke Application phases of the request processing lifecycle. See Section 2.2.5
“Invoke Application” for more information.

3.2.2 ActionSource2
The ActionSource2 interface extends ActionSource and provides a JavaBeans
property analogous to the action property on ActionSource. This allows the
ActionSource concept to leverage the new Unified EL API.

3-18 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

3.2.2.1 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the ActionSource interface:

Name Access Type Description

actionExpres RW javax.el.Me A MethodExpression (see Section 5.8.4

sion thodExpress “MethodBinding”) that must (if non-null)
ion point at an action method (see Section 7.3
“Application Actions”). The specified method
will be called during the Apply Request Values
or Invoke Application phase of the request
processing lifecycle, as described in
Section 2.2.5 “Invoke Application”.

3.2.2.2 Methods
ActionSource2 adds no new processing methods.

3.2.2.3 Events
ActionSource2 adds no new events.

3.2.3 NamingContainer
NamingContainer is a marker interface. Components that implement
NamingContainer have the property that, for all of their children that have non-null
component identifiers, all of those identifiers are unique. This property is enforced by the
renderView() method on ViewHandler. In JSP based applications, it is also enforced
by the UIComponentELTag. Since this is just a marker interface, there are no properties,
methods, or events. Among the standard components, UIForm and UIData implement
NamingContainer. See Section 4.1.4 “UIForm” and Section 4.1.3.3 “UIData” for details
of how the NamingContainer concept is used in these two cases.

NamingContainer defines a public static final character constant, SEPARATOR_CHAR,

that is used to separate components of client identifiers, as well as the components of search
expressions used by the findComponent() method see (Section 3.1.8 “Component Tree
Navigation”). The value of this constant must be a colon character (“:”).

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-19

 Use of this separator character in client identifiers rendered by Renderers can cause
problems with CSS stylesheets that attach styles to a particular client identifier. For the
Standard HTML RenderKit, this issue can be worked around by using the style attribute to
specify CSS style values directly, or the styleClass attribute to select CSS styles by class
rather than by identifier.

3.2.4 StateHolder
The StateHolder interface is implemented by UIComponent, Converter,
FacesListener, and Validator classes that need to save their state between requests.
UIComponent implements this interface to denote that components have state that must be
saved and restored between requests.

3.2.4.1 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the StateHolder interface:

Name Access Type Description

transient RW boolean A flag indicating whether this instance has

decided to opt out of having its state
information saved and restored. The default
value for all standard component, converter,
and validator classes that implement
StateHolder must be false.

3.2.4.2 Methods
Any class implementing StateHolder must implement both the saveState() and
restoreState() methods, since these two methods have a tightly coupled contract
between themselves. In other words, if there is an inheritance hierarchy, it is not permissible
to have the saveState() and restoreState() methods reside at different levels of the
hierarchy.

public Object saveState(FacesContext context);

public void restoreState(FacesContext context, Object state)
throws IOException;

Gets or restores the state of the instance as a Serializable Object.

3-20 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 If the class that implements this interface has references to Objects which also implement
StateHolder (such as a UIComponent with a converter, event listeners, and/or
validators) these methods must call the saveState() or restoreState() method on
all those instances as well.

Any class implementing StateHolder must have a public no-args constructor.

If the state saving method is server, these methods may not be called.

If the class that implements this interface has references to Objects which do not implement
StateHolder, these methods must ensure that the references are preserved. For example,
consider class MySpecialComponent, which implements StateHolder, and keeps a
reference to a helper class, MySpecialComponentHelper, which does not implement
StateHolder. MySpecialComponent.saveState() must save enough information
about MySpecialComponentHelper, so that when
MySpecialComponent.restoreState() is called, the reference to
MySpecialComponentHelper can be restored. The return from saveState() must be
Serializable.

Since all of the standard user interface components listed in Chapter 4 “Standard User
Interface Components” extend from UIComponent, they all implement the StateHolder
interface. In addition, the standard Converter and Validator classes that require state to
be saved and restored also implement StateHolder.

3.2.4.3 Events
StateHolder does not originate any standard events.

3.2.5 ValueHolder
ValueHolder is an interface that may be implemented by any concrete UIComponent
that wishes to support a local value, as well as access data in the model tier via a value
expression, and support conversion between String and the model tier data's native
data type.

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-21

3.2.5.1 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the ValueHolder interface:

Name Access Type Description

converter RW Converter The Converter (if any) that is registered for this
UIComponent.
value RW Object First consult the local value property of this
component. If non-null return it. If the local value
property is null, see if we have a
ValueExpression for the value property. If so,
return the result of evaluating the property,
otherwise return null.
localValue RO Object allows any value set by calling setValue() to be
returned, without potentially evaluating a
ValueExpression the way that getValue()
will do

Like nearly all component properties, the value property may have a value binding
expression (see Section 3.1.4 “ValueExpression properties”) associated with it. If present
(and if there is no value set directly on this component), such an expression is utilized to
retrieve a value dynamically from a model tier object during Render Response Phase of the
request processing lifecycle. In addition, for input components, the value expression is used
during Update Model Values phase (on the subsequent request) to push the possibly updated
component value back to the model tier object.

The Converter property is used to allow the component to know how to convert the model
type from the String format provided by the Servlet API to the proper type in the model
tier.

The Converter property must be inspected for the presence of ResourceDependency

and ResourceDependencies annotations as described in the Javadocs for the
setConverter method.

3.2.5.2 Methods
ValueHolder adds no methods.

3.2.5.3 Events
ValueHolder does not originate any standard events.

3-22 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

3.2.6 EditableValueHolder
The EditableValueHolder interface (extends ValueHolder, see Section 3.2.5
“ValueHolder”) describes additional features supported by editable components, including
ValueChangeEvents and Validators.

3.2.6.1 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the EditableValueHolder
interface:

Name Access Type Description

immediate RW boolean Flag indicating that conversion and validation of this

component’s value should occur during Apply
Request Values phase instead of Process Validations
phase.
localValueS RW boolean Flag indicating whether the value property has
et been set.
required RW boolean Is the user required to provide a non-empty value
for this component? Default value must be false.
submittedVa RW Object The submitted, unconverted, value of this
lue component. This property should only be set by the
decode() method of this component, or its
corresponding Renderer, or by the validate method
of this component. This property should only be
read by the validate() method of this component.

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-23

 Name Access Type Description

valid RW boolean A flag indicating whether the local value of this

component is valid (that is, no conversion error or
validation error has occurred).
validator RW MethodBinding DEPRECATED A MethodBinding that (if not
null) must point at a method accepting a
FacesContext and a UIInput, with a return
type of void. This method will be called during
Process Validations phase, after any validators that
are externally registered. See the javadocs for the
backwards compatibility strategy.
valueChang RW MethodBinding DEPRECATED A MethodBinding that (if not null)
eListener must point at a method that accepts a
ValueChangeEvent, with a return type of void.
The specified method will be called during the
Process Validations phase of the request processing
lifecycle, after any externally registered
ValueChangeListeners. See the javadocs for
the backwards compatibility strategy.

3.2.6.2 Methods
The following methods support the validation functionality performed during the Process
Validations phase of the request processing lifecycle:

public void addValidator(Validator validator);

public void removeValidator(Validator validator);

The addValidator() and removeValidator() methods are used to register and

deregister additional external Validator instances that will be used to perform correctness
checks on the local value of this component.

If the validator property is not null, the method it points at must be called by the
processValidations() method, after the validate() method of all registered
Validators is called.

The addValidator ’s Validator argument must be inspected for the presense of the
ResourceDependency and ResourceDependencies annotations as described in the
Javadocs for the addValidator method.

3-24 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

3.2.6.3 Events
EditableValueHolder is a source of ValueChangeEvent events, which are emitted
when the validate() processing of the Process Validations phase of the request
processing lifecycle determines that the previous value of this component differs from the
current value, and all validation checks have passed (i.e. the valid property of this
component is still true). It includes the following methods to register and deregister
ValueChangeListener instances interested in these events. See Section 3.4 “Event and
Listener Model” for more details on the event and listener model provided by JSF.

public void addValueChangeListener(ValueChangeListener listener);

public void removeValueChangeListener(ValueChangeListener

listener);

In addition to the above listener registration methods, If the valueChangeListener

property is not null, the method it points at must be called by the broadcast() method,
after the processValueChange() method of all registered ValueChangeListeners
is called.

3.2.7 SystemEventListenerHolder
Classes that implement this interface agree to maintain a list of SystemEventListener
instances for each kind of SystemEvent they can generate. This interface enables arbitrary
Objects to act as the source for SystemEvent instances.

3.2.7.1 Properties
This interface contains no JavaBeans properties

3.2.7.2 Methods
The following method gives the JSF runtime access to the list of listeners stored by this
instance.:

public List<FacesLifecycleListener>
getListenersForEventClass(Class<? extends SystemEvent>
facesEventClass);

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-25

 During the processing for Application.publishEvent(), if the source argument to
that method implements SystemEventListenerHolder, the
getListenersForEventClass() method is invoked on it, and each listener in the list
is given an opportunity to process the event, as specified in the javadocs for
Application.publishEvent().

3.2.7.3 Events
While the class that implements SystemEventListenerHolder is indeed a source of
events, it is a call to Application.publishEvent() that causes the event to actually
be emitted. In the interest of maximum flexibility, this interface does not define how listeners
are added, removed, or stored. See Section 3.4 “Event and Listener Model” for more details
on the event and listener model provided by JSF.

3-26 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

3.3 Conversion Model
This section describes the facilities provided by JavaServer Faces to support type conversion
between server-side Java objects and their (typically String-based) representation in
presentation markup.

3.3.1 Overview
A typical web application must constantly deal with two fundamentally different viewpoints
of the underlying data being manipulated through the user interface:
■ The model view—Data is typically represented as Java programming language objects
(often JavaBeans components), with data represented in some native Java programming
language datatype. For example, date and time values might be represented in the model
view as instances of java.util.Date.
■ The presentation view—Data is typically represented in some form that can be perceived
or modified by the user of the application. For example, a date or type value might be
represented as a text string, as three text strings (one each for month/date/year or one each
for hour/minute/second), as a calendar control, associated with a spin control that lets you
increment or decrement individual elements of the date or time with a single mouse click,
or in a variety of other ways. Some presentation views may depend on the preferred
language or locale of the user (such as the commonly used mm/dd/yy and dd/mm/yy date
formats, or the variety of punctuation characters in monetary amount presentations for
various currencies).

To transform data formats between these views, JavaServer Faces provides an ability to plug-
in an optional Converter for each ValueHolder, which has the responsibility of
converting the internal data representation between the two views. The application developer
attaches a particular Converter to a particular ValueHolder by calling
setConverter, passing an instance of the particular converter. A Converter
implementation may be acquired from the Application instance (see Section 7.1.11
“Object Factories”) for your application.

3.3.2 Converter
JSF provides the javax.faces.convert.Converter interface to define the behavioral
characteristics of a Converter. Instances of implementations of this interface are either
identified by a converter identifier, or by a class for which the Converter class asserts that
it can perform successful conversions, which can be registered with, and later retrieved from,
an Application, as described in Section 7.1.11 “Object Factories”.

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-27

 Often, a Converter will be an object that requires no extra configuration information to
perform its responsibilities. However, in some cases, it is useful to provide configuration
parameters to the Converter (such as a java.text.DateFormat pattern for a
Converter that supports java.util.Date model objects). Such configuration
information will generally be provided via JavaBeans properties on the Converter
instance.

Converter implementations should be programmed so that the conversions they perform

are symmetric. In other words, if a model data object is converted to a String (via a call to
the getAsString method), it should be possible to call getAsObject and pass it the
converted String as the value parameter, and return a model data object that is semantically
equal to the original one. In some cases, this is not possible. For example, a converter that
uses the formatting facilities provided by the java.text.Format class might create two
adjacent integer numbers with no separator in between, and in this case the Converter
could not tell which digits belong to which number.

For UIInput and UIOutput components that wish to explicitly select a Converter to be
used, a new Converter instance of the appropriate type must be created, optionally
configured, and registered on the component by calling setConverter()1. Otherwise, the
JSF implementation will automatically create new instances based on the data type being
converted, if such Converter classes have been registered. In either case, Converter
implementations need not be threadsafe, because they will be used only in the context of a
single request processing thread.

The following two method signatures are defined by the Converter interface:

public Object getAsObject(FacesContext context, UIComponent

component, String value) throws ConverterException;

This method is used to convert the presentation view of a component’s value (typically a
String that was received as a request parameter) into the corresponding model view. It is
called during the Apply Request Values phase of the request processing lifecycle.

public String getAsString(FacesContext context, UIComponent

component, Object value) throws ConverterException;

This method is used to convert the model view of a component’s value (typically some native
Java programming language class) into the presentation view (typically a String that will be
rendered in some markup language. It is called during the Render Response phase of the
request processing lifecycle.

1. In a JSP environment, these steps are performed by a custom tag extending ConverterTag.

3-28 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 [P1-start-converter-resource]If the class implementing Converter has a
ResourceDependency annotation or a ResourceDependencies annotation, the action
described in the Javadocs for the Converter interface must be followed when
ValueHolder.setConverter is called.[P1-end]

3.3.3 Standard Converter Implementations

JSF provides a set of standard Converter implementations. A JSF implementation must
register the DateTime and Number converters by name with the Application instance
for this web application, as described in the table below. This ensures that the converters are
available for subsequent calls to Application.createConverter(). Each concrete
implementation class must define a static final String constant CONVERTER_ID whose value
is the standard converter id under which this Converter is registered.

[P1-start standard converters] The following converter id values must be registered to create
instances of the specified Converter implementation classes:
■ javax.faces.BigDecimal -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.BigDecimalConverter (or a subclass of this class).
■ javax.faces.BigInteger -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.BigIntegerConverter (or a subclass of this class).
■ javax.faces.Boolean -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.BooleanConverter (or a subclass of this class).
■ javax.faces.Byte -- An instance of javax.faces.convert.ByteConverter
(or a subclass of this class).
■ javax.faces.Character -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.CharacterConverter (or a subclass of this class).
■ javax.faces.DateTime -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.DateTimeConverter (or a subclass of this class).
■ javax.faces.Double -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.DoubleConverter (or a subclass of this class).
■ javax.faces.Float -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.FloatConverter (or a subclass of this class).
■ javax.faces.Integer -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.IntegerConverter (or a subclass of this class).
■ javax.faces.Long -- An instance of javax.faces.convert.LongConverter
(or a subclass of this class).
■ javax.faces.Number -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.NumberConverter (or a subclass of this class).
■ javax.faces.Short -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.ShortConverter (or a subclass of this class).

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-29

 [P1-end] See the Javadocs for these classes for a detailed description of the conversion
operations they perform, and the configuration properties that they support.

[P1-start by-Class converters] A JSF implementation must register converters for all of the
following classes using the by-type registration mechanism:
■ java.math.BigDecimal, and java.math.BigDecimal.TYPE -- An instance
of javax.faces.convert.BigDecimalConverter (or a subclass of this class).
■ java.math.BigInteger, and java.math.BigInteger.TYPE -- An instance
of javax.faces.convert.BigIntegerConverter (or a subclass of this class).
■ java.lang.Boolean, and java.lang.Boolean.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.BooleanConverter (or a subclass of this class).
■ java.lang.Byte, and java.lang.Byte.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.ByteConverter (or a subclass of this class).
■ java.lang.Character, and java.lang.Character.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.CharacterConverter (or a subclass of this class).
■ java.lang.Double, and java.lang.Double.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.DoubleConverter (or a subclass of this class).
■ java.lang.Float, and java.lang.Float.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.FloatConverter (or a subclass of this class).
■ java.lang.Integer, and java.lang.Integer.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.IntegerConverter (or a subclass of this class).
■ java.lang.Long, and java.lang.Long.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.LongConverter (or a subclass of this class).
■ java.lang.Short, and java.lang.Short.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.ShortConverter (or a subclass of this class).
■ java.lang.Enum, and java.lang.Enum.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.EnumConverter (or a subclass of this class).

[P1-end] See the Javadocs for these classes for a detailed description of the conversion
operations they perform, and the configuration properties that they support.

[P1-start allowing string converters] A compliant implementation must allow the registration
of a converter for class java.lang.String and java.lang.String.TYPE that will
be used to convert values for these types. [P1-end]

3-30 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

3.4 Event and Listener Model
This section describes how JavaServer Faces provides support for generating and handling
user interface events and system events.

3.4.1 Overview
JSF implements a model for event notification and listener registration based on the design
patterns in the JavaBeans Specification, version 1.0.1. This is similar to the approach taken
in other user interface toolkits, such as the Swing Framework included in the JDK.

A UIComponent subclass may choose to emit events that signify significant state changes,
and broadcast them to listeners that have registered an interest in receiving events of the type
indicated by the event’s implementation class. At the end of several phases of the request
processing lifecycle, the JSF implementation will broadcast all of the events that have been
queued to interested listeners. As of JSF version 2, the specification also defines system
events. System events are events that are not specific to any particular application, but rather
stem from specific points in time of running a JSF application. The following UML class
diagram illustrates the key players in the event model. Boxes shaded in gray indicate classes
or interfaces defined outside of the javax.faces.event package.

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-31

3-32 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008
3.4.2 Application Events
Application events are events that are specific to a particular application. Application events
are the standard events that have been in JSF from the beginning.

3.4.2.1 Event Classes

All events that are broadcast by JSF user interface components must extend the
javax.faces.event.FacesEvent abstract base class. The parameter list for the
constructor(s) of this event class must include a UIComponent, which identifies the
component from which the event will be broadcast to interested listeners. The source
component can be retrieved from the event object itself by calling getComponent.
Additional constructor parameters and/or properties on the event class can be used to relay
additional information about the event.

In conformance to the naming patterns defined in the JavaBeans Specification, event classes
typically have a class name that ends with Event. It is recommended that application event
classes follow this naming pattern as well.

The component that is the source of a FacesEvent can be retrieved via this method:

public UIComponent getComponent();

FacesEvent has a phaseId property (of type PhaseId, see Section 3.4.2.3 “Phase
Identifiers”) used to identify the request processing lifecycle phase after which the event will
be delivered to interested listeners.

public PhaseId getPhaseId();

public void setPhaseId(PhaseId phaseId);

If this property is set to PhaseId.ANY_PHASE (which is the default), the event will be
delivered at the end of the phase in which it was enqueued.

To facilitate general management of event listeners in JSF components, a FacesEvent

implementation class must support the following methods:

public abstract boolean isAppropriateListener(FacesListener

listener);

public abstract void processListener(FacesListener listener);

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-33

 The isAppropriateListener() method returns true if the specified FacesListener
is a relevant receiver of this type of event. Typically, this will be implemented as a simple
“instanceof” check to ensure that the listener class implements the FacesListener
subinterface that corresponds to this event class

The processListener() method must call the appropriate event processing method on
the specified listener. Typically, this will be implemented by casting the listener to the
corresponding FacesListener subinterface and calling the appropriate event processing
method, passing this event instance as a parameter.

public void queue();

The above convenience method calls the queueEvent() method of the source
UIComponent for this event, passing this event as a parameter.

JSF includes two standard FacesEvent subclasses, which are emitted by the corresponding
standard UIComponent subclasses described in the following chapter.
■ ActionEvent—Emitted by a UICommand component when the user activates the
corresponding user interface control (such as a clicking a button or a hyperlink).
■ ValueChangeEvent—Emitted by a UIInput component (or appropriate subclass)
when a new local value has been created, and has passed all validations.

3.4.2.2 Listener Classes

For each event type that may be emitted, a corresponding listener interface must be created,
which extends the javax.faces.event.FacesListener interface. The method
signature(s) defined by the listener interface must take a single parameter, an instance of the
event class for which this listener is being created. A listener implementation class will
implement one or more of these listener interfaces, along with the event handling method(s)
specified by those interfaces. The event handling methods will be called during event
broadcast, one per event.

In conformance to the naming patterns defined in the JavaBeans Specification, listener

interfaces have a class name based on the class name of the event being listened to, but with
the word Listener replacing the trailing Event of the event class name (thus, the listener
for a FooEvent would be a FooListener). It is recommended that application event
listener interfaces follow this naming pattern as well.

Corresponding to the two standard event classes described in the previous section, JSF
defines two standard event listener interfaces that may be implemented by application
classes:
■ ActionListener—a listener that is interested in receiving ActionEvent events.
■ ValueChangeListener—a listener that is interested in receiving
ValueChangeEvent events.

3-34 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

3.4.2.3 Phase Identifiers
As described in Section 2.3 “Common Event Processing”, event handling occurs at the end
of several phases of the request processing lifecycle. In addition, a particular event must
indicate, through the value it returns from the getPhaseId() method, the phase in which
it wishes to be delivered. This indication is done by returning an instance of
javax.faces.event.PhaseId. The class defines a typesafe enumeration of all the
legal values that may be returned by getPhaseId(). In addition, a special value
(PhaseId.ANY_PHASE) may be returned to indicate that this event wants to be delivered at
the end of the phase in which it was queued.

3.4.2.4 Listener Registration

A concrete UIComponent subclass that emits events of a particular type must include
public methods to register and deregister a listener implementation. [P1-start listener
methods must conform to javabeans naming] In order to be recognized by development tools,
these listener methods must follow the naming patterns defined in the JavaBeans
Specification. [P1-end] For example, for a component that emits FooEvent events, to be
received by listeners that implement the FooListener interface, the method signatures (on
the component class) must be:

public void addFooListener(FooListener listener);

public FooListener[] getFooListeners();

public void removeFooListener(FooListener listener);

The application (or other components) may register listener instances at any time, by calling
the appropriate add method. The set of listeners associated with a component is part of the
state information that JSF saves and restores. Therefore, listener implementation classes must
have a public zero-argument constructor, and may implement StateHolder (see
Section 3.2.4 “StateHolder”) if they have internal state information that needs to be saved
and restored.

The UICommand and UIInput standard component classes include listener registration and
deregistration methods for event listeners associated with the event types that they emit. The
UIInput methods are also inherited by UIInput subclasses, including
UISelectBoolean, UISelectMany, and UISelectOne.

3.4.2.5 Event Queueing

During the processing being performed by any phase of the request processing lifecycle,
events may be created and queued by calling the queueEvent() method on the source
UIComponent instance, or by calling the queue() method on the FacesEvent instance

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-35

 itself. As described in Section 2.3 “Common Event Processing”, at the end of certain phases
of the request processing lifecycle, any queued events will be broadcast to interested listeners
in the order that the events were originally queued.

Deferring event broadcast until the end of a request processing lifecycle phase ensures that
the entire component tree has been processed by that state, and that event listeners all see the
same consistent state of the entire tree, no matter when the event was actually queued.

3.4.2.6 Event Broadcasting

As described in Section 2.3 “Common Event Processing”, at the end of each request
processing lifecycle phase that may cause events to be queued, the lifecycle management
method of the UIViewRoot component at the root of the component tree will iterate over
the queued events and call the broadcast() method on the source component instance to
actually notify the registered listeners. See the Javadocs of the broadcast() method for
detailed functional requirements.

During event broadcasting, a listener processing an event may:

■ Examine or modify the state of any component in the component tree.
■ Add or remove components from the component tree.
■ Add messages to be returned to the user, by calling addMessage on the
FacesContext instance for the current request.
■ Queue one or more additional events, from the same source component or a different one,
for processing during the current lifecycle phase.
■ Throw an AbortProcessingException, to tell the JSF implementation that no
further broadcast of this event should take place.
■ Call renderResponse() on the FacesContext instance for the current request. This
tells the JSF implementation that, when the current phase of the request processing
lifecycle has been completed, control should be transferred to the Render Response phase.
■ Call responseComplete() on the FacesContext instance for the current request.
This tells the JSF implementation that, when the current phase of the request processing
lifecycle has been completed, processing for this request should be terminated (because
the actual response content has been generated by some other means).

3.4.3 System Events

System Events are introduced in version 2 of the specification and represent specific points
in time for a JSF application. PhaseEvents also represent specific points in time in a JSF
application, but the granularity they offer is not as precise as System Events. For more on
PhaseEvents, please see Section 12.2 “PhaseEvent”.

3-36 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

3.4.3.1 Event Classes
All system events extend from the base class SystemEvent. SystemEvent has a similar
API to FacesEvent, but the source of the event is of type Object (instead of
UIComponent), SystemEvent has no PhaseId property and SystemEvent has no
queue() method because SystemEvents are never queued. SystemEvent shares
isAppropriateListener() and processListener() with FacesEvent. For
the specification of these methods see 3.4.2.1.

System events that originate from or are associated with specific component instances should
extend from ComponentSystemEvent, which extends SystemEvent and adds a
getComponent() method, as specififed in 3.4.2.1.

The specification defines the following kinds of ComponentSystemEvent classes.

■ AfterAddToParentEvent indicates that the source component has just been added
to the view.
■ BeforeRenderEvent indicates that the source component is about to be rendered.
■ ViewMapCreatedEvent indicates that the Map that is the view scope has just been
created.
■ ViewMapDestroyedEvent indicates that the Map that is the view scope has been
destroyed.
■ ApplicationPostConstructEvent enables listeners to perform post configuration
processing.
■ ApplicationPreDestroyEvent enables listeners to perform custom shutdown
processing.

3.4.3.2 Listener Classes

Unlike application events, the creation of new event types for system events does not require
the creation of new listener interfaces. All SystemEvent types can be listened for by
listeners that implement javax.faces.event.SystemEventListener. Please see the
javadocs for that class for the complete specification.

As a developer convenience, the listener interface ComponentSystemEventListener

has been defined for those cases when a SystemEventListener is being attached to a
specific UIComponent instance. ComponentSystemEventListener lacks the
isListenerForSource() method because it is implcictly defined by virture of the
listener being added to a specific component instance.

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-37

3.4.3.3 Listener Registration
System events may be listened for at the Application level, using
Application.subscribeToEvent() or at the component level, by calling
subscribeToEvent() on a specific component instance. The specification for
Application.subscribeToEvent() may be found in Section 7.1.13 “System
Event Methods”.

The following methods are defined on UIComponent to support per-component system

events.

public void subscribeToEvent(Class<? extends SystemEvent>

eventClass, ComponentSystemEventListener componentListener);
public void unsubscribeFromEvent(Class<? extends SystemEvent>
eventClass, ComponentSystemEventListener componentListener);

See the javadoc for UIComponent for the normative specification of these methods.

In addition to the above methods, the @ListenerFor and @ListenersFor annotations

allow components, renderers, validators and converters to declare that they want to register
for system events. Please see the javadocs for those annotations for the complete
specification.

3.4.3.4 Listener Registration By Annotation

The ListenerFor and ListenersFor annotations can be applied to components and
rendererers. Classes tagged with the ListenerFor annotation are installed as listeners.
The ListenersFor annotation is a container annotation tp specify multiple
ListenerFor annotations for a single class. Please refer to the Javadocs for the
ListenerFor and ListenersFor classes for more details.

3.4.3.5 Event Broadcasting

System events are broadcast immediately by calls to Application.publishEvent()
Please see Section 7.1.13 “System Event Methods” for the normative specification of
publishEvent().

3-38 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

3.5 Validation Model
This section describes the facilities provided by JavaServer Faces for validating user input.

3.5.1 Overview
JSF supports a mechanism for registering zero or more validators on each
EditableValueHolder component in the component tree. A validator’s purpose is to
perform checks on the local value of the component, during the Process Validations phase of
the request processing lifecycle. In addition, a component may implement internal checking
in a validate method that is part of the component class.

3.5.2 Validator Classes

A validator must implement the javax.faces.validator.Validator interface,
which contains a validate method signature. General purpose validators may require
configuration values in order to define the precise check to be performed. For example, a
validator that enforces a maximum length might wish to support a configurable length limit.
Such configuration values are typically implemented as JavaBeans component properties,
and/or constructor arguments, on the Validator implementation class. In addition, a
validator may elect to use generic attributes of the component being validated for
configuration information.

JSF includes implementations of several standard validators, as described in Section 3.5.5

“Standard Validator Implementations”.

[P1-start-validator-resource]If the class implementing Validator has a

ResourceDependency annotation or a ResourceDependencies annotation, the action described
in the Javadocs for the Validator interface must be followed when
EditableValueHolder.addValidator is called.[P1-end]

3.5.3 Validation Registration

The EditableValueHolder interface (implemented by UIInput) includes an
addValidator method to register an additional validator for this component, and a
removeValidator method to remove an existing registration. In JSF 1.1 there was the
ability to set a MethodBinding that points to a method that adheres to the validate
signature in the Validator interface, which will be called after the Validator instances
added by calling addValidator() have been invoked. In JSF 1.2, this has been replaced by

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-39

 providing a new wrapper class that implements Validator, and accepts a
MethodExpression instance that points to the same method that the MethodBinding
pointed to in JSF 1.1. Please see the javadocs for
EditableValueHolder.setValidator().

The application (or other components) may register validator instances at any time, by
calling the addValidator method. The set of validators associated with a component is
part of the state information that JSF saves and restores. Validators that wish to have
configuration properties saved and restored must also implement StateHolder (see
Section 3.2.4 “StateHolder”).

3.5.4 Validation Processing

During the Process Validations phase of the request processing lifecycle (as described in
Section 2.2.3 “Process Validations”), the JSF implementation will ensure that the
validate() method of each registered Validator, the method referenced by the
validator property (if any), and the validate() method of the component itself, is
called for each EditableValueHolder component in the component tree, regardless of
the validity state of any of the components in the tree. The responsibilities of each
validate() method include:
■ Perform the check for which this validator was registered.
■ If violation(s) of the correctness rules are found, create a FacesMessage instance
describing the problem, and create a ValidatorException around it, and throw the
ValidatorException. The EditableValueHolder on which this validation is
being performed will catch this exception, set valid to false for that instance, and
cause the message to be added to the FacesContext.

In addition, a validate() method may:

■ Examine or modify the state of any component in the component tree.
■ Add or remove components from the component tree.
■ Queue one or more events, from the same component or a different one, for processing
during the current lifecycle phase.

The render-independent property required is a shorthand for the function of a “required”

validator. If the value of this property is true and the component has no value, the component
is marked invalid and a message is added to the FacesContext instance. See
Section 2.5.2.4 “Localized Application Messages” for details on the message.

3-40 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

3.5.5 Standard Validator Implementations
JavaServer Faces defines a standard suite of Validator implementations that perform a
variety of commonly required checks. In addition, component writers, application
developers, and tool providers will often define additional Validator implementations that
may be used to support component-type-specific or application-specific constraints. These
implementations share the following common characteristics:
■ Standard Validators accept configuration information as either parameters to the
constructor that creates a new instance of that Validator, or as JavaBeans component
properties on the Validator implementation class.
■ To support internationalization, FacesMessage instances should be created. The
message identifiers for such standard messages are also defined by manifest String
constants in the implementation classes. It is the user’s responsibility to ensure the content
of a FacesMessage instance is properly localized, and appropriate parameter
substitution is performed, perhaps using java.text.MessageFormat.
■ Unless otherwise specified, components with a null local value cause the validation
checking by this Validator to be skipped. If a component should be required to have a
non-null value, a component attribute with the name required and the value true
must be added to the component in order to enforce this rule.
■ Concrete Validator implementations must define a public static final String constant
VALIDATOR_ID, whose value is the standard identifier under which the JSF
implementation must register this instance (see below).

Please see Section 2.5.2.4 “Localized Application Messages” for the list of message
identifiers.

[P1-start standard validators] The following standard Validator implementations (in the
javax.faces.validator package) are provided:
■ DoubleRangeValidator—Checks the local value of a component, which must be of
any numeric type, against specified maximum and/or minimum values. Standard identifier
is “javax.faces.DoubleRange”.
■ LengthValidator—Checks the length (i.e. number of characters) of the local value of
a component, which must be of type String, against maximum and/or minimum values.
Standard identifier is “javax.faces.Length”.
■ LongRangeValidator—Checks the local value of a component, which must be of any
numeric type convertible to long, against maximum and/or minimum values. Standard
identifier is “javax.faces.LongRange”.

MethodExpressionValidator—Wraps a MethodExpression and interprets it as

pointing to a method that performs validation. Any exception thrown when the expression is
invoked is wrapped in a ValidatorException in similar fashion as the above validators.
[P1-end]

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-41

3.6 Composite User Interface Components
PENDING(edburns): flesh this out. This is a scratch pad now.

PENDING(edburns): relocate this fact: All of the UIComponent instances in the PDL page
are children of a special facet of the top level component. The composite component renderer
knows how to render this facet.

3.6.1 Non-normative Background

To aid implementors in providing a spec compliant runtime for composite components, this
section provides a non-normative background to motivate the discussion of the composite
component feature. The composite component feature enables developers to write real,
reusable, JSF UI components without any Java code or configuration XML.

3.6.1.1 What does it mean to be a JSF User Interface component?

JSF is a component based framework, and JSF UI components are the main point of JSF. But
what is a JSF UI component, really? Conceptually, a JSF UI Component is a software artifact
that represents a reusable, self contained piece of a user interface. A very narrow definition
for “JSF UI Component” is imposed at runtime. This definition can be summarized as
A JSF UI Component is represented at runtime by an instance of a Java class
that includes javax.faces.component.UIComponent as an ancestor in
its inheritance hierarchy.

It is easy to write a class that adheres to this definition, but in practice, component authors
need to do more than just this in order to get the most from JSF and to conform to user’s
expectations of what a JSF UI Component is. For example, users expect a JSF UI Component
can do some or all of the following:
■ be exposed to the page-author via a markup tag with sensible attributes
■ emit events (such a ValueChangeEvent or ActionEvent)
■ allow attaching listeners
■ allow attaching a Converter and/or Validator(s)
■ render itself to the user-agent, with full support for styles, localization and accessibility
■ support delegated rendering to allow for client device independence
■ read values sent from the user-agent and correctly adapt them to the faces lifecycle
■ correctly handle saving and restoring its state across multiple requests from the user-agent

3-42 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 Another important dimension to consider regarding UI components is the context in which
the developer interacts with the component. There are generally two such contexts.
■ In the context of a markup page, such as a JSP or Facelet page. In this context the
developer interacts with the UI component using a markup element, setting attributes on
that element, and nesting child elements within that component markup element.
■ In the context of code, such as a listener, a managed-bean, or other programming language
context. In this context, the developer is writing JavaCode that is either passed the UI
component as an argument, or obtains a reference to the UI component in some other way.

3.6.1.2 How does one make a custom JSF User Interface component (JSF
1.2 and earlier)?
To satisfy a user’s expectations for a JSF UI component, the component author must adhere
to one of the following best practices.
■ extend the custom component class from an existing subclass of UIComponent that
most closely represents the meaning and behavior of the piece of the UI you are
encapsulating in the component.
■ extend the custom component class directly from UIComponentBase and implement
the appropriate “behavioral interface”(s) that most closely represents the meaning and
behavior of the piece of the UI you are encapsulating in the component. See Section 3.2
“Component Behavioral Interfaces” for more.

Note that the first best practice includes the second one “for free” since the stock
UIComponent subclasses already implement the appropriate behavioral interfaces.

When following either best practice, the JSF UI component developer must follow several
steps to make the component available for use in markup pages or in code, including but not
necessarily limited to
■ Make entries in a faces-config.xml file, linking the component class to its
component-type, which enables the Application.createComponent()
method to create instances of the component.
■ Make entries in a faces-config.xml file to declare a Renderer that provides client-
device independence.
■ Provide a JSP or Facelet tag handler that allows the page author to build UIs that include
the component, and to customize each instance of the component with listeners, properties
and model associations. This includes making the association between the Renderer and
the UIComponent.
■ Provide a Renderer that provides client device independency for the component
■ Make entries in a faces-config.xml file that links the Renderer and its Java class.

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-43

 These steps are complex, yet the components one creates by following them can be very
flexible and powerful. By making some simplifying assumptions, it is possible to allow the
creation of components that are just as powerful but require far less complexity to develop.
This is the whole point of composite components: to enable developers to write real,
reusable, JSF UI components without any Java code or configuration XML.

3.6.1.3 How does one make a composite component?

The composite component feature builds on two features introduced in JSF 2.0: resources
(Section 2.6 “Resource Handling”) and Facelets (Chapter 10 “Facelets and its use in Web
Applications”). Briefly, a composite component is any Facelet markup file that resides inside
of a resource library. For example, if a Facelet markup file named loginPanel.xhtml
resides inside of a resource library called ezcomp, then page authors can use this component
by declaring the xml namespace xmlns:ez=
"http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite/ezcomp" and including the tag
<ez:loginPanel /> in their pages. Naturally, it is possible for a composite component
author to declare an alternate XML namespace for their composite components, but doing so
is optional.

Any valid Facelet markup is valid for use inside of a composite component, including the
templating features specified in Section 10.3.3 “Facelet Templating Tag Library”. In
addition, the tag library specified in Section 10.3.4 “Composite Component Tag Library”
must be used to declare the meta-data for the composite component. Future versions of the
JSF specification may relax this requirement, but for now at least the
<composite:interface> and <composite:implementation> sections are
required when creating a composite component.

3-44 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

3.6.1.4 A simple composite component example
Create the page that uses the composite component, index.xhtml.

<!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"
xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
xmlns:ez="http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite/ezcomp">
<h:head>
<title>A simple example of EZComp</title>
</h:head>

<h:body>

<h:form>

<ez:loginPanel id="loginPanel">

<f:actionListener for="loginEvent"
binding="#{bean.loginEventListener}" />

</ez:loginPanel>

</h:form>

</h:body>

</html>

The only thing special about this page is the ez namespace declaration and the inclusion of
the <ez:loginPanel /> tag on the page. The occurrence of the string
“http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite/” in a Facelet XML namespace declaration
means that whatever follows that last “/” is taken to be the name of a resource library. For
any usage of this namespace in the page, such as <ez:loginPanel />, a Facelet markup
file with the corresponding name is loaded and taken to be the composite component, in this
case the file loginPanel.xhtml. The implementation requirements for this and other
Facelet features related to composite components are specified in Section 10.2.2
“Requirements specific to composite components”.

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-45

 Create the composite component markup page. In this case, loginPanel.xhtml resides
in the ./resources/ezcomp directory relative to the index.xhtml file.

<!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"
xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets"
xmlns:composite="http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite">
<head>

<title>Not present in rendered output</title>

</head>

<body>

<composite:interface>

<composite:actionSource name="loginEvent" />

</composite:interface>

<composite:implementation>

<p>Username: <h:inputText id="usernameInput" /></p>

<p>Password: <h:inputSecret id="passwordInput" /></p>

<p><h:commandButton id="loginEvent" value="login"/>

</composite:implementation>

</body>

</html>

The <composite:interface> section declares the public interface that users of this
component need to understand. In this case, the component declares that it contains an
implementation of ActionSource2 (see Section 3.2.2 “ActionSource2”), and therefore
anything one can do with an ActionSource2 in a Facelet markup page you one do with
the composite component. (See Section 3.2 “Component Behavioral Interfaces” for more on
ActionSource2 and other behavioral interfaces). The
<composite:implementation> section defines the implementation of this composite
component.

3-46 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

3.6.1.5 Walk through of the run-time for the simple composite component
example
This section gives a non-normative traversal of the composite component feature using the
previous expample as a guide. Please refer to the javadocs for the normative specification for
each method mentioned below. Any text in italics is a term defined in Section 3.6.1.6
“Composite Component Terms”.

1. The user-agent requests the index.html from Section 3.6.1.4 “A simple composite
component example”. This page contains the ‘xmlns:ez=
"http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite/ezcomp"‘ declaration and an occurrence
of the <ez:loginPanel> tag. Because this page contains a usage of a composite
component, it is called a using page for discussion.
The runtime notices the use of an xml namespace beginning with
“http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite/”. Takes the substring of the namespace
after the last “/”, exclusive, and looks for a resource library with the name “ezcomp” by
calling ResourceHandler.libraryExists().

2. The runtime encounters the <ez:loginPanel> component in the using page. This
causes Application.createComponent(FacesContext, Resource) to be
called. This method calls
PageDeclarationLanguage.getComponentMetadata(FacesContext,
Resource), which obtains the composite component BeanInfo (and therefore also the
composite component BeanDescriptor) that exposes the composite component metadata.
The composite component metadata also includes any attached object targets exposed by
the composite component author. One thing that
Application.createComponent(FacesContext, Resource) does to the
component before returning it is set the component’s renderer type to be
javax.faces.Composite. This is important during rendering.
Note that Application.createComponent(FacesContext, Resource) does
not populate the top level component with children. Subsequent processing done as the
runtime traverses the rest of the page takes care of that. One very important aspect of that
subsequent processing is ensuring that all of the UIComponent children in the defining
page are placed in a facet underneath the top level component. The name of that facet is
given by the UIComponent.COMPOSITE_FACET_NAME constant.

3. After the children of the composite component tag in the using page have been processed
by the PDL implementation, the PDL implementation must call
PDLUtils.retargetAttachedObjects(). This method examines the composite
component metadata and retargets any attached objects from the using page to their
approriate inner component targets.

4. Because the renderer type of the composite component was set to

javax.faces.Composite, the composite component renderer is invoked to render
the composite component.

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-47

3.6.1.6 Composite Component Terms
The following terms are commonly used to describe the composite component feature.
Attached Object Any artifact that can be attached to a UIComponent (composite or otherwise).
Usually, this means a Converter, Validator, ActionListener, or
ValueChangeListener.

Attached Object Target Part of the composite component metadata that allows the composite component author
to expose the semantics of an inner component to the using page author without
exposing the rendering or implementation details of the inner component.

Composite Component A tree of UIComponent instances, rooted at a top level component, that can be
thought of and used as a single component in a view. The component hierarchy of this
subtree is described in the composite component defining page.

Composite Component
Author The individual or role creating the composite component. This usually involves
authoring the composite component defining page.

Composite Component
BeanDescriptor A constituent element of the composite component metadata. This version of the spec
uses the JavaBeans API to expose the component meta-data for the composite
component. Future versions of the spec may use a different API to expose the
component meta-data.

Composite Component
BeanInfo The main element of the composite component metadata.

Composite Component
Declaration The section of markup within the composite component defining page that includes the
<composite:interface> section and its children.

Composite Component
Definition The section of markup within the composite component defining page that includes the
<composite:implementation> section and its children.

Composite Component
Metadata Any data about the composite component. The normative specification for what must
be in the composite component metadata is in the javadocs for
PageDeclarationLanguage.getComponentMetadata().

Composite Component
Renderer A new renderer in the HTML_BASIC render kit that knows how to render a composite
component.

Composite Component
Tag The tag in the using page that references a composite component declared and defined
in a defining page.

Defining page The markup page, usually Facelets markup, that contains the composite component
declaration and composite component definition.

3-48 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 Inner Component Any UIComponent inside of the defining page or a page that is referenced from the
defining page.

Top level component The UIComponent instance in the tree that is the parent of all UIComponent
instances within the defining page and any pages used by that defining page.

Using Page The PDL page in which a composite component tag is used.

Using Page Author The individual or role that creates pages that use the composite component.

3.6.2 Composite Component Metadata

The normative requirements for the composite component feature also include Section 10.3.4
“Composite Component Tag Library” and Section 3.6 “Composite User Interface
Components”. This section specifies the current requirements for building the meta-data from
which the Page Declaration Language (such as Facelets in JSF 2.0) must build the composite
component.

The normative specification for composite component metadate is given in the javadocs for
the method PageDeclarationLanguage.getComponentMetadata().

Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-49

3-50 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008
 4

Standard User Interface Components

In addition to the abstract base class UIComponent and the abstract base class
UIComponentBase, described in the previous chapter, JSF provides a number of concrete
user interface component implementation classes that cover the most common requirements.
In addition, component writers will typically create new components by subclassing one of
the standard component classes (or the UIComponentBase class). It is anticipated that the
number of standard component classes will grow in future versions of the JavaServer Faces
specification.

Each of these classes defines the render-independent characteristics of the corresponding

component as JavaBeans component properties. Some of these properties may be value
expressions that indirectly point to values related to the current request, or to the properties
of model data objects that are accessible through request-scope, session-scope, or
application-scope attributes. In addition, the rendererType property of each concrete
implementation class is set to a defined value, indicating that decoding and encoding for this
component will (by default) be delegated to the corresponding Renderer.

4.1 Standard User Interface Components

This section documents the features and functionality of the standard UIComponent classes
and implementations that are included in JavaServer Faces.

[P1-start-componentConstant]The implementation for each standard UIComponent class

must specify two public static final String constant values:
■ COMPONENT_TYPE -- The standard component type identifier under which the
corresponding component class is registered with the Application object for this
application. This value may be used as a parameter to the createComponent()
method.
■ COMPONENT_FAMILY -- The standard component family identifier used to select an
appropriate Renderer for this component.[P1-end]

Chapter 4 Standard User Interface Components 4-1

 For all render-independent properties in the following sections (except for id, scope, and
var) the value may either be a literal, or it may come from a value expression. Please see
Section 5.1 “Value Expressions” for more information.

The following UML class diagram shows the classes and interfaces in the package
javax.faces.component.

4-2 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

FIGURE 4-1 The javax.faces.component package

Chapter 4 Standard User Interface Components 4-3

4.1.1 UIColumn
UIColumn (extends UIComponentBase) is a component that represents a single column
of data with a parent UIData component. The child components of a UIColumn will be
processed once for each row in the data managed by the parent UIData.

4.1.1.1 Component Type

The standard component type for UIColumn components is “javax.faces.Column”.

4.1.1.2 Properties
UIColumn adds the following render-independent properties:

Name Access Type Description

footer RW UIComponent Convenience methods to get and set the “footer”

facet for this component.
header RW UIComponent Convenience methods to get and set the “header”
facet for this component.

[P1-start-uicolumn]UIColumn specializes the behavior of render-independent

properties inherited from the parent class as follows:
■ The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Column”.
■ The default value of the rendererType property must be set to null.[P1-end]

4.1.1.3 Methods
UIColumn adds no new processing methods.

4.1.1.4 Events
UIColumn adds no new event handling methods.

4-4 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

4.1.2 UICommand
UICommand (extends UIComponentBase; implements ActionSource) is a control
which, when activated by the user, triggers an application-specific “command” or “action.”
Such a component is typically rendered as a push button, a menu item, or a hyperlink.

4.1.2.1 Component Type

The standard component type for UICommand components is “javax.faces.Command”.

4.1.2.2 Properties
UICommand adds the following render-independent properties.

Name Access Type Description

value RW Object The value of this component, normally used as a

label.

See Section 3.2.1 “ActionSource” for information about properties introduced by the
implemented classes.

[P1-start-uicommand]UICommand components specialize the behavior of render-

independent properties inherited from the parent class as follows:
■ The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Command”.
■ The default value of the rendererType property must be set to
“javax.faces.Button”.[P1-end]

4.1.2.3 Methods
UICommand adds no new processing methods. See Section 3.2.1 “ActionSource” for
information about methods introduced by the implemented classes.

4.1.2.4 Events
UICommand adds no new event processing methods. See Section 3.2.1 “ActionSource” for
information about event handling introduced by the implemented classes.

Chapter 4 Standard User Interface Components 4-5

4.1.3 UIData
UIData (extends UIComponentBase; implements NamingContaier) is a component
that represents a data binding to a collection of data objects represented by a DataModel
instance (see Section 4.2.1 “DataModel”). Only children of type UIColumn should be
processed by renderers associated with this component.

4.1.3.1 Component Type

The standard component type for UIData components is “javax.faces.Data”

4.1.3.2 Properties
UIData adds the following render-independent properties.

Name Access Type Description

dataModel protected DataModel The internal value representation of the UIData

RW instance. Subclasses might write to this property if
they want to restore the internal model during the
Restore View Phase or if they want to explicitly
refresh the model for the Render Response phase.
first RW int Zero-relative row number of the first row in the
underlying data model to be displayed, or zero to
start at the beginning of the data model.
footer RW UIComponent Convenience methods to get and set the “footer”
facet for this component.
header RW UIComponent Convenience methods to get and set the “header”
facet for this component.
rowCount RO int The number of rows in the underlying DataModel,
which can be -1 if the number of rows is unknown.
rowAvailable RO boolean Return true if there is row data available for the
currently specified rowIndex; else return false.
rowData RO Object The data object representing the data for the
currently selected rowIndex value.
rowIndex RW int Zero-relative index of the row currently being
accessed in the underlying DataModel, or -1 for
no current row. See below for further information.

4-6 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 Name Access Type Description

rows RW int The number of rows (starting with the one identified
by the first property) to be displayed, or zero to
display the entire set of available rows.
value RW Object The DataModel instance representing the data to
which this component is bound, or a collection of
data for which a DataModel instance is
synthesized. See below for more information.
var RW String The request-scope attribute (if any) under which the
data object for the current row will be exposed when
iterating.

See Section 3.2.3 “NamingContainer” for information about properties introduced by the
implemented classes.

[P1-start-uidata]UIData specializes the behavior of render-independent properties

inherited from the parent component as follows:
■ The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Data”.
■ The default value of the rendererType property must be set to
“javax.faces.Table”.[P1-end]

The current value identified by the value property is normally of type DataModel. [P1-
start-uidataModel]However, a DataModel wrapper instance must automatically be provided
by the JSF implementation if the current value is of one of the following types:
■ java.util.List
■ Array of java.util.Object
■ java.sql.ResultSet (which therefore also supports javax.sql.RowSet)
■ javax.servlet.jsp.jstl.sql.Result
■ Any other Java object is wrapped by a DataModel instance with a single row.[P1-end]

Convenience implementations of DataModel are provided in the javax.faces.model

package for each of the above (see Section 4.2.1.4 “Concrete Implementations”), and must be
used by the UIData component to create the required DataModel wrapper.

4.1.3.3 Methods
UIData adds no new processing methods. However, the getDataModel() method is now
protected, so implementations have access to the underlying data model. See Section 3.2.3
“NamingContainer” for information about methods introduced by the implemented classes.

Chapter 4 Standard User Interface Components 4-7

 UIData specializes the behavior of the getClientId() method inherited from its parent,
in order to create a client identifier that includes the current rowIndex value (if it is not -1).
Because UIData is a NamingContainer, this makes it possible for rendered client
identifiers of child components to be row-specific.

UIData specializes the behavior of the queueEvent() method inherited from its parent,
to wrap the specified event (bubbled up from a child component) in a private wrapper
containing the current rowIndex value, so that this rowIndex can be reset when the event is
later broadcast.

UIData specializes the behavior of the broadcast() method to unwrap the private
wrapper (if this event was wrapped), and call setRowIndex() to re-establish the context
in which the event was queued, followed by delivery of the event.

[P1-start-uidataDecode]UIData specializes the behavior of the

processDecodes(), processValidators(), and processUpdates() methods
inherited from its parent as follows:
■ For each of these methods, the UIData implementation must iterate over each row in the
underlying data model, starting with the row identified by the first property, for the
number of rows indicated by the rows property, by calling the setRowIndex()
method.
■ When iteration is complete, set the rowIndex property of this component, and of the
underlying DataModel, to zero, and remove any request attribute exposed via the var
property.[P1-end]

UIData specializes the behavior of invokeOnComponent() inherited from

UIComponentBase to examine the argument clientId and extract the rowIndex, if
any, and position the data properly before proceeding to locate the component and invoke the
callback. Upon normal or exception return from the callback the data must be repositioned to
match how it was before invoking the callback. Please see the javadocs for
UIData.invokeOnComponent() for more details.

4.1.3.4 Events
UIData adds no new event handling methods. SeeSection 3.2.3 “NamingContainer” for
information about event handling introduced by the implemented classes.

4-8 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

4.1.4 UIForm
UIForm (extends UIComponentBase; implements NamingContainer) is a
component that represents an input form to be presented to the user, and whose child
components (among other things) represent the input fields to be included when the form is
submitted.

[P1-start-uiformEncodeEnd]The encodeEnd() method of the renderer for UIForm must

call ViewHandler.writeState() before writing out the markup for the closing tag of
the form.[P1-end]This allows the state for multiple forms to be saved.

4.1.4.1 Component Type

The standard component type for UIForm components is “javax.faces.Form”.

4.1.4.2 Properties
UIForm adds the following render-independent properties.

Name Access Type Description

prependId RW boolean If true, this UIForm instance does allow its id to be

pre-pendend to its descendent’s id during the
generation of clientIds for the descendents. The
default value of this property is true.

[P1-start-uiform]UIForm specializes the behavior of render-independent properties

inherited from the parent component as follows:
■ The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Form”.
■ The default value of the rendererType property must be set to
“javax.faces.Form”.[P1-end]

4.1.4.3 Methods.

public boolean isSubmitted();

public void setSubmitted(boolean submitted)

[P1-start-uiform-setSubmitted]The setSubmitted() method of each UIForm instance in

the view must be called during the Apply Request Values phase of the request processing
lifecycle, during the processing performed by the UIComponent.decode() method. If

Chapter 4 Standard User Interface Components 4-9

 this UIForm instance represents the form actually being submitted on this request, the
parameter must be set to true; otherwise, it must be set to false.[P1-end] The standard
implementation of UIForm delegates the responsibility for calling this method to the
Renderer associated with this instance..

[P1-start-uiform-submitted]The value of a UIForm's submitted property must not be

saved as part of its state.[P1-end]

public void processDecodes(FacesContext context);

Override UIComponent.processDecodes() to ensure that the submitted property is

set for this component. If the submitted property decodes to false, do not process the
children and return immediately.

public void processValidators(FacesContext context);

public void processUpdates(FacesContext context);

Override processValidators() and processUpdates() to ensure that the children

of this UIForm instance are only processed if isSubmitted() returns true.

public void saveState(FacesContext context);

[P1-start-uiformSaveState]The saveState() method of UIForm must call

setSubmitted(false) before calling super.saveState() as an extra precaution to
ensure the submitted state is not persisted across requests.[P1-end].

protected String getContainerClientId(FacesContext context);

[P1-start-uiformPrependId]Override the parent method to ensure that children of this

UIForm instance in the view have the form’s clientId prepended to their clientIds if
and only if the form’s prependId property is true.[P1-end]

4.1.4.4 Events
UIForm adds no new event handling methods.

4-10 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

4.1.5 UIGraphic
UIGraphic (extends UIComponentBase) is a component that displays a graphical image
to the user. The user cannot manipulate this component; it is for display purposes only.

4.1.5.1 Component Type

The standard component type for UIGraphic components is “javax.faces.Graphic”.

4.1.5.2 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the UIGraphic component:

Name Access Type Description

url RW String The URL of the image to be displayed. If this URL

begins with a / character, it is assumed to be
relative to the context path of the current web
application. This property is a typesafe alias for the
value property, so that the actual URL to be used
can be acquired via a value expression.
value RW Object The value of this component, normally used as a
URL.

[P1-start-uigraphic]UIGraphic specializes the behavior of render-independent

properties inherited from the parent component as follows:
■ The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Graphic”.
■ The default value of the rendererType property must be set to
“javax.faces.Image”.[P1-end]

4.1.5.3 Methods
UIGraphic adds no new processing methods.

4.1.5.4 Events
UIGraphic does not originate any standard events.

Chapter 4 Standard User Interface Components 4-11

4.1.6 UIInput
UIInput (extends UIOutput, implements EditableValueHolder) is a component
that both displays the current value of the component to the user (as UIOutput components
do), and processes request parameters on the subsequent request that need to be decoded.

4.1.6.1 Component Type

The standard component type for UIInput components is “javax.faces.Input”.

4.1.6.2 Properties
UIInput adds the following renderer independent properties.:

Name Access Type Description

requiredMess RW String ValueExpression enabled property. If non-null, this

age property is used as the summary and detail
strings of the FacesMessage that is queued on the
FacesContext instead of the default message for
the required validaiton failure. Note that the
message is fully internationalizable via either the
f:loadBundle tag or via ResourceBundle
access from the EL.
converterMes RW String ValueExpression enabled property. If non-null, this
sage property is used as the summary and detail
strings of the FacesMessage that is queued on the
FacesContext instead of the default message for
conversion failure. Note that the message is fully
internationalizable via either the f:loadBundle
tag or via ResourceBundle access from the EL.
validatorMes RW String ValueExpression enabled property. If non-null, this
sage property is used as the summary and detail
strings of the FacesMessage that is queued on the
FacesContext instead of the default message for
validation failure. Note that the message is fully
internationalizable via either the f:loadBundle
tag or via ResourceBundle access from the EL.

See Section 3.2.6 “EditableValueHolder” for information about properties introduced by the
implemented interfaces.

4-12 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 [P1-start-uiinput]UIInput specializes the behavior of render-independent properties inherited
from the parent component as follows:
■ The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Input”.
■ The default value of the rendererType property must be set to
“javax.faces.Text”.
■ The Converter specified by the converter property (if any) must also be used to
perform String->Object conversions during decoding.[P1-end]
■ If the value property has an associated ValueExpression, the setValue() method
of that ValueExpression will be called during the Update Model Values phase of the
request processing lifecycle to push the local value of the component back to the
corresponding model bean property.

4.1.6.3 Methods
The following method is used during the Update Model Values phase of the request
processing lifecycle, to push the converted (if necessary) and validated (if necessary) local
value of this component back to the corresponding model bean property.

public void updateModel(FacesContext context);

The following method is over-ridden from UIComponent:

public void broadcast(FacesEvent event);

In addition to the default

UIComponent.broadcast(javax.faces.event.FacesEvent) processing, pass
the ValueChangeEvent being broadcast to the method referenced by the
valueChangeListener property (if any).

public void validate(FacesContext context);

Perform the algorithm described in the javadoc to validate the local value of this UIInput..

public void resetValue();

Perform the algorithm described in the javadoc to reset this UIInput to the state where it
has no local value. This method does not touch the value expresson associated with the
“value” property.

Chapter 4 Standard User Interface Components 4-13

4.1.6.4 Events
All events are described in Section 3.2.6 “EditableValueHolder”.

4-14 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

4.1.7 UIMessage
UIMessage (extends UIComponentBase) encapsulates the rendering of error message(s)
related to a specified input component.

4.1.7.1 Component Type

The standard component type for UIMessage components is “javax.faces.Message”.

4.1.7.2 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the UIMessage component:

Name Access Type Description

for RW String Identifier of the component for which to render error

messages. If this component is within the same
NamingContainer as the target component, this must
be the component identifier. Otherwise, it must be
an absolute component identifier (starting with “:”).
See the UIComponent.findComponent() Javadocs
for more information.
showDetail RW boolean Flag indicating whether the “detail” property of
messages for the specified component should be
rendered. Default value is “true”.
showSumma RW boolean Flag indicating whether the “summary” property of
ry messages for the specified component should be
rendered. Default value is “false”.

[P1-start-uimessage]UIMessage specializes the behavior of render-independent

properties inherited from the parent component as follows:
■ The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Message”.
■ The default value of the rendererType property must be set to
“javax.faces.Message”.[P1-end]

4.1.7.3 Methods.
UIMessage adds no new processing methods.

Chapter 4 Standard User Interface Components 4-15

4.1.7.4 Events
UIMessage adds no new event handling methods.

4-16 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

4.1.8 UIMessages
UIMessage (extends UIComponentBase) encapsulates the rendering of error message(s)
not related to a specified input component, or all enqueued messages.

4.1.8.1 Component Type

The standard component type for UIMessage components is
“javax.faces.Messages”.

4.1.8.2 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the UIMessages component:

Name Access Type Description

globalOn RW boolean Flag indicating whether only messages not

ly associated with any specific component should be
rendered. If not set, all messages will be rendered.
Default value is “false”.
showDetail RW boolean Flag indicating whether the “detail” property of
messages for the specified component should be
rendered. Default value is “false”.
showSumma RW boolean Flag indicating whether the “summary” property of
ry messages for the specified component should be
rendered. Default value is “true”.

[P1-stat-uimessages]UIMessages specializes the behavior of render-independent

properties inherited from the parent component as follows:
■ The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Messages”.
■ The default value of the rendererType property must be set to
“javax.faces.Messages”.[P1-end]

4.1.8.3 Methods.
UIMessages adds no new processing methods.

4.1.8.4 Events
UIMessages adds no new event handling methods.

Chapter 4 Standard User Interface Components 4-17

4.1.9 UIOutput
UIOutput (extends UIComponentBase; implements ValueHolder) is a component
that has a value, optionally retrieved from a model tier bean via a value expression (see
Section 5.1 “Value Expressions”), that is displayed to the user. The user cannot directly
modify the rendered value; it is for display purposes only:

4.1.9.1 Component Type

The standard component type for UIOutput components is “javax.faces.Output”.

4.1.9.2 Properties
UIOutput adds no new render-independent properties. See Section 3.2.5 “ValueHolder” for
information about properties introduced by the implemented classes.

[P1-start-uioutput]UIOutput specializes the behavior of render-independent

properties inherited from the parent component as follows:
■ The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Output”.
■ The default value of the rendererType property must be set to “javax.faces.Text”.[P1-
end]

4.1.9.3 Methods
UIOutput adds no new processing methods. See Section 3.2.5 “ValueHolder” for
information about methods introduced by the implemented interfaces.

4.1.9.4 Events
UIOutput does not originate any standard events. See Section 3.2.5 “ValueHolder” for
information about events introduced by the implemented interfaces.

4-18 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

4.1.10 UIPanel
UIPanel (extends UIComponentBase) is a component that manages the layout of its
child components.

4.1.10.1 Component Type

The standard component type for UIPanel components is “javax.faces.Panel”.

4.1.10.2 Properties
UIPanel adds no new render-independent properties.

[P1-start-uipanel]UIPanel specializes the behavior of render-independent

properties inherited from the parent component as follows:
■ The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Panel”.
■ The default value of the rendererType property must be set to null.[P1-end]

4.1.10.3 Methods
UIPanel adds no new processing methods.

4.1.10.4 Events
UIPanel does not originate any standard events

Chapter 4 Standard User Interface Components 4-19

4.1.11 UIParameter
UIParameter (extends UIComponentBase is a component that represents an optionally
named configuration parameter that affects the rendering of its parent component.
UIParameter components do not generally have rendering behavior of their own.

4.1.11.1 Component Type

The standard component type for UIParameter components is
“javax.faces.Parameter”.

4.1.11.2 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the UIParameter component:

Name Access Type Description

name RW String The optional name for this parameter.

value RW Object The value for this parameter.

[P1-start-uiparameter]UIParameter specializes the behavior of render-

independent properties inherited from the parent component as follows:
■ The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Parameter”.
■ The default value of the rendererType property must be set to null.[P1-end]

4.1.11.3 Methods
UIParameter adds no new processing methods.

4.1.11.4 Events
UIParameter does not originate any standard events

4-20 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

4.1.12 UISelectBoolean
UISelectBoolean (extends UIInput) is a component that represents a single boolean
(true or false) value. It is most commonly rendered as a checkbox.

4.1.12.1 Component Type

The standard component type for UISelectBoolean components is
“javax.faces.SelectBoolean”.

4.1.12.2 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the UISelectBoolean
component:

Name Access Type Description

selected RW boolean The selected state of this component. This property

is a typesafe alias for the value property, so that
the actual state to be used can be acquired via a
value expression.

[P1-start-uiselectboolean]UISelectBoolean specializes the behavior of

render-independent properties inherited from the parent component as follows:
■ The default value of the family property must be set to
“javax.faces.SelectBoolean”.
■ The default value of the rendererType property must be set to
“javax.faces.Checkbox”.[P1-end]

4.1.12.3 Methods
UISelectBoolean adds no new processing methods.

4.1.12.4 Events
UISelectBoolean inherits the ability to send ValueChangeEvent events from its
parent UIInput component.

Chapter 4 Standard User Interface Components 4-21

4.1.13 UISelectItem
UISelectItem (extends UIComponentBase) is a component that may be nested inside a
UISelectMany or UISelectOne component, and represents exactly one SelectItem
instance in the list of available options for that parent component.

4.1.13.1 Component Type

The standard component type for UISelectItem components is
“javax.faces.SelectItem”.

4.1.13.2 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the UISelectItem component:

Name Access Type Description

itemDesc RW String The optional description of this available selection

ription item. This may be useful for tools.
itemDisable RW boolean Flag indicating that any synthesized SelectItem
d object should have its disabled property set to
true.
itemLabel RW String The localized label that will be presented to the user
for this selection item.
itemValue RW Object The server-side value of this item, of the same basic
data type as the parent component’s value. If the
parent component type’s value is a value expression
that points at a primitive, this value must be of the
corresponding wrapper type.
value RW javax.faces.mod The SelectItem instance associated with this
el.SelectItem component.

[P1-start-uiselectitem]UISelectItem specializes the behavior of render-

independent properties inherited
■ The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.SelectItem”.
■ The default value of the rendererType property must be set to null.
■ If the value property is non-null, it must contain a SelectItem instance used to
configure the selection item specified by this component.
■ If the value property is a value expression, it must point at a SelectItem instance
used to configure the selection item specified by this component.

4-22 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 ■ If the value property is null, and there is no corresponding value expression, the
itemDescription, itemDisabled, itemLabel and itemValue properties must
be used to construct a new SelectItem representing the selection item specified by this
component.[P1-end]

4.1.13.3 Methods
UISelectItem adds no new processing methods.

4.1.13.4 Events
UISelectItem does not originate any standard events.

Chapter 4 Standard User Interface Components 4-23

4.1.14 UISelectItems
UISelectItems (extends UIComponentBase) is a component that may be nested inside
a UISelectMany or UISelectOne component, and represents zero or more
SelectItem instances for adding selection items to the list of available options for that
parent component.

4.1.14.1 Component Type

The standard component type for UISelectItems components is
“javax.faces.SelectItems”.

4.1.14.2 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the UISelectItems
component:

Name Access Type Description

value RW See below The SelectItem instances associated with this

component.

[P1-start-uiselectitems]UISelectItems specializes the behavior of render-

independent properties inherited
■ The default value of the family property must be set to
“javax.faces.SelectItems”.
■ The default value of the rendererType property must be set to null.
■ If the value property (or the value returned by a value expression associated with the
value property) is non-null, it must contain a SelectItem bean, an array of
SelectItem beans, a Collection of SelectItem beans, or a Map, where each map
entry is used to construct a SelectItem bean with the key as the label property of the
bean, and the value as the value property of the bean (which must be of the same basic
type as the value of the parent component’s value).[P1-end]

4.1.14.3 Methods
UISelectItems adds no new processing methods.

4-24 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

4.1.14.4 Events
UISelectItems does not originate any standard events.

Chapter 4 Standard User Interface Components 4-25

4.1.15 UISelectMany
UISelectMany (extends UIInput) is a component that represents one or more selections
from a list of available options. It is most commonly rendered as a combobox or a series of
checkboxes.

4.1.15.1 Component Type

The standard component type for UISelectMany components is
“javax.faces.SelectMany”.

4.1.15.2 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the UISelectMany component:

Name Access Type Description

selected RW Object[] or The selected item values of this component. This

Values array of property is a typesafe alias for the value property,
primitives so that the actual state to be used can be acquired
via a value expression.

[P1-start-uiselectmany]UISelectMany specializes the behavior of render-

independent properties inherited from the parent component as follows:
■ The default value of the family property must be set to
“javax.faces.SelectMany”.
■ The default value of the rendererType property must be set to
“javax.faces.Listbox”.[P1-end]
■ See the class Javadocs for UISelectMany for additional requirements related to implicit
conversions for the value property.

4.1.15.3 Methods
[P1-start-uselectmany-validate]UISelectMany must provide a specialized
validate() method which ensures that any decoded values are valid options (from the
nested UISelectItem and UISelectItems children).[P1-end]

4-26 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

4.1.15.4 Events
UISelectMany inherits the ability to send ValueChangeEvent events from its parent
UIInput component.

Chapter 4 Standard User Interface Components 4-27

4.1.16 UISelectOne
UISelectOne (extends UIInput) is a component that represents zero or one selection
from a list of available options. It is most commonly rendered as a combobox or a series of
radio buttons.

4.1.16.1 Component Type

The standard component type for UISelectOne components is
“javax.faces.SelectOne”.

4.1.16.2 Properties
UISelectOne adds no new render-independent properties.

[P1-start-uiselectone]UISelectOne specializes the behavior of render-

independent properties inherited from the parent component as follows:
■ The default value of the family property must be set to
“javax.faces.SelectOne”.
■ The default value of the rendererType property must be set to
“javax.faces.Menu”.[P1-end]

4.1.16.3 Methods
[P1-start-uiselectone-validate]UISelectOne must provide a specialized
validate() method which ensures that any decoded value is a valid option (from the
nested UISelectItem and UISelectItems children).[P1-end]

4.1.16.4 Events
UISelectOne inherits the ability to send ValueChangeEvent events from its parent
UIInput component.

4-28 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

4.1.17 UIViewRoot
UIViewRoot (extends UIComponentBase;) represents the root of the component tree.

4.1.17.1 Component Type

The standard component type for UIViewRoot components is
“javax.faces.ViewRoot”

4.1.17.2 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the UIViewRoot component:

Name Access Type Description

locale RW java.util.Locale The Locale to be used in

localizing the response for this
view.
renderKitId RW String The id of the RenderKit used
to render this page.
viewId RW String The view identifier for this view.
beforePhaseListener RW MethodExpressi MethodExpression that will
on be invoked before all lifecycle
phases except for Restore View.
afterPhaseListener RW MethodExpressi MethodExpression that will be
on invoked after all lifecycle phases
except for Restore View.
viewMap RW java.util.Map The Map that acts as the interface
to the data store that is the "view
scope".

For an existing view, the locale property may be modified only from the event handling
portion of Process Validations phase through Invoke Application phase, unless it is modified
by an Apply Request Values event handler for an ActionSource or
EditableValueHolder component that has its immediate property set to true (which
therefore causes Process Validations, Update Model Values, and Invoke Application phases to
be skipped).

[P1-start-viewmap]The viewMap property is lazily created the first time it is accessed,

and it is destroyed when a different UIViewRoot instance is installed from a call to
FacesContext.setViewRoot(). After the Map is created a ViewMapCreatedEvent

Chapter 4 Standard User Interface Components 4-29

 must be published using UIViewRoot as the event source. After the Map is destroyed, a
ViewMapDestroyedEvent must be published using UIViewRoot as the event source.
[P1-end]

[P1-start-uiviewroot]UIViewRoot specializes the behavior of render-independent

properties inherited from the parent component as follows:
■ The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.ViewRoot”.
■ The default value of the rendererType property must be set to null.[P1-end]

4.1.17.3 Methods
The following methods are used for adding UIComponent resources to a target area in the
view, and they are also used for retrieving UIComponent resources from a target area in the
view.

public void addComponentResource(FacesContext context,

UIComponent componentResource);

Add componentResource, that is assumed to represent a resource instance, to the

current view. A resource instance is rendered by a resource Renderer (such as
ScriptRenderer, StylesheetRenderer) as described in the Standard HTML
RenderKit. This method will cause the resource to be rendered in the “head” element of the
view.

public void addComponentResource(FacesContext context,

UIComponent componentResource, String target);

Add componentResource, that is assumed to represent a resource instance, to the

current view at the specified target location. [P1-start-addComponentResource] The
resource must be added using the algorithm outlined in this method’s Javadocs.[P1-end]

public List<UIComponent> getComponentResources(String target);

Return a List of UIComponent instances residing under the facet identified by target.
Each UIComponent instance in the List represents a resource. [P1-start-getCompRes]
The List must be formulated in accordance with this method’s Javadocs. [P1-end]

UIViewRoot specializes the behavior of the UIComponent.queueEvent() method to

maintain a list of queued events that can be transmitted later. It also specializes the behavior
of the processDecodes(), processValidators(), processUpdates(), and
processApplication() methods to broadcast queued events to registered listeners.
UIViewRoot clears any remaining events from the event queue in these methods if

4-30 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 responseComplete() or renderResponse() has been set on the
FacesContext. Please see Section 2.2.2 “Apply Request Values”, Section 2.2.3 “Process
Validations”, Section 2.2.4 “Update Model Values” and Section 2.2.5 “Invoke Application”
for more details.

4.1.17.4 Events
UIViewRoot is a source of PhaseEvent events, which are emitted when the instance
moves through all phases of the request processing lifecycle except Restore View. This phase
cannot emit events from UIViewRoot because the UIViewRoot instance isn’t created
when this phase starts. See Section 12.2 “PhaseEvent” and Section 12.3 “PhaseListener”for
more details on the event and listener class.

public void addPhaseListener(PhaseListener listener);

public void removePhaseListener(VPhaseListener listener);

public List<PhaseListener> getPhaseListeners();

[P1-start-events]UIViewRoot must listen for the top level AfterAddToParent event

sent by the Restore View phase. Refer to Section 2.2.1 “Restore View” for more details about
the publishing of this event. Upon receiving this event, UIViewRoot must cause any
“after” Restore View phase listeners to be called.[P1-end]

4.1.17.5 Partial Processing

UIViewRoot adds special behavior to processDecodes, processValidators,
processUpdates and the encode methods to facilitate partial processing - namely the
ability to have one or more components processed through the execute and/or render
phases of the request processing lifecycle. Refer to Section 13.4 “Partial View Traversal”,
Section 13.4.1 “Partial View Execute”, Section 13.4.2 “Partial View Render” for an overview
of partial processing. [P1-start-viewroot-partial]UIViewRoot must perform partial
processing as outlined in the Javadocs for the “processXXX” and “encodeXXX” methods if
the current request is a partial request.[P1-end]

Chapter 4 Standard User Interface Components 4-31

4.2 Standard UIComponent Model Beans
Several of the standard UIComponent subclasses described in the previous section
reference JavaBean components to represent the underlying model data that is rendered by
those components. The following subsections define the standard UIComponent model
bean classes.

4.2.1 DataModel
DataModel is an abstract base class for creating wrappers around arbitrary data binding
technologies. It can be used to adapt a wide variety of data sources for use by JavaServer
Faces components that want to support access to an underlying data set that can be modelled
as multiple rows. The data underlying a DataModel instance is modelled as a collection of
row objects that can be accessed randomly via a zero-relative index

4.2.1.1 Properties
An instance of DataModel supports the following properties:

Name Access Type Description

rowAvailable RO boolean Flag indicating whether the current rowIndex value points at an
actual row in the underlying data.
rowCount RO int The number of rows of data objects represented by this DataModel
instance, or -1 if the number of rows is unknown.
rowData RO Object An object representing the data for the currently selected row.
DataModel implementations must return an object that be
successfully processed as the “base” parameter for the
PropertyResolver in use by this application. If the current
rowIndex value is -1, null is returned.
rowIndex RW int Zero-relative index of the currently selected row, or -1 if no row is
currently selected. When first created, a DataModel instance
must return -1 for this property.
wrappedData RW Object Opaque property representing the data object wrapped by this
DataModel. Each individual implementation will restrict the types
of Object(s) that it supports.

4-32 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

4.2.1.2 Methods
DataModel must provide an iterator() to iterate over the row data for this model.

4.2.1.3 Events
No events are generated for this component.

4.2.1.4 Concrete Implementations

[P1-start-datamodel]The JSF implementation must provide concrete implementations of
DataModel (in the javax.faces.model package) for the following data wrapping scenarios:
■ ArrayDataModel -- Wrap an array of Java objects.
■ ListDataModel -- Wrap a java.util.List of Java objects.
■ ResultDataModel -- Wrap an object of type
javax.servlet.jsp.jstl.sql.Result (the query results from JSTL’s SQL tag
library)
■ ResultSetDataModel -- Wrap an object of type java.sql.ResultSet (which
therefore means that javax.sql.RowSet instances are also supported).
■ ScalarDataModel -- Wrap a single Java object in what appears to be a one-row data
set.

Each concrete DataModel implementation must extend the DataModel abstract base
class, and must provide a constructor that accepts a single parameter of the object type being
wrapped by that implementation (in addition to a zero-args constructor).[P1-end] See the
JavaDocs for specific implementation requirements on DataModel defined methods, for
each of the concrete implementation classes.

Chapter 4 Standard User Interface Components 4-33

4.2.2 SelectItem
SelectItem is a utility class representing a single choice, from among those made
available to the user, for a UISelectMany or UISelectOne component. It is not itself a
UIComponent subclass.

4.2.2.1 Properties
An instance of SelectItem supports the following properties:

Name Access Type Description

description RW String A description of this selection item, for use in development tools.
disabled RW boolean Flag indicating that this option should be rendered in a fashion that
disables selection by the user. Default value is false.
label RW String Label of this selection item that should be rendered to the user.
value RW Object The server-side value of this item, of the same basic data type as
the parent component’s value. If the parent component type’s value
is a value expression that points at a primitive, this value must be
of the corresponding wrapper type.

4.2.2.2 Methods
An instance of SelectItem supports no additional public processing methods.

4.2.2.3 Events
An instance of SelectItem supports no events.

4-34 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

4.2.3 SelectItemGroup
SelectItemGroup is a utility class extending SelectItem, that represents a group of
subordinate SelectItem instances that can be rendered as a “sub-menu” or “option
group”. Renderers will typically ignore the value property of this instance, but will use
the label property to render a heading for the sub-menu.

4.2.3.1 Properties
An instance of SelectItemGroup supports the following additional properties:

Name Access Type Description

selectItems RW SelectItem[] Array of SelectItem instances representing the subordinate

selection items that are members of the group represented by this
SelectItemGroup instance.

Note that, since SelectItemGroup is a subclass of SelectItem, SelectItemGroup

instances can be included in the selectItems property in order to create hierarchies of
subordinate menus. However, some rendering environments may limit the depth to which
such nesting is supported; for example, HTML/4.01 does not allow an <optgroup> to be
nested inside another <optgroup> within a <select> control.

4.2.3.2 Methods
An instance of SelectItemGroup supports no additional public processing methods.

4.2.3.3 Events
An instance of SelectItemGroup supports no events.

Chapter 4 Standard User Interface Components 4-35

4-36 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008
5

Expression Language and Managed

Bean Facility

In the descriptions of the standard user interface component model, it was noted that all
attributes, and nearly all properties can have a value expression associated with them (see
Section 3.1.4 “ValueExpression properties”). In addition, many properties, such as action,
actionListener, validator, and valueChangeListener can be defined by a
method expression pointing at a public method in some class to be executed. This chapter
describes the mechanisms and APIs that JavaServer Faces utilizes in order to evaluate value
expressions and method expressions.

JavaServer Faces relies on the Unified Expression Language (Unified EL, or just EL)
provided by version 2.1 of the JavaServer Pages specification (JSR-245). The EL is
described in a separate specification document delivered as part of the JSP 2.1 spec. Please
consult that document for complete details about the EL.

Versions 1.0 and 1.1 of JavaServer Faces included a built in expression language and
required an implementation of it. The API for this old JSF EL is still preserved as deprecated
classes and methods, and implementations must still support that API. Please consult the
Section 2.1.0.1 “Guide to Deprecated Methods Relating to the Unified EL and their
Corresponding Replacements” for details. This chapter will focus exclusively on how Faces
leverages and integrates with the Unified EL. It does not describe how the Unified EL
operates.

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-1

5.1 Value Expressions

5.1.1 Overview
To support binding of attribute and property of values to dynamically calculated results, the
name of the attribute or property can be associated with a value expression using the
setValueExpression() method. Whenever the dynamically calculated result of
evaluating the expression is required, the getValue() method of the ValueExpression
is called, which returns the evaluated result. Such expressions can be used, for example, to
dynamically calculate a component value to be displayed:

<h:outputText value=”#{customer.name}”/>

which, when this page is rendered, will retrieve the bean stored under the “customer” key,
then acquire the name property from that bean and render it.

Besides the component value itself, value expressions can be used to dynamically compute
attributes and properties. The following example checks a boolean property manager on
the current user bean (presumably representing the logged-in user) to determine whether
the salary property of an employee should be displayed or not:

<h:outputText rendered=”#{user.manager}” value=

”#{employee.salary}”/>

which sets the rendered property of the component to false if the user is not a manager,
and therefore causes this component to render nothing.

Value expressions can also be used to set a value from the user into the item obtained by
evaluating the expression. For example:

<h:inputText value=”#{employee.number}”/>

When the page is rendered, the expression is evaluated as an r-value and the result is
displayed as the default value in the text field. When the page is submitted, the expression is
evaluated as an l-value, and the value entered by the user (subject to conversion and
validation as usual) is pushed into the expression.

5-2 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

5.1.2 Value Expression Syntax and Semantics
Please see Section 1.2 of the Expression Language Specification, Version 2.1 for the
complete specification of ValueExpression syntax and semantics.

5.2 MethodExpressions
Method expressions are a very similar to value expressions, but rather than supporting the
dynamic retrieval and setting of properties, method expressions support the invocation (i.e.
execution) of an arbitrary public method of an arbitrary object, passing a specified set of
parameters, and returning the result from the called method (if any). They may be used in
any phase of the request processing lifecycle; the standard JSF components and framework
employ them (encapsulated in a MethodExpression object) at the following times:
■ During Apply Request Values or Invoke Application phase (depending upon the state of the
immediate property), components that implement the ActionSource2 behavioral
interface (see Section 3.2.2 “ActionSource2”) utilize MethodExpressions as follows:
■ If the actionExpression property is specified, it must be a MethodExpression
expression that identifies an Application Action method (see Section 7.3 “Application
Actions”) that takes no parameters and returns a String.
■ It’s possible to have a method expression act as an ActionListener by using the
classs MethodExpressionActionListener to wrap a method expression and
calling the addActionListener() method on the ActionSource. The method
expression wrapped inside the MethodExpressionActionListener must
identify a public method that accepts an ActionEvent (see Section 3.4.2.1 “Event
Classes”) instance, and has a return type of void. The called method has exactly the
same responsibilities as the processAction() method of an ActionListener
instance (see Section 3.4.2.2 “Listener Classes”) that was built in to a separate Java
class.
■ During the Apply Request Values or Process Validations phase (depending upon the state
of the immediate property), components that implement EditableValueHolder
(such as UIInput and its subclasses) components (see Section 3.2.6
“EditableValueHolder”) utilize method expressions as follows:
■ The user can use the MethodExpressionValidator class to wrap a method
expression that identifies a public method that accepts a FacesContext instance and
a UIComponent instance, and an Object containing the value to be validated, and
has a return type of void. This MethodExpressionValidator instance can then
be added as a normal Validator using the
EditableValueHolder.addValidator() method. The called method has
exactly the same responsibilities as the validate() method of a Validator
instance (see Section 3.5.2 “Validator Classes”) that was built in to a separate Java
class.

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-3

 ■ The user can use the MethodExpressionValueChangeListener class to wrap
a method expression that identifies a public method that accepts a
ValueChangeEvent (see Section 3.4.2.1 “Event Classes”) instance, and has a return
type of void. This MethodExpressionValueChangeListener instance can
then be added as a normal ValueChangeListener using
EditableValueHolder.addValueChangeListener(). The called method has exactly the
same responsibilities as the processValueChange() method of a
ValueChangeListener instance (see Section 3.4.2.2 “Listener Classes”) that was
built in to a separate Java class.

Here is the set of component properties that currently support MethodBinding, and the
method signatures to which they must point:

TABLE 5-1 component properties whose type is DEPRECATED MethodBinding

component property method signature

DEPRECATED public String <methodName>();

action
DEPRECATED public void
actionListener <methodName>(javax.faces.event.ActionEvent)
;
DEPRECATED public void
validator <methodName>(javax.faces.context.FacesConte
xt, javax.faces.component.UIComponent,
java.lang.Object);
DEPRECATED public void
valueChangeListener <methodName>(javax.faces.event.ValueChangeE
vent);

5-4 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 Note that for any of the parameters for the above methods may also be a subclass of what is
listed above. For the above properties that are marked as DEPRECATED, wrapper classes
have been added that wrap a MethodExpression and implement the appropriate listener
interface, allowing the wrapped expression to be added as a strongly typed listener, using the
normal add*() pattern Here is the list of such wrapper classes:

TABLE 5-2 MethodExpression wrappers to take the place of DEPRECATED MethodBinding

properties

component listener
property Wrapper class method signature

actionListener javax.faces.event.Me public void

thodExpressionAction <methodName>(javax.faces.event
Listener .ActionEvent);
validator javax.faces.validato public void
r.MethodExpressionVa <methodName>(javax.faces.conte
lidator xt.FacesContext,
javax.faces.component.UICompon
ent, java.lang.Object);
valueChangeLis javax.faces.event.Me public void
tener thodExpressionValueC <methodName>(javax.faces.event
hangeListener .ValueChangeEvent);

The MethodBinding typed action property of ActionSource is deprecated and has

been replaced by the MethodExpression typed actionExpression property of
ActionSource2.

5.2.1 MethodExpression Syntax and Semantics

The exact syntax and semantics of MethodExpression are now the domain of the Unified EL.
Please see Section 1.2.1.2 of the Expression Language Specification, Version 2.1.

5.3 The Managed Bean Facility

Perhaps the biggest value-add of bringing EL concepts to Faces happens when the EL is
combined with the managed bean facility. This feature allows the user to configure an entire
complex tree of POJO beans, including how they should be scoped and populated with initial
values, and expose them to EL expressions. Please see Section 5.3.1 “Managed Bean
Configuration Example”.

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-5

 The Managed Bean Creation facility is configured by the existence of <managed-bean>
elements in one or more application configuration resources (see Section 11.4 “Application
Configuration Resources”). Such elements describe the characteristics of a bean to be
created, and properties to be initialized, with the following nested elements:
■ <managed-bean-name> -- The key under which the created bean can be retrieved;
also the key in the scope under which the created bean will be stored, unless the value of
<managed-bean-scope> is set to none.
■ <managed-bean-class> -- The fully qualified class name of the application class
used to instantiate a new instance. This class must conform to JavaBeans design patterns
-- in particular, it must have a public zero-args constructor, and must have public property
setters for any properties referenced with nested <managed-property> elements -- or
it must be a class that implements java.util.Map or java.util.List.
■ <managed-bean-scope> -- The scope (request, view, session, or
application) under which the newly instantiated bean will be stored after creation
(under the key specified by the <managed-bean-name> element), or none for a bean
that should be instantiated and returned, but not stored in any scope. The latter option is
useful when dynamically constructing trees of related objects, as illustrated in the
following example.
■ <list-entries> or <map-entries> -- Used to configure managed beans that are
themselves instances of java.util.List or java.util.Map, respectively. See
below for details on the contents of these elements.
■ <managed-property> -- Zero or more elements used to initialize the properties of the
newly instantiated bean (see below).

After the new managed bean instance is instantiated, but before it is placed into the specified
scope (if any), each nested <managed-property> element must be processed and a call
to the corresponding property setter must be made to initialize the value of the corresponding
property. If the managed bean has properties not referenced by <managed-property>
elements, the values of such properties will not be affected by the creation of this managed
bean; they will retain whatever default values are established by the constructor.

Each <managed-property> element contains the following elements used to configure

the execution of the corresponding property setter call:
■ <property-name> -- The property name of the property to be configured. The actual
property setter method to be called will be determined as described in the JavaBeans
Specification.
■ Exactly one of the following sub-elements that can be used to initialize the property value
in a number of different ways:
■ <map-entries> -- A set of key/value pairs used to initialize the contents of a
property of type java.util.Map (see below for more details).
■ <null-value/> -- An empty element indicating that this property must be explicitly
initialized to null. This element is not allowed if the underlying property is of a Java
primitive type.

5-6 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 ■ <value> -- A String value that will have any leading and trailing spaces stripped, and
then be converted (according to the rules described in the JSP Specification for the
<jsp:setProperty> action) to the corresponding data type of the property, prior to
setting it to this value.
■ <list-entries> -- A set of values used to initialize the contents of a property of
type array or java.util.List. See below for more information.

As described above, the <map-entries> element is used to initialize the key-value pairs
of a property of type java.util.Map. This element may contain the following nested
elements:
■ <key-class> -- Optional element specifying the fully qualified class name for keys in
the map to be created. If not specified, java.lang.String is used.
■ <value-class> -- Optional element specifying the fully qualified class name for
values in the map to be created. If not specified, java.lang.String is used.
■ <map-entry> -- Zero or more elements that define the actual key-value pairs for a
single entry in the map. Nested inside is a <key> element to define the key, and then
exactly one of <null-value>, <value> to define the value. These elements have the
same meaning as when nested in a <managed-property> element, except that they
refer to an individual map entry’s value instead of the entire property value.

As described above, the <list-entries> element is used to initialize a set of values for
a property of type array or java.util.List. This element may contain the following
nested elements:
■ <value-class> -- Optional element specifying the fully qualified class name for
values in the map to be created. If not specified, java.lang.String is used.
■ Zero or more elements of type <null-value>, <value> to define the individual
values to be initialized. These elements have the same meaning as when nested in a
<managed-property> element, except that they refer to an individual list element
instead of the entire property value.

The following general rules apply to the operation of the Managed Bean Creation facility:
■ Properties are assigned in the order that their <managed-property> elements are
listed in the application configuration resource.
■ If a managed bean has writeable properties that are not mentioned in <managed-
property> elements, the values of those properties are not assigned any values.
■ The bean instantiation and population with properties must be done lazily, when an EL
expression causes the bean to be referenced. For example, this is the case when a
ValueExpression or MethodExpression has its getValue() or setValue()
method called.
■ Due to the above mentioned laziness constraint, any error conditions that occur below are
only required to be manifested at runtime. However, it is conceivable that tools may want
to detect these errors earlier; this is perfectly acceptable. The presense of any of the errors
described below, until the end of this section, must not prevent the application from
deploying and being made available to service requests.

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-7

 ■ [P1-start managed bean config error conditions] It is an error to specify a managed bean
class that does not exist, or that cannot be instantiated with a public, zero-args constructor.
■ It is an error to specify a <property-name> for a property that does not exist, or does
not have a public setter method, on the specified managed bean class.
■ It is an error to specify a <value> element that cannot be converted to the type required
by a managed property, or that, when evaluated, results in a value that cannot be
converted to the type required by a managed property. [P1-end]
■ If the type of the property referenced by the <managed-property> element is a Java
enum, the contents of the <value> element must be a String that yields a valid return
from java.lang.Enum.valueOf(PROPERTY_CLASS, VALUE) where
PROPERTY_CLASS is the java.lang.Class for the property and VALUE is the
contents of the <value> element in the application configuration resource. If any
exception is thrown from Enum.valueOf() it is an error.
■ [P1-start managed bean scope errors] It is an error for a managed bean created through
this facility to have a property that points at an object stored in a scope with a
(potentially) shorter life span. Specifically, this means, for an object created with the
specified <managed-bean-scope>, then <value> evaluations can only point at
created objects with the specified managed bean scope:
■ none -- none
■ application -- none, application
■ session -- none, application, session
■ view -- none, application, session, view
■ request -- none, application, session, view, request [P1-end]
■ If a bean points to a property whose value is a mixed expression containing literal strings
and expressions, the net scope of the mixed expression is considered to be the scope of
the narrowest sub-expression, excluding expressions in the none scope.
■ [P1-start implicit objects in request scope] Data accessed via an implicit object is also
defined to be in a scope. The following implicit objects are considered to be in request
scope:
■ cookie
■ facesContext
■ header
■ headerValues
■ param
■ paramValues
■ request
■ requestScope
■ view [P1-end]

5-8 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

■ [P1-start implicit objects in session scope] The only implicit objects in session scope are
session and sessionScope [P1-end]
■ [P1-start implicit objects in application scope] The following implicit objects are
considered to be in application scope:
■ application
■ applicationScope
■ initParam [P1-end]
■ [P1-start cyclic references error] It is an error to configure cyclic references between
managed beans. [P1-end]
■ [P1-start managed bean names correctness] Managed bean names must conform to the
syntax of a Java language identifier. [P1-end]

The initialization of bean properties from <map-entries> and <list-entries>

elements must adhere to the following algorithm, though any confirming implementation
may be used.

For <map-entries>:

1. Call the property getter, if it exists.

2. If the getter returns null or doesn't exist, create a java.util.HashMap, otherwise

use the returned java.util.Map.

3. Add all entries defined by nested <map-entry> elements in the order they are listed,
converting key values defined by nested <key> elements to the type defined by <key-
class> and entry values defined by nested <value> elements to the type defined by
<value-class>. If a value is given as a value expression, evaluate the reference and
store the result, converting to <value-class> if necessary. If <key-class> and/or
<value-class> are not defined, use java.lang.String. Add null for each
<null-value> element.

4. If a new java.util.Map was created in step 2), set the property by calling the setter
method, or log an error if there is no setter method.

For <list-entries>:

1. Call the property getter, if it exists.

2. If the getter returns null or doesn't exist, create a java.util.ArrayList, otherwise

use the returned Object (an array or a java.util.List).

3. If a List was returned or created in step 2), add all elements defined by nested
<value> elements in the order they are listed, converting values defined by nested
<value> elements to the type defined by <value-class>. If a value is given as a
value expression, evaluate the reference and store the result, converting to <value-
class> if necessary. If a <value-class> is not defined, use the value as-is (i.e., as a
java.lang.String). Add null for each <null-value> element.

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-9

 4. If an array was returned in step 2), create a java.util.ArrayList and copy all
elements from the returned array to the new List, wrapping elements of a primitive type.
Add all elements defined by nested <value> elements as described in step 3).

5. If a new java.util.List was created in step 2) and the property is of type List, set
the property by calling the setter method, or log an error if there is no setter method.

6. If a new java.util.List was created in step 2) and the property is a java array,
convert the List into an array of the property type, and set it by calling the setter
method, or log an error if there is no setter method.

7. If a new java.util.List was created in step 4), convert the List to an array of the
proper type for the property and set the property by calling the setter method, or log an
error if there is no setter method.

5.3.1 Managed Bean Configuration Example

The following <managed-bean> elements might appear in one or more application
configuration resources (see Section 11.4 “Application Configuration Resources”) to
configure the behavior of the Managed Bean Creation facility.

5-10 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

Assume that your application includes CustomerBean with properties mailingAddress
and shippingAddress of type Address (along with additional properties that are not
shown), and AddressBean implementation classes with String properties of type street,
city, state, country, and postalCode.

<managed-bean>
<description>
A customer bean will be created as needed, and stored in
request scope. Its “mailingAddress” and “streetAddress”
properties will be initialized by virtue of the fact that the
“value” expressions will not encounter any object under
key “addressBean” in any scope.
</description>
<managed-bean-name>customer</managed-bean-name>
<managed-bean-class>
com.mycompany.mybeans.CustomerBean
</managed-bean-class>
<managed-bean-scope> request </managed-bean-scope>
<managed-property>
<property-name>mailingAddress</property-name>
<value>#{addressBean}</value>
</managed-property>
<managed-property>
<property-name>shippingAddress</property-name>
<value>#{addressBean}</value>
</managed-property>
<managed-property>
<property-name>customerType</property-name>
<value>New</value> <!-- Set to literal value -->
</managed-property>
</managed-bean>

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-11

 <managed-bean>
<description>
A new AddressBean will not be added to any scope, because we
only want to create instances when a CustomerBean creation asks
for them. Therefore, we set the scope to “none”.
</description>
<managed-bean-name>addressBean</managed-bean-name>
<managed-bean-class>
com.mycompany.mybeans.AddressBean
</managed-bean-class>
<managed-bean-scope> none </managed-bean-scope>
</managed-bean>

If a value expression “#{customer.mailingAddress.city}” were to be evaluated by

the JSF implementation, and there was no object stored under key “customer” in request,
view, session, or application scope, a new CustomerBean instance will be created and
stored in request scope, with its mailingAddress and shippingAddress properties
being initialized to instances of AddressBean as defined by the configuration elements
shown above. Then, the evaluation of the remainder of the expression can proceed as usual.

Although not used by the JSF implementation at application runtime, it is also convenient to
be able to indicate to JSF tools (at design time) that objects of particular types will be created
and made available (at runtime) by some other means. For example, an application
configuration resource could include the following information to declare that a JDBC data
source instance will have been created, and stored in application scope, as part of the
application’s own startup processing.

<referenced-bean>
<description>
A JDBC data source will be initialized and made available in
some scope (presumably application) for use by the JSF based
application when it is actually run. This information is not
used by the JSF implementation itself; only by tools.
</description>
<referenced-bean-name> dataSource </referenced-bean-name>
<referenced-bean-class>
javax.sql.DataSource
</referenced-bean-class>
</referenced-bean>

This information can be utilized by the tool to construct user interfaces based on the
properties of the referenced beans.

5-12 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

5.4 Leveraging Java EE 5 Annotations in
Managed Beans
JSF Implementations that are running as a part of Java EE 5 must allow managed bean
implementations to use the annotations specified in section 14.5 of the Servlet 2.5
Specification to allow the container to inject references to container managed resources into
a managed bean instance before it is made accessible to the JSF application. Only beans
declared to be in request, session, or application scope are eligble for resource
injection.

Please consult the Java 2 Platform Entprise Edition Specification 5.0 for complete details of
this feature. Here is a summary of the valid injection annotations one may use in a managed
bean. [P1-start valid annotations in a managed bean]

@Resource

@Resources

@EJB

@EJBs

@WebServiceRef

@WebServiceRefs

@PersistenceContext

@PersistenceContexts

@PersistenceUnit

@PersistenceUnits [P1-end]

Following is an example of valid usages of this feature in a managed bean

public class User extends Object {
private @EJB ShoppingCart cart;
private @Resource Inventory inventory;
private DataSource customerData;

@Resource(name=”customerData”)
private void setCustomerData(DataSource data) {
customerData = data;
}

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-13

 public String getOrderSummary() {
// Do something with the injected resources
// And generate a textual summary of the order
}

This example illustrates that the above annotations can be attached to instance variables or to
JavaBeans setters. The JSF implementation running in a Java EE 5 container must guarantee
that the injections are performed before the bean is handed back to the user. Generally, this is
done by performing the injection immediately after the lazy instantiation of the managed
bean.

5.4.1 Managed Bean Lifecycle Annotations

JSF implementations running in a Java EE 5 compliant container must support attaching the
@PostConstruct and @PreDestroy annotations to aid in awareness of the managed-
bean lifecycle.

Methods on managed beans declared to be in request, view, session, or

application scope, annotated with @PostConstruct, must be called by the JSF
implementation after resource injection is performed (if any) but before the bean is placed
into scope.

[P1-start rules governing invocation of @PostConstruct annotated methods]If the method

throws an unchecked exception, the JSF implementation must not put the managed-bean into
service and further methods on that managed bean instance must not be called. [P1-end]

Methods on managed beans declared to be in request, session, or application

scope, annotated with @PreDestroy, must be called by the JSF implementation before the
bean is removed from its scope or before the scope itself is destroyed, whichever comes first.
In the case of a managed bean placed in view scope, methods annotated with
@PreDestroy must only be called when the view scope is destroyed. See the javadoc for
FacesContext.setViewRoot(). This annotation must be supported in all cases where
the above @PostConstruct annotation is supported.

[P1-start rules governing invocation of @PreDestroy annotated methods] If the method

throws an unchecked exception, the JSF implementation may log it, but the exception must
not otherwise alter the execution.

Refer to the Java EE specification section 2.5 and the Common Annotations for the JavaTM
PlatformTM specification section 2.5 for more details.[P1-end]

5-14 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

5.5 How Faces Leverages the Unified EL
This section is non-normative and covers the major players in the Unified EL and how they
relate to JavaServer Faces. The number one goal in this version of the JavaServer Faces
specification is to export the concepts behind the JSF EL into the Unified EL, which is part
of the the JavaServer Pages version 2.1 specification, and then rely on those facilities to get
the work done. Readers interested in how to implement the Unified EL itself must consult the
Unified EL Spec document.

5.5.1 ELContext
The ELContext is a handy little “holder” object that gets passed all around the Unified EL
API. It has two purposes.
■ To allow technologies that use the Unified EL, such as JavaServer Faces, the JSF Page
Declaration Language (JSF PDL), and JSP, to store any context information specific to
that technology so it can be leveraged during expression evaluation. For example the
expression “${view.viewId}” is specific to Faces. It means, “find the UIViewRoot
instance for the current view, and return its viewId”. The Unified EL doesn’t know
about the “view” implicit object or what a UIViewRoot is, but JavaServer Faces does. The
Unified EL has plugin points that will get called to resolve “view”, but to do so,
JavaServer Faces needs access to the FacesContext from within the callstack of EL
evaluation. Therefore, the ELContext comes to the rescue, having been populated with
the FacesContext earlier in the request processing lifecycle.
■ To allow the pluggable resolver to tell the Unified EL that it did, in fact, resolve a
property and that further resolvers must not be consulted. This is done by setting the
“propertyResolved” property to true.

The complete specification for ELResolver may be found in Chapter 2 of the Expression
Language Specification, Version 2.1.

5.5.1.1 Lifetime, Ownership and Cardinality

An ELContext instance is created the first time getELContext() is called on the
FacesContext for this request. Please see Section 6.1.3 “ELContext” for details. Its
lifetime ends the same time the FacesContext’s lifetime ends. The FacesContext
maintains the owning reference to the ELContext. There is at most one ELContext per
FacesContext.

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-15

5.5.1.2 Properties

Name Access Type Description

ELResolver RO javax.el.EL Return the ELResolver instance described

Resolver in Section 5.6.1 “Faces ELResolver for
Markup Pages”
propertyResolved RW boolean Set by an ELResolver implementation if it
successfully resolved a property. See
Section 5.5.2 “ELResolver” for how this
property is used.

5.5.1.3 Methods
Here is a subset of the methods that are relevant to Faces.

public Object getContext(Class key);

void putContext(Class key, Object contextInstance);
...

As mentioned in Section 6.1.3 “ELContext”, the putContext() method is called, passing

the current FacesContext instance the first time the system asks the FacesContext for
its ELContext. The getContext() method will be called by any ELResolver
instances that need to access the FacesContext to perform their resolution.

5.5.1.4 Events
The creation of an ELContext instance precipitates the emission of an ELContextEvent
from the FacesContext that created it. Please see Section 6.1.3 “ELContext” for details.

5.5.2 ELResolver
Faces 1.1 used the VariableResolver and PropertyResolver classes as the
workhorses of expression evaluation. The Unified API has the ELResolver instead. The
ELResolver concept is the heart of the Unified EL. When an expression is evaluated, the
ELResolver is responsible for resolving each segment in the expression. For example, in
rendering the component behind the tag “<h:outputText value=
”#{user.address.street}” />” the ELResolver is called three times. Once to resolve

5-16 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 “user”, again to resolve the “address” property of user, and finally, to resolve the “street”
property of “address”. The complete specification for ELResolver may be found in Chapter 2
of the Expression Language Specification, Version 2.1.

[N/T-start two ELResolver impls] As described in more detail in Section 5.6.1 “Faces
ELResolver for Markup Pages”, Faces must provide two implementations of ELResolver.
[P1-end]Which of these two implementations is actually used to resolve an expression
depends on where the expresison is evaluated. If the expression is evaluated in a markup
page, the ELResolver for markup pages is used. If the expression is evaluated in java VM
hosted code from Faces, another ELResolver is used that is tailored for use inside of Faces
java VM hosted code. During the course of evaluation of an expression, a variety of sources
must be considered to help resolve each segment of the expression. These sources are linked
in a chain-like fashion. Each link in the chain has the opportunity to resolve the current
segment. If it does so, it must set the “propertyResolved” property on the ELContext,
to true. If not, it must not modify the value of the “propertyResolved” property. If the
“propertyResolved” property is not set to true the return value from the
ELResolver method is ignored by the system.

5.5.2.1 Lifetime, Ownership, and Cardinality

ELResolver instances have application lifetime and scope. The JSP container maintains one
top level ELResolver (into which a Faces specific ELResolver is added) accessible from
JspContext.getELContext().getELResolver(). This ELResolver instance is
also used from the JSF PDL, even though JSF PDL pages do not themselves use JSP. Faces
maintains one ELResolver (separate from the one handed to the JSP container) accessible
from FacesContext.getELContext().getELResolver() and
Application.getELResolver().

5.5.2.2 Properties
ELResolver has no proper JavaBeans properties

5.5.2.3 Methods
Here is a subset of the methods that are relevant to Faces.

public Object getValue(ELContext context, Object base, Object

property);
void setValue(ELContext context, Object base, Object property,
Object value);
...

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-17

 getValue() looks at the argument base and tries to return the value of the property
named by the argument property. For example, if base is a JavaBean, property would
be the name of the JavaBeans property, and the resolver would end up calling the getter for
that property.

setValue() looks at the argument base and tries to set the argument value into the
property named by the argument property. For example, if base is a JavaBean, property
would be the name of the JavaBeans property, and the resolver would end up calling the
setter for that property.

There are other methods, such as isReadOnly() that are beyond the scope of this
document, but described completely in the Unified EL Specification.

5.5.2.4 Events
ELResolver precipitates no events.

5.5.3 ExpressionFactory
Faces 1.1 used the Application class as a factory for ValueBinding and
MethodBinding instances. The Unified EL has the ExpressionFactory class instead.
It is a factory for ValueExpression and MethodExpression instances.

5.5.3.1 Lifetime, Ownership, and Cardinality

ExpressionFactory instances are application scoped. The Application object
maintains the ExpressionFactory instance used by Faces (See Section 7.1.9 “Acquiring
ExpressionFactory Instance”). The JspApplicationContext object maintains the
ExpressionFactory used by the JSP container (and therefore by the JSF PDL). It is
permissible for both of these access methods to yield the same java object instance.

5.5.3.2 Properties
ExpressionFactory has no properties.

5-18 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

5.5.3.3 Methods

public MethodExpression createMethodExpression(ELContext context,

String expression, FunctionMapper fnMapper, Class[] paramTypes);
public ValueExpression createValueExpression(ELContext context,
String expression, Class expectedType, FunctionMapper fnMapper);

These methods take the human readable expression string, such as

”#{user.address.street}” and return an object oriented representation of the
expression. Which method one calls depends on what kind of expression you need. The
Faces Application class has convenience methods specific to Faces needs for these
concepts, please see Section 7.1.10 “Programmatically Evaluating Expressions”.

5.5.3.4 Events
ExpressionFactory precipitates no events.

5.6 ELResolver Instances Provided by Faces

This section provides details on what an implementation of the JavaServer Faces
specification must do to support the Unified EL for usage in a Faces application.

Section 5.5.2 “ELResolver” mentions that a Faces implementation must provide two
implementations of ELResolver. One ELResolver, let’s call it the Faces ELResolver For
Markup Pages, is plugged in to the top level resolver chain returned from
JspContext.getELContext().getELResolver(). This top level resolver chain is
used by the page description language container (JSP or JSF Page Declaration Language),
and possibly by tag handlers, to resolve expressions. The other ELResolver, let’s call it the
ELResolver for Programmatic Access, is not used by markup pages, but rather, is returned
from FacesContext.getELContext().getELResolver() and
Application.getELResolver() and is used to resolve expressions that appear
programmatically. See the javadocs for javax.el.ELResolver for the specification and
method semantics for each method in ELResolver. The remainder of this section lists the
implementation requirements for these two resolvers.

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-19

5.6.1 Faces ELResolver for Markup Pages
As mentioned in Section 5.5.2 “ELResolver”, during the course of evaluation of an
expression, a variety of sources must be considered to help resolve each segment of the
expression. These sources are linked in a chain-like fashion. Each link in the chain has the
opportunity to resolve the current segment. The Unified EL provides a container class to
support this multi-source variable resolution: javax.el.CompositeELResolver. The
implementation for the Faces ELResolver for Markup Pages is described as a set of
ELResolvers inside of a CompositeELResolver instance, but any implementation
strategy is permissible as long as the semantics are preserved.

This diagram shows the set of ELResolver instances that must be added to the Faces
ELResolver for Markup Pages. This instance must be handed to the JSP container via a call
to
JspFactory.getDefaultFactory().getJspApplicationContext().addELR
esolver() at application startup time. Even though we are making a JSP API call to install
this ELResolver, we do not require using JSP to develop JSF applications. It also shows
the order in which they must be added. [P2-start there are 18 methods in the below tables,
each can corresponding to a method on a particular ELResolver. With clever testing, it is
possible to write assertions for these. Testing the legacy VariableResolver and
PropertyResolvers is not included in this 18 methods number. These classes may be tested
simply by noting that the methods do indeed get called on a user-provided VariableResolver
or PropertyResolver.] [P1-end]
TABLE 5-3 Faces ELResolver for Markup Pages

5-20 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 The semantics of each ELResolver are given below, either in tables that describe what must
be done to implement each particular method on ELResolver, or in prose when such a
table is inappropriate.

5.6.1.1 Faces Implicit Object ELResolver for Markup Pages

This resolver relies on the presence of another, markup page specific, implicit object
ELResolver in the chain by only resolving the “facesContext”, “component”,
“viewScope” and “view” implicit objects. Please see section Section 5.6.2.1 “Implicit
Object ELResolver for Programmatic Access” for the specification of those implicit objects.

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-21

 TABLE 5-4 Faces ImplicitObjectELResolver for Markup Pages

ELResolver method implementation requirements

getValue If base is non-null, return null.

If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
If base is null and property is a String equal to
“facesContext”, call setPropertyResolved(true) on
the argument ELContext and return the FacesContext
for this request.
If base is null and property is a String equal to
“view”, call setPropertyResolved(true) on the
argument ELContext and return the UIViewRoot for
this request by calling
facesContext.getUIViewRoot().
If base is null and property is a String equal to
“resource”, call setPropertyResolved(true) on the
argument ELContext and return the result of calling
FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getApplication().
getResourceHandler().
getType If base is non-null, return null.
If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
If base is null and property is a String equal to
“facesContext” or “view”, call
setPropertyResolved(true) and return null;
Otherwise, just return null;
setValue If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
If base is null and property is a String equal to
“facesContext” or “view”, throw
javax.el.PropertyNotWriteable, since “view” and
“facesContext” are read-only.

5-22 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 ELResolver method implementation requirements

isReadOnly If base is non-null, return null.

If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
If base is null and property is a String equal to
“facesContext” or “view”, call
setPropertyResolved(true) on the argument ELContext
and return true.
Otherwise return false;
getFeatureDesc If base is non-null, return null.
riptors If base is null, return an Iterator containing
three java.beans.FeatureDescriptor instances, one
for the “view” property, one for the “facesContext”
property and one for the “resource” property. It is
required that all of the FeatureDescriptor
instances in the Iterator set Boolean.TRUE as the
value of the ELResolver.RESOLVABLE_AT_DESIGN_TIME
attribute. The name and displayName of the
FeatureDescriptor must be “view”, “facesContext”, “
or “resource” as appropriate. FacesContext.class,
UIViewRoot.class, or ResourceHandler.class must be
stored as the value of the ELResolver.TYPE
attribute, as approriate. The shortDescription must
be a suitable description depending on the
implementation. The expert and hidden properties
must be false. The preferred property must be true.
getCommonPrope If base is non-null, return null.
rtyType If base is null and return String.class.

5.6.1.2 ManagedBean ELResolver

This is the means by which the managed bean creation facility described in Section 5.3 “The
Managed Bean Facility” is called into play during EL resolution.

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-23

 TABLE 5-5 ManagedBeanELResolver

ELResorver method implementation requirements

getValue If base is non-null, return null.

If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
If property matches the name of an entry in the
request, session, or application scopes, in that
order, return null.
If base is null, and property matches one of the
managed-bean-name declarations in the application
configuration resources, instantiate the bean,
populate it with properties as described in
Section 5.3 “The Managed Bean Facility”, store it
in the scope specified by the managed-bean-scope
declaration for this this managed-bean, call
setPropertyResolved(true) on the argument
ELContext, and return the freshly instantiated
managed-bean.
Otherwise, return null.
getType If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
Otherwise return null;
setValue If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
Otherwise, if base is null, and property matches
one of the managed-bean-name declarations in the
application configuration resources, and a managed
bean with that managed-bean-name does not yet exist
in the specified scope, instantiate the bean,
populate it with properties as described in
Section 5.3 “The Managed Bean Facility”, store it
in the scope specified by the managed-bean-scope
declaration for this this managed-bean and return.
If the managed bean does exist, take no action ond
return. In either case (the bean exists or does not
exist), the actual setting will happen by virtue of
the BeanELResolver.
Otherwise take no action and return.

5-24 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 ELResorver method implementation requirements

isReadOnly If base is non-null, return null.

If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
If base is null return false. We never set the
propertyResloved property in this method because
the set responsibility is taken care of by the
ScopedAttributeELResolver.
getFeatureDesc If base is non-null, return null.
riptors If base is null, return an Iterator containing
java.beans.FeatureDescriptor instances for each
managed-bean in the application-configuration
resources. It is required that all of the
FeatureDescriptor instances in the Iterator set
Boolean.TRUE as the value of the
ELResolver.RESOLVABLE_AT_DESIGN_TIME attribute. The
name and displayName of the FeatureDescriptor must
be the managed-bean-name. The actual java Class
instance for the managed-bean-class must be stored
as the value of the ELResolver.TYPE attribute. The
shortDescription of the FeatureDescriptor must be
the description of the managaged-bean element, if
present, null otherwise. The expert and hidden
properties must be false. The preferred property
must be true.
getCommonPrope If base is non-null, return null.
rtyType If base is null, return Object.class.

5.6.1.3 Resource ELResolver

Please see Section 5.6.2.4 “Resource ELResolver” for the specification of this ELResolver.

5.6.1.4 ResourceBundle ELResolver for Markup Pages

This is the means by which resource bundles defined in the application configuration
resources are called into play during EL resolution.

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-25

 TABLE 5-6 ResourceBundleELResolver

ELResorver method implementation requirements

getValue If base is non-null, return null.

If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
If base is null and property is a String equal to
the value of the <var> element of one of the
<resource-bundle>'s in the application
configuration resources, use the Locale of the
current UIViewRoot and the base-name of the
resource-bundle to load the ResourceBundle. Call
setPropertyResolved(true). Return the
ResourceBundle. Otherwise, return null.

getType If base is non-null, return null.

If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
If base is null and property is a String equal to
the value of the <var> element of one of the
<resource-bundle>'s in the application
configuration resources, call
setPropertyResolved(true) and return
ResourceBundle.class.

setValue If base is null and property is null, throw

PropertyNotFoundException. If base is null and
property is a String equal to the value of the
<var> element of one of the <resource-bundle>'s in
the application configuration resources throw
javax.el.PropertyNotWriteable, since
ResourceBundles are read-only.

5-26 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 ELResorver method implementation requirements

isReadOnly If base is non-null, return null. If base is null

and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException. If base is null and
property is a String equal to the value of the
<var> element of one of the <resource-bundle>'s in
the application configuration resources, call
setPropertyResolved(true) on the argument ELContext
and return true. Otherwise return false;

getFeatureDesc If base is non-null, return null.

riptors If base is null, return an Iterator containing
java.beans.FeatureDescriptor instances, one for
each <resource-bundle> in the <application>
element. It is required that all of these
FeatureDescriptor instances set Boolean.TRUE as the
value of the ELResolver.RESOLVABLE_AT_DESIGN_TIME
attribute. The name of the FeatureDescriptor must
be the var element of the <resource-bundle>. The
displayName of the FeatureDescriptor must be the
display-name of the <resource-bundle>.
ResourceBundle.class must be stored as the value of
the ELResolver.TYPE attribute. The shortDescription
must be a suitable description depending on the
implementation. The expert and hidden properties
must be false. The preferred property must be true.

getCommonPrope If base is non-null, return null.

rtyType If base is null, return string.Class.

5.6.1.5 ELResolvers in the application configuration resources

The <el-resolver> element in the application configuration resources will contain the
fully qualified classname to a class with a public no-arg constructor that implements
javax.el.ELResolver. These are added to the Faces ELResolver for Markup Pages and
the Faces ELResolver for Programmatic Access in the order in which they occur in the
application configuration resources.

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-27

5.6.1.6 VariableResolver Chain Wrapper
This is the means by which VariableResolver instances that have been specified in
<variable-resolver> elements inside the application configuration resources are
allowed to affect the EL resolution process. If there are one or more <variable-
resolver> elements in the application configuration resources, an instance of ELResolver
with the following semantics must be created and added to the Faces ELResolver for Markup
Pages as indicated in the Section TABLE 5-3 “Faces ELResolver for Markup Pages”.

By virtue of the decorator pattern described in Section 11.4.5 “Delegating Implementation

Support”, the default VariableResolver will be at the end of the VariableResolver
chain (See Section 5.8.1 “VariableResolver and the Default VariableResolver”), if each
custom VariableResolver chose to honor the full decorator pattern. If the custom
VariableResolver chose not to honor the decorator pattern, the user is stating that they
want to take over complete control of the variable resolution system. Note that the head of
the VariableResolver chain is no longer accessible by calling
Application.getVariableResolver() (Please see Chapter 7 “VariableResolver
Property for what it returns). The head of the VariableResolver chain is kept in an
implementation specific manner.

The semantics of the ELResolver that functions as the VariableResolver chain wrapper are
described in the following table.
TABLE 5-7 ELResolver that is the VariableResolver Chain Wrapper

ELResorver method implementation requirements

getValue If base is non-null, return null.

If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
Otherwise, call setPropertyResolved(true) on the
argument ELContext.
Get the ELContext from the FacesContext.
Get the head of the VariableResolver chain and call
resolveVariable(facesContext, property) and return
the result.
Catch any exceptions that may be thrown by
resolveVariable(), call setPropertyResolved(false)
on the argument ELContext, and rethrow the
exception wrapped in an javax.el.ELException.
getType If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
return null;
setValue If base is null and property is null throw
PropertyNotFoundException.

5-28 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 ELResorver method implementation requirements

isReadOnly If base is null and property is null throw

PropertyNotFoundException.
return false;
getFeatureDesc return null;
riptors
getCommonPrope If base is null, we return String.class. If base is
rtyType non-null, return null;

5.6.1.7 PropertyResolver Chain Wrapper

This is the means by which propertyResolver instances that have been specified in
<property-resolver> elements inside the application configuration resources are
allowed to affect the EL resolution process. If there are one or more <property-
resolver> elements in the application configuration resources, an instance of
ELResolver with the following semantics must be created and added to the Faces
ELResolver for Markup Pages as indicated in the Section TABLE 5-3 “Faces ELResolver for
Markup Pages”.

By virtue of the decorator pattern described in Section 11.4.5 “Delegating Implementation

Support”, the default propertyResolver will be at the end of the propertyResolver
chain (See, Section 5.8.2 “PropertyResolver and the Default PropertyResolver”), if each
custom propertyResolver chose to honor the full decorator pattern. If the custom
propertyResolver chose not to honor the decorator pattern, then the user is stating that
they want to take over complete control of the propertyResolution system. Note that
the head of the propertyResolver chain is no longer accessible by calling
Application.getPropertyResolver() (Please see Chapter 7 “PropertyResolver
Property for what it returns). The head of the property resolver chain is kept in an
implementation specific manner.

The semantics of the ELResolver that functions as the property resolver chain wrapper are
described in the following table.

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-29

 TABLE 5-8 ELResolver that is the PropertyResolver Chain Wrapper

ELResorver method implementation requirements

getValue, If base or property are null, return null.

getType, Call setPropertyResolved(true) on the argument
isReadOnly, ELContext.
setValue Get the ELContext from the FacesContext.
Get the head of the propertyResolver chain.
If base is a List or java language array, coerce
the property to an int and call the corresponding
method on the head of the property resolver chain
that takes an int for property, returning the
result (except in the case of setValue()).
Otherwise, call the corresponding method on the
head of the property resolver chain that takes an
Object for property, returning the result (except
in the case of setValue()).
If an Exception is thrown by calling the above
methods on the PropertyResolver chain, catch it,
call setPropertyResolved(false) on the argument
ELContext, and rethrow the Exception wrapped
(snuggly) in a javax.el.ELException.
getFeatureDesc return null;
riptors
getCommonProper If base is null, return null. If base is non-null,
tyType return Object.class.

5.6.1.8 ELResolvers from Application.addELResolver()

Any such resolvers are considered at this point in the Faces ELResolver for Markup Pages in
the order in which they were added.

5.6.2 ELResolver for Programmatic Access

This section documents the requirements for the second ELResolver mentioned in
Section 5.6.1 “Faces ELResolver for Markup Pages”, the one that is used for programmatic
expression evaluation from Faces java code.

The implementation for the ELResolver for Programmatic Access is described as a set of
ELResolvers inside of a CompositeELResolver instance, but any implementation
strategy is permissible as long as the semantics are preserved. .

5-30 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

This diagram shows the set of ELResolver instances that must be added to the ELResolver
for Programmatic Access. This instance must be returned from
Application.getELResolver() and
FacesContext.getELContext().getELResolver(). It also shows the order in
which they must be added. [P1-start there are 12 methods in the below tables that can be
tested for assertion. The remainder of the section is covered by the tests in 5.6.1][P1-end]
TABLE 5-9 ELResolver for Programmatic Access

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-31

5-32 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008
 The semantics of each ELResolver are given below, either in tables that describe what
must be done to implement each particular method on ELResolver, in prose when such a
table is inappropriate, or as a reference to another section where the semantics are exactly the
same.

5.6.2.1 Implicit Object ELResolver for Programmatic Access

This resolver differs from the one in the previous section in that it must resolve all of the
implicit objects, not just facesContext and view.

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-33

 TABLE 5-10 ImplicitObjectELResolver for Programmatic Access

5-34 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

ELResolver method implementation requirements

getValue If base is non-null, return null.

If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
If base is null and property is a String equal to
implicitObject, call setPropertyResolved(true) on
the argument ELContext and return result, where
implicitObject and result are as follows:

implicitObject -> result

application -> externalContext.getContext()
applicationScope ->
externalContext.getApplicationMap()
component -> the component most recently pushed to
UIComponent.pushComponentToEL()
cookie -> externalContext.getRequestCookieMap()
facesContext -> the FacesContext for this request
component -> the top of the stack of UIComponent
instances, as pushed via calls to
UIComponent.pushComponentToEL(). See Section 3.1.13
“Lifecycle Management Methods”
header -> externalContext.getRequestHeaderMap()
headerValues ->
externalContext.getRequestHeaderValuesMap()
initParam -> externalContext.getInitParameterMap()
param -> externalContext.getRequestParameterMap()
paramValues ->
externalContext.getRequestParameterValuesMap()
request -> externalContext.getRequest()
requestScope -> externalContext.getRequestMap()
resource ->
facesContext.getApplication().getResourceHandler()
session -> externalContext.getSession()
sessionScope -> externalContext.getSessionMap()
view -> facesContext.getViewRoot()
viewScope ->
facesContext.getViewRoot().getViewMap()
resource ->
facesContext.getApplication().getResourceHandler()

If base is null, and property doesn’t match one of

the above implicitObjects, return null.

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-35

 ELResolver method implementation requirements

getType If base is non-null, return null.

If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
If base is null and property is a String equal to
“application”, “component”, “cookie”,
“facesContext”, “header”, “headerValues”,
“initParam”, “param”, “paramValues”, “request”,
“resource”, “session”, or “view”, call
setPropertyResolved(true) on the argument ELContext
and return null to indicate that no types are
accepted to setValue() for these attributes.
If base is null and property is a String equal to
“requestScope”, “sessionScope”, or
“applicationScope”, call setPropertyResolved(true)
on the argument ELContext and return null.
Otherwise, null;
setValue If base is non-null, return null.
If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
If base is null and property is a String equal to
“applicationScope”, “requestScope”, “sessionScope”,
“application”, “component”, “cookie”,
“facesContext”, “header”, “headerValues”,
“initParam”, “param”, “paramValues”, “request”,
“resource”, “session”, or “view”, throw
javax.el.PropertyNotWriteableException, since these
implicit objects are read-only.
Otherwise return null.
isReadOnly If base is non-null, return null.
If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
If base is null and property is a String equal to
“applicationScope”, “requestScope”, “sessionScope”,
“application”, “cookie”, “facesContext”, “header”,
“headerValues”, “initParam”, “param”,
“paramValues”, “request”, “resource”, “session”, or
“view”, call setPropertyResolved(true) on the
argument ELContext and return true.
Otherwise return null.

5-36 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

ELResolver method implementation requirements

getFeatureDesc If base is non-null, return null.

riptors If base is null, return an Iterator containing 15
java.beans.FeatureDescriptor instances, one for
eath of the following properties: application,
cookie, facesContext, header, headerValues,
initParam, param, paramValues, request, resource,
session, view, applicationScope, sessionScope, and
requestScope. It is required that all of these
FeatureDescriptor instances set Boolean.TRUE as the
value of the ELResolver.RESOLVABLE_AT_DESIGN_TIME
attribute. For the name and short of
FeatureDescriptor, return the implicit object name.
The appropriate Class must be stored as the value
of the ELResolver.TYPE attribute as follows:

implicitObject -> ELResolver.TYPE value

application -> Object.class
applicationScope -> Map.class
component -> UIComponent.class
cookie -> Map.class
facesContext -> FacesContext.class
header -> Map.class
headerValues -> Map.class
initParam -> Map.class
param -> Map.class
paramValues -> Map.class
request -> Object.class
resource -> Object.class
requestScope -> Map.class
session -> Object.class
sessionScope -> Map.class
view -> UIViewRoot.class

The shortDescription must be a suitable description

depending on the implementation. The expert and
hidden properties must be false. The preferred
property must be true.
getCommonPrope If base is non-null, return null.
rtyType If base is null and return String.class

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-37

5.6.2.2 The CompositeELResolver
As indicated in Section TABLE 5-9 “ELResolver for Programmatic Access”, following the
ImplicitObjectELResolver, the semantics obtained by adding a CompositeELResolver
must be inserted here. This ELResolver contains the following ELResolvers, described
in the referenced sections.

1. Section 5.6.1.5 “ELResolvers in the application configuration resources”

2. Section 5.6.1.6 “VariableResolver Chain Wrapper”

3. Section 5.6.1.7 “PropertyResolver Chain Wrapper”

4. Section 5.6.1.8 “ELResolvers from Application.addELResolver()”

5.6.2.3 ManagedBean ELResolver

This resolver has the same semantics as the one in Section 5.6.1.2 “ManagedBean
ELResolver”.

5.6.2.4 Resource ELResolver

This resolver is a means by which Resource instances are encoded into a faces request
such that a subsequent faces resource request from the browser can be satisfied using the
ResourceHandler as described in Section 2.6 “Resource Handling”.

5-38 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

TABLE 5-11 ResourceELResolver

ELResorver method implementation requirements

getValue If base and property are not null, and base is an

instance of ResourceHandler (as will be the case
with an expression such as #{resource[‘ajax.js’]},
perform the following. (Note: This is possible due
to the ImplicitObjectELResolver returning the
ResourceHandler, see Section 5.6.2.1 “Implicit
Object ELResolver for Programmatic Access”)
■ If property does not contain a colon
character ‘:’, treat property as the
resourceName and pass property to
ResourceHandler.createResource(
resourceName).
■ If property contains a single colon
character ‘:’, treat the content before the ‘:’ as
the libraryName and the content after the ‘:’
as the resourceName and pass both to
ResourceHandler.createResource(
resourceName, libraryName)
■ If property contains more than one colon
character ‘:’, throw a localized
ELException, including property.
If one of the above steps results in the creation
of a non-null Resource instance, call
ELContext.setPropertyResolved(true) and return the
result of calling the getRequestPath() method on
the Resource instance.
getType Return null. This resolver only performs lookups.
setValue Take no action.
isReadOnly Return false in all cases.
getFeatureDesc Return null.
riptors
getCommonPrope If base is non-null, return null.
rtyType If base is null, return Object.class.

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-39

5.6.2.5 el.ResourceBundleELResolver
This entry in the chain must have the semantics the same as the class
javax.el.ResourceBundleELResolver. The default implementation just includes an
instance of this resolver in the chain.

5.6.2.6 ResourceBundle ELResolver for Programmatic Access

This resolver has the same semantics as the one in Section 5.6.1.4 “ResourceBundle
ELResolver for Markup Pages”.

5.6.2.7 Map, List, Array, and Bean ELResolvers

These ELResolver instances are provided by the Unified EL API and must be added in the
following order: javax.el.MapELResolver, javax.el.ListELResolver,
javax.el.ArrayELResolver, javax.el.BeanELResolver. These actual
ELResolver instances must be added. It is not compliant to simply add other resolvers that
preserve these semantics.

5.6.2.8 ScopedAttribute ELResolver

This ELResolver is responsible for doing the scoped lookup that makes it possible for
expressions to pick up anything stored in the request, session, or application scopes by name.

5-40 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

TABLE 5-12 Scoped Attribute ELResolver

ELResorver method implementation requirements

getValue If base is non-null, return null.

If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
Use the argument property as the key in a call to
externalContext.getRequestMap().get(). If this
returns non-null, call setPropertyResolved(true) on
the argument ELContext and return the value.
Use the argument property as the key in a call to
externalContext.getSessionMap().get(). If this
returns non-null, call setPropertyResolved(true) on
the argument ELContext and return the value.
Use the argument property as the key in a call to
externalContext.getApplicationMap().get(). If this
returns non-null, call setPropertyResolved(true) on
the argument ELContext and return the value.
Otherwise return null;
getType If base is non-null, return null.
If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
Otherwise, setPropertyResolved(true) and return
Object.class to indicate that any type is
permissable to pass to a call to setValue().
setValue If base is non-null, return null.
If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
Consult the Maps for the request, session, and
application, in order, looking for an entry under
the key property. If found, replace that entry with
argument value. If not found, call
externalContext.getRequestMap().put(property,
value).
Call setPropertyResolved(true) and return;

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-41

 ELResorver method implementation requirements

isReadOnly If base is null, setPropertyResolved(true) return

false;
Otherwise, return false;
getFeatureDesc If base is non-null, return null.
riptors If base is null, return an Iterator of
java.beans.FeatureDescriptor instances for all
attributes in all scopes. The FeatureDescriptor
name and shortName is the name of the scoped
attribute. The actual runtime type of the attribute
must be stored as the value of the ELResolver.TYPE
attribute. Boolean.TRUE must be set as the value of
the ELResolver.RESOLVABLE_AT_DESIGN_TIME attribute.
The shortDescription must be a suitable description
depending on the implementation. The expert and
hidden properties must be false. The preferred
property must be true.
getCommonPrope If base is non-null, return null.
rtyType If base is null return String.class.

5.7 Current Expression Evaluation APIs

5.7.1 ELResolver
This class is the Unified EL’s answer to Faces’s VariableResolver and
PropertyResolver. It turns out that variable resolution can be seen as a special case of
property resolution with the base object being null. Please see Section 5.5.2 “ELResolver”
for more details.

5.7.2 ValueExpression
This class is the Unified EL’s answer to Faces’s ValueBinding. It is the main object
oriented abstraction for al EL expression that results in a value either being retrieved or set.
Please see Chapter 2 of the Expression Language Specification, Version 2.1.

5-42 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

5.7.3 MethodExpression
This class is the Unified EL’s answer to Faces’s MethodBinding. It is the main object
oriented abstraction for al EL expression that results in a method being invoked. Please see
Chapter 2 of the Expression Language Specification, Version 2.1.

5.7.4 Expression Evaluation Exceptions

Four exception classes are defined to report errors related to the evaluation of value
exceptions:
■ javax.el.ELException (which extends java.lang.Exception)—used to report
a problem evaluating a value exception dynamically.
■ MethodNotFoundException (which extends javax.el.ELException)—used to
report that a requested public method does not exist in the context of evaluation of a
method expression.
■ javax.el.PropertyNotFoundException (which extends
javax.el.ELException)—used to report that a requested property does not exist in
the context of evaluation of a value expression.
■ javax.el.PropertyNotWriteableException (which extends
javax.el.ELException)—used to indicate that the requested property could not be
written to when evaluating the expression.

5.8 Deprecated Expression Evaluation APIs

Applications written for version 1.0 and 1.1 of the Faces specification must continue to run
in this version of the specification. This means deprecated APIs. This section describes the
migration story for these APIs that implementations must follow to allow 1.0 and 1.1 based
applications to run.

5.8.1 VariableResolver and the Default VariableResolver

User-provided VariableResolver instances will still continue to work by virtue of
Section 5.6.1.6 “VariableResolver Chain Wrapper”. The decorator pattern described in
Section 11.4.5 “Delegating Implementation Support” must be supported. Users wishing to
affect EL resolution are advised to author a custom ELResolver instead. These will get
picked up as specified in Section 5.6.1.5 “ELResolvers in the application configuration
resources”.

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-43

 The JSF implementation must provide a default VariableResolver implementation that
gets the ELContext from the argument FacesContext and calls
setPropertyResolved(false) on it

The VariableResolver chain is no longer accessible from

Application.getVariableResolver(). The chain must be kept in an
implementation dependent manner, but accessible to the ELResolver described in
Section 5.6.1.6 “VariableResolver Chain Wrapper”.

5.8.2 PropertyResolver and the Default PropertyResolver

User-provided propertyResolver instances will still continue to work by virtue of
Section 5.6.1.6 “VariableResolver Chain Wrapper”. The decorator pattern described in
Section 11.4.5 “Delegating Implementation Support” must be supported. Users wishing to
affect EL resolution are advised to author a custom ELResolver instead. These will get
picked up as specified in Section 5.6.1.5 “ELResolvers in the application configuration
resources”.

The JSF implementation must provide a default propertyResolver implementation that

gets the ELContext from the argument FacesContext and calls
setPropertyResolved(false) on it.

The PropertyResolver chain is no longer accessible from

Application.getpropertyResolver(). The chain must be kept in an
implementation dependent manner, but accessible to to the ELResolver described in
Section 5.6.1.7 “PropertyResolver Chain Wrapper”.

5.8.3 ValueBinding
The ValueBinding class encapsulates the actual evaluation of a value binding. Instances
of ValueBinding for specific references are acquired from the Application instance
by calling the createValueBinding method (see Section 7.9.3 “Acquiring ValueBinding
Instances”).

public Object getValue(FacesContext context) throws

EvaluationException, PropertyNotFoundException;

5-44 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 Evaluate the value binding used to create this ValueBinding instance, relative to the
specified FacesContext, and return the referenced value.

public void setValue(FacesContext context, Object value) throws

EvaluationException, PropertyNotFoundException;

Evaluate the value binding used to create this ValueBinding instance, relative to the
specified FacesContext, and update the referenced value to the specified new value.

public boolean isReadOnly(FacesContext context) throws

EvaluationException, PropertyNotFoundException;

Evaluate the value binding used to create this ValueBinding instance, relative to the
specified FacesContext, and return true if the corresponding property is known to be
immutable. Otherwise, return false.

public Class getType(FacesContext context) throws

EvaluationException, PropertyNotFoundException;

Evaluate the value binding used to create this ValueBinding instance, relative to the
specified FacesContext, and return the Class that represents the data type of the
referenced value, if it can be determined. Otherwise, return null.

5.8.4 MethodBinding
The MethodBinding class encapsulates the actual evaluation of a method binding.
Instances of MethodBinding for specific references are acquired from the Application
instance by calling the createMethodBinding() method. Note that instances of
MethodBinding are immutable, and contain no references to a FacesContext (which is
passed in as a parameter when the reference binding is evaluated).

public Object invoke(FacesContext context, Object params[]) throws

EvaluationException, MethodNotFoundException;

Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-45

 Evaluate the method binding (see Section 5.2.1 “MethodExpression Syntax and Semantics”)
and call the identified method, passing the specified parameters. Return any value returned
by the invoked method, or return null if the invoked method is of type void.

public Class getType(FacesContext context) throws

MethodNotFoundException;

Evaluate the method binding (see Section 5.2.1 “MethodExpression Syntax and Semantics”)
and return the Class representing the return type of the identified method. If this method is
of type void, return null instead.

5.8.5 Expression Evaluation Exceptions

Four exception classes are defined to report errors related to the evaluation of value
exceptions [Note that these exceptions are deprecated]:
■ EvaluationException (which extends FacesException)—used to report a
problem evaluating a value exception dynamically.
■ MethodNotFoundException (which extends EvaluationException)—used to
report that a requested public method does not exist in the context of evaluation of a
method expression.
■ PropertyNotFoundException (which extends EvaluationException)—used
to report that a requested property does not exist in the context of evaluation of a value
expression.
■ ReferenceSyntaxException (which extends EvaluationException)—used to
report a syntax error in a value exception.

5-46 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 6

Per-Request State Information

During request processing for a JSF page, a context object is used to represent request-
specific information, as well as provide access to services for the application. This chapter
describes the classes which encapsulate this contextual information.

6.1 FacesContext
JSF defines the javax.faces.context.FacesContext abstract base class for
representing all of the contextual information associated with processing an incoming
request, and creating the corresponding response. A FacesContext instance is created by
the JSF implementation, prior to beginning the request processing lifecycle, by a call to the
getFacesContext method of FacesContextFactory, as described in Section 6.5
“FacesContextFactory”. When the request processing lifecycle has been completed, the JSF
implementation will call the release method, which gives JSF implementations the
opportunity to release any acquired resources, as well as to pool and recycle
FacesContext instances rather than creating new ones for each request.

6.1.1 Application
public Application getApplication();

[P1-start-application]The JSF implementation must ensure that the Application instance

for the current web application is available via this method, as a convenient alternative to
lookup via an ApplicationFactory.[P1-end]

Chapter 6 Per-Request State Information 6-1

6.1.2 Attributes
public Map<Object,Object> getAttributes();

[P1-start-attributes]Return a mutable Map representing the attributes associated wth this

FacesContext instance. This Map is useful to store attributes that you want to go out of
scope when the Faces lifecycle for the current request ends, which is not always the same as
the request ending, especially in the case of Servlet filters that are invoked after the Faces
lifecycle for this request completes. Accessing this Map does not cause any events to fire, as
is the case with the other maps: for request, session, and application scope.[P1-end]

6.1.3 ELContext
public ELContext getELContext();

Return the ELContext instance for this FacesContext instance. This ELContext
instance has the same lifetime and scope as the FacesContext instance with which it is
associated, and may be created lazily the first time this method is called for a given
FacesContext instance. [P1-start-elcontext]Upon creation of the ELContext instance, the
implementation must take the following action:
■ Call the ELContext.putContext(java.lang.Class, java.lang.Object)
method on the instance, passing in FacesContext.class and the this reference for
the FacesContext instance itself.
■ If the Collection returned by
javax.faces.Application.getELContextListeners() is non-empty, create
an instance of ELContextEvent and pass it to each ELContextListener instance
in the Collection by calling the
ELContextListener.contextCreated(javax.el.ELContextEvent)
method.[P1-end]

6.1.4 ExternalContext
It is sometimes necessary to interact with APIs provided by the containing environment in
which the JavaServer Faces application is running. In most cases this is the servlet API, but
it is also possible for a JavaServer Faces application to run inside of a portlet. JavaServer

6-2 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

Faces provides the ExternalContext abstract class for this purpose. [P1-start-
externalContext]This class must be implemented along with the FacesContext class, and
must be accessible via the getExternalContext method in FacesContext.[P1-end]

public ExternalContext getExternalContext();

[P1-start externalContext during Init] The default implementation must return a valid value
when this method is called during startup time. See the javadocs for this method for the
complete specification. [P1-end]

The ExternalContext instance provides immediate access to all of the components

defined by the containing environment (servlet or portlet) within which a JSF-based web
application is deployed. The following table lists the container objects available from
ExternalContext. Note that the Access column refers to whether the returned object is
mutable. None of the properties may be set through ExternalContext. itself.

Name Access Type Description

applicationMap RW java.util.Map The application context

attributes for this application.
authType RO String The method used to
authenticate the currently
logged on user (if any).
context RW Object The application context object
for this application.
initParameterMap RO java.util.Map The context initialization
parameters for this application
remoteUser RO String The login name of the
currently logged in user (if
any).
request RW Object The request object for this
request.
requestContextPath RO String The context path for this
application.
requestCookieMap RO java.util.Map The cookies included with this
request.
requestHeaderMap RO java.util.Map The HTTP headers included
with this request (value is a
String).
requestHeaderValuesMap RO java.util.Map .The HTTP headers included
with this request (value is a
String array).

Chapter 6 Per-Request State Information 6-3

 Name Access Type Description

requestLocale RW java.util. The preferred Locale for this

Locale request.
requestLocales RW java.util. The preferred Locales for this
Iterator request, in descending order
of preference.
requestMap RW java.util.Map The request scope attributes
for this request.
requestParameterMap RO java.util.Map The request parameters
included in this request (value
is a String).
requestParameterNames RO Iterator The set of request parameter
names included in this
request.
requestParameterValues RO java.util.Map The request parameters
Map included in this request (value
is a String array).
requestPathInfo RO String The extra path information
from the request URI for this
request.
requestServletPath RO String The servlet path information
from the request URI for this
request.
response RW Object The response object for the
current request.
sessionMap RW java.util.Map The session scope attributes
for this request*.
userPrincipal RO java.security.P The Principal object
rincipal containing the name of the
currently logged on user (if
any).
* Accessing attributes via this Map will cause the creation of a session associated with this request, if none currently exists.

See the JavaDocs for the normative specification.

6-4 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

6.1.5 ViewRoot
public UIViewRoot getViewRoot();

public void setViewRoot(UIViewRoot root);

During the Restore View phase of the request processing lifecycle, the state management
subsystem of the JSF implementation will identify the component tree (if any) to be used
during the inbound processing phases of the lifecycle, and call setViewRoot() to
establish it.

6.1.6 Message Queue

public void addMessage(String clientId, FacesMessage message);

During the Apply Request Values, Process Validations, Update Model Values, and Invoke
Application phases of the request processing lifecycle, messages can be queued to either the
component tree as a whole (if clientId is null), or related to a specific component based
on its client identifier.

public Interator<String> getClientIdsWithMessages();

public Severity getMaximumSeverity();

public Iterator<FacesMessage> getMessages(String clientId);

public Iterator<FacesMessage> getMessages();

[P1-start-messageQueue]The getClientIdsWithMessages() method must return an

Iterator over the client identifiers for which at least one Message has been queued. This
method must be implemented so the clientIds are returned in the order of calls to
addMessage().[P1-end] The getMaximumSeverity() method returns the highest
severity level on any Message that has been queued, regardless of whether or not the
message is associated with a specific client identifier or not. The getMessages(String)
method returns an Iterator over queued Messages, either those associated with the
specified client identifier, or those associated with no client identifier if the parameter is
null. The getMessages() method returns an Iterator over all queued Messages,
whether or not they are associated with a particular client identifier. Both of the
getMessage() variants must be implemented such that the messages are returned in the
order in which they were added via calls to addMessage().

Chapter 6 Per-Request State Information 6-5

 For more information about the Message class, see Section 6.2 “FacesMessage”.

6.1.7 RenderKit
public RenderKit getRenderKit();

Return the RenderKit associated with the render kit identifier in the current UIViewRoot
(if any).

6.1.8 ResponseStream and ResponseWriter

public ResponseStream getResponseStream();

public void setResponseStream(ResponseStream responseStream);

public ResponseWriter getResponseWriter();

public void setResponseWriter(ResponseWriter responseWriter);

public void enableResponseWriting(boolean enable);

JSF supports output that is generated as either a byte stream or a character stream.
UIComponents or Renderers that wish to create output in a binary format should call
getResponseStream() to acquire a stream capable of binary output. Correspondingly,
UIComponents or Renderers that wish to create output in a character format should call
getResponseWriter() to acquire a writer capable of character output.

Due to restrictions of the underlying servlet APIs, either binary or character output can be
utilized for a particular response—they may not be mixed.

Please see Section 7.5 “ViewHandler” to learn when setResponseWriter() and

setResponseStream() are called.

The enableResponseWriting method is useful to enable or disable the writing of

content to the current ResponseWriter instance in this FacesContext. [P1-start-
enableWriting]If the enable argument is false, content should not be written to the
response if an attempt is made to use the current ResponseWriter.

6-6 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

6.1.9 Flow Control Methods
public void renderResponse();

public void responseComplete();

public boolean getRenderResponse();

public boolean getResponseComplete();

Normally, the phases of the request processing lifecycle are executed sequentially, as
described in Chapter 2 “Request Processing Lifecycle.” However, it is possible for
components, event listeners, and validators to affect this flow by calling one of these
methods.

The renderResponse() method signals the JSF implementation that, at the end of the
current phase (in other words, after all of the processing and event handling normally
performed for this phase is completed), control should be transferred immediately to the
Render Response phase, bypassing any intervening phases that have not yet been performed.
For example, an event listener for a tree control that was designed to process user interface
state changes (such as expanding or contracting a node) on the server would typically call
this method to cause the current page to be redisplayed, rather than being processed by the
application.

The responseComplete() method, on the other hand, signals the JSF implementation
that the HTTP response for this request has been completed by some means other than
rendering the component tree, and that the request processing lifecycle for this request should
be terminated when the current phase is complete. For example, an event listener that
decided an HTTP redirect was required would perform the appropriate actions on the
response object (i.e. calling ExternalContext.redirect()) and then call this method.

In some circumstances, it is possible that both renderResponse() and

responseComplete() might have been called for the request. [P1-start-flowControl]In
this case, the JSF implementation must respect the responseComplete() call (if it was
made) before checking to see if renderResponse() was called.[P1-end]

The getRenderResponse() and getResponseComplete() methods allow a JSF-

based application to determine whether the renderResponse() or responseComplete()
methods, respectively, have been called already for the current request.

Chapter 6 Per-Request State Information 6-7

6.1.10 Partial Processing Constants And Methods

public static final String PARTIAL_RENDER_PARAM_NAME =

"javax.faces.partial.render";

public static final String PARTIAL_EXECUTE_PARAM_NAME =

"javax.faces.partial.execute";

public static final String NO_PARTIAL_PHASE_CLIENT_IDS = "none";

public boolean isAjaxRequest();

public void
setExecutePhaseClientIds(List<String>executePhaseClientIds);

public List<String> getExecutePhaseClientIds();

public void
setRenderPhaseClientIds(List<String>renderPhaseClientIds);

public List<String> getRenderPhaseClientIds();

public ResponseWriter getPartialResponseWriter();

public boolean isExecuteNone();

public boolean isRenderAll();

public void setRenderAll(boolean renderAll);

public boolean isRenderNone();

The constants PARTIAL_RENDER_PARAM_NAME and PARTIAL_EXECUTE_PARAM_NAME

are request parameter names whose values area a List of client identifiers that identify the
components that are to be processed during the execute and render phases of the request
processing lifecycle, respectively. The NO_PARTIAL_PHASE_CLIENT_IDS constant can be
used as the value for PARTIAL_RENDER_PARAM_NAME and
PARTIAL_EXECUTE_PARAM_NAME to indicate these phases must be skipped. [P1-start-
isAjaxRequest]The isAjaxRequest() method must return true if the request parameter
method “javax.faces.partial.ajax” is present in the request.[P1-end] The
setExecutePhaseClientIds(List<String>) method is used to specify the client
identifiers of components that must be processed during the execute portion of the
lifecycle. The method getExecutePhaseClientIds() is used to retrieve a List of

6-8 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 client identifiers from the current request with the request parameter name
“javax.faces.partial.execute”. [P1-start-getExecute]If no such request parameter
is found, then this method must return an Empty List.[P1-end] The
setRenderPhaseClientIds(List<String>) method is used for specifying the client
identifiers of components that must be processed during the render portion of the lifecycle.
The method getRenderPhaseClientIds() is used to retrieve a List of client
identifiers from the current request with the request parameter name
“javax.faces.partial.render”. [P1-start-getExecute]If no such request parameter is
found, then this method must return an Empty List.[P1-end] UIComponents or
Renderers that require the writing of content in response to an Ajax request should call the
getPartialResponseWriter() method. [P1-start-getPartialWriter]The response writer
instance returned from this method must use the content type “text/xml”.[P1-end] [P1-
start-executeRender]The isExecuteNone() method must return true if the request
parameter “javax.faces.partial.execute” is present in the request with the value “none”.
Otherwise, the method must return false. The isRenderAll() method must return true if
isAjaxRequest() returns true, isRenderNone() returns false, and
getRenderPhaseClientIds() returns an Empty List. The isRenderNone() method
must return true if the request parameter “javax.faces.partial.render” is present in the request
with the value “none”. Otherwise, the method must return false.[P1-end] The
setRenderAll(boolean) method can be used to specify that the entire view of
components should participate in the render phase of the lifecycle by passing a value of
true.

6.1.11 Access To The Current FacesContext Instance

public static FacesContext getCurrentInstance();

public static void setCurrentInstance(FacesContext context);

Under most circumstances, JSF components, and application objects that access them, are
passed a reference to the FacesContext instance for the current request. However, in
some cases, no such reference is available. The getCurrentInstance() method may be
called by any Java class in the current web application to retrieve an instance of the
FacesContext for this request. [P1-start-currentInstance]The JSF implementation must
ensure that this value is set correctly before FacesContextFactory returns a
FacesContext instance, and that the value is maintained in a thread-safe manner.[P1-end]

[P1-start facesContextDuringInit] The default implementation must allow this method to be

called during application startup time, before any requests have been serviced. If called
during application startup time, the instance returned must have the special properties as
specified on the javadocs for FacesContext.getCurrentInstance()The . [P1-end]

Chapter 6 Per-Request State Information 6-9

6.1.12 CurrentPhaseId
The default lifecycle implementation is responsible for setting the currentPhaseId
property on the FacesContext instance for this request, as specified in Section 2.2
“Standard Request Processing Lifecycle Phases”. The following table describes this property.

Name Access Type Description

currentPhaseId RW PhaseId The PhaseId constant for

the current phase of the
request processing lifecycle

6.2 FacesMessage
Each message queued within a FacesContext is an instance of the
javax.faces.application.FacesMessage class. It offers the following
constructors:

public FacesMessage();

public FacesMessage(String summary, String detail);

public FacesMessage(Severity severity, String summary, String

detail);

The following method signatures are supported to retrieve and set the properties of the
completed message:

public String getDetail();

public void setDetail(String detail);

public Severity getSeverity();

public void setSeverity(Severity severity);

public String getSummary();

public void setSummary(String summary);

The message properties are defined as follows:

6-10 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 ■ detail—Localized detail text for this FacesMessage (if any). This will generally be
additional text that can help the user understand the context of the problem being reported
by this FacesMessage, and offer suggestions for correcting it.
■ severity—A value defining how serious the problem being reported by this
FacesMessage instance should be considered. Four standard severity values
(SEVERITY_INFO, SEVERITY_WARN, SEVERITY_ERROR, and SEVERITY_FATAL)
are defined as a typesafe enum in the FacesMessage class.
■ summary—Localized summary text for this FacesMessage. This is normally a
relatively short message that concisely describes the nature of the problem being reported
by this FacesMessage.

6.3 ResponseStream
ResponseStream is an abstract class representing a binary output stream for the current
response. It has exactly the same method signatures as the java.io.OutputStream
class.

6.4 ResponseWriter
ResponseWriter is an abstract class representing a character output stream for the current
response. A ResponseWriter instance is obtained via a factory method on
RenderKit. Please see Chapter 8 “RenderKit”. It supports both low-level and high level
APIs for writing character based information

public void close() throws IOException;

public void flush() throws IOException;

public void write(char c[]) throws IOException;

public void write(char c[], int off, int len) throws IOException;

public void write(int c) throws IOException;

public void write(String s) throws IOException;

public void write(String s, int off, int len) throws IOException;

Chapter 6 Per-Request State Information 6-11

 The ResponseWriter class extends java.io.Writer, and therefore inherits these
method signatures for low-level output. The close() method flushes the underlying output
writer, and causes any further attempts to output characters to throw an IOException. The
flush method flushes any buffered information to the underlying output writer, and
commits the response. The write methods write raw characters directly to the output writer.

public abstract String getContentType();

public abstract String getCharacterEncoding();

Return the content type or character encoding used to create this ResponseWriter.

public void startDocument() throws IOException;

public void endDocument() throws IOException;

Write appropriate characters at the beginning (startDocument) or end (endDocument)

of the current response.

public void startElement(String name, UIComponent

componentForElement) throws IOException;

Write the beginning of a markup element (the < character followed by the element name),
which causes the ResponseWriter implementation to note internally that the element is
open. This can be followed by zero or more calls to writeAttribute or
writeURIAttribute to append an attribute name and value to the currently open
element. The element will be closed (i.e. the trailing > added) on any subsequent call to
startElement(), writeComment(), writeText(), endDocument(), close(),
flush(), or write(). The componentForElement parameter tells the
ResponseWriter which UIComponent this element corresponds to, if any. This
parameter may be null to indicate that the element has no corresponding component. The
presence of this parameter allows tools to provide their own implementation of
ResponseWriter to allow the design time environment to know which component
corresponds to which piece of markup.

public void endElement(String name) throws IOException;

Write a closing for the specified element, closing any currently opened element first if
necessary.

public void writeComment(Object comment) throws IOException;

6-12 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 Write a comment string wrapped in appropriate comment delimiters, after converting the
comment object to a String first. Any currently opened element is closed first.

public void writeAttribute(String name, Object value, String

componentPropertyName) throws IOException;

public void writeURIAttribute(String name, Object value, String

componentPropertyName) throws IOException;

These methods add an attribute name/value pair to an element that was opened with a
previous call to startElement(), throwing an exception if there is no currently open
element. The writeAttribute() method causes character encoding to be performed in
the same manner as that performed by the writeText() methods. The
writeURIAttribute() method assumes that the attribute value is a URI, and performs
URI encoding (such as % encoding for HTML). The componentPropertyName, if
present, denotes the property on the associated UIComponent for this element, to which
this attribute corresponds. The componentPropertyName parameter may be null to
indicate that this attribute has no corresponding property.

public void writeText(Object text, String property) throws

IOException;

public void writeText(char text[], int off, int len) throws

IOException;

Write text (converting from Object to String first, if necessary), performing appropriate
character encoding and escaping. Any currently open element created by a call to
startElement is closed first.

public abstract ResponseWriter cloneWithWriter(Writer writer);

Creates a new instance of this ResponseWriter, using a different Writer.

6.5 FacesContextFactory
[P1-start-facesContextFactory]A single instance of
javax.faces.context.FacesContextFactory must be made available to each
JSF-based web application running in a servlet or portlet container.[P1-end] This class is

Chapter 6 Per-Request State Information 6-13

 primarily of use by JSF implementors—applications will not generally call it directly. The
factory instance can be acquired, by JSF implementations or by application code, by
executing:

FacesContextFactory factory =
(FacesContextFactory)
FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.FACES_CONTEXT_FACTORY);

The FacesContextFactory implementation class provides the following method

signature to create (or recycle from a pool) a FacesContext instance:

public FacesContext getFacesContext(Object context, Object

request, Object response, Lifecycle lifecycle);

Create (if necessary) and return a FacesContext instance that has been configured based
on the specified parameters. In a servlet environment, the first argument is a
ServletContext, the second a ServletRequest and the third a ServletResponse.

6-14 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 7

Application Integration

Previous chapters of this specification have described the component model, request state
information, and the next chapter describes the rendering model for JavaServer Faces user
interface components. This chapter describes APIs that are used to link an application’s
business logic objects, as well as convenient pluggable mechanisms to manage the execution
of an application that is based on JavaServer Faces. These classes are in the
javax.faces.application package.

Access to application related information is centralized in an instance of the Application

class, of which there is a single instance per application based on JavaServer Faces.
Applications will typically provide one or more implementations of ActionListener (or
a method that can be referenced by an action expression) in order to respond to
ActionEvent events during the Apply Request Values or Invoke Application phases of the
request processing lifecycle. Finally, a standard implementation of NavigationHandler
(replaceable by the application or framework) is provided to manage the selection of the next
view to be rendered.

7.1 Application
There must be a single instance of Application per web application that is utilizing
JavaServer Faces. It can be acquired by calling the getApplication() method on the
FacesContext instance for the current request, or the getApplication() method of
the ApplicationFactory (see Section 7.2 “ApplicationFactory”), and provides default
implementations of features that determine how application logic interacts with the JSF
implementation. Advanced applications (or application frameworks) can install replacements
for these default implementations, which will be used from that point on. Access to several
integration objects is available via JavaBeans property getters and setters, as described in the
following subsections.

Chapter 7 Application Integration 7-1

7.1.1 ActionListener Property
public ActionListener getActionListener();

public void setActionListener(ActionListener listener);

Return or replace an ActionListener instance that will be utilized to process

ActionEvent events during the Apply Request Values or Invoke Application phase of the
request processing lifecycle. [P1-start defualt ActionListener requirements] The JSF
implementation must provide a default implementation ActionListener that performs
the following functions:
■ The processAction() method must call FacesContext.renderResponse() in
order to bypass any intervening lifecycle phases, once the method returns.
■ The processAction() method must next determine the logical outcome of this event,
as follows:
■ If the originating component has a non-null action property, retrieve the
MethodBinding and call invoke() to perform the application-specified
processing in this action method. If the method returns non-null, call toString()
on the result and use the value returned as the logical outcome. See Section 3.2.1.1
“Properties” for a decription of the action property.
■ Otherwise, the logical outcome is null.
■ The processAction() method must finally retrieve the NavigationHandler
instance for this application, and pass the logical outcome value (determined above) as a
parameter to the handleNavigation() method of the NavigationHandler
instance. [P1-end]

See the Javadocs for getActionListener() for important backwards compatability

information.

7.1.2 DefaultRenderKitId Property

public String getDefaultRenderKitId();

public void setDefaultRenderKitId(String defaultRenderKitId);

An application may specify the render kit identifier of the RenderKit to be used by the
ViewHandler to render views for this application. If not specified, the default render kit
identifier specified by RenderKitFactory.HTML_BASIC_RENDER_KIT will be used
by the default ViewHandler implementation.

7-2 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 [P1-start defualtRenderKit called after startup] Unless the application has provided a custom
ViewHandler that supports the use of multiple RenderKit instances in the same
application, this method may only be called at application startup, before any Faces requests
have been processed. [P1-end] This is a limitation of the current Specification, and may be
lifted in a future release.

7.1.3 NavigationHandler Property

public NavigationHandler getNavigationHandler();

public void setNavigationHandler(NavigationHandler handler);

Return or replace the NavigationHandler instance (see Section 7.4

“NavigationHandler”) that will be passed the logical outcome of the application
ActionListener as described in the previous subsection. A default implementation must
be provided, with functionality described in Section 7.4.2 “Default NavigationHandler
Implementation”:

7.1.4 StateManager Property

public StateManager getStateManager();

public void setStateManager(StateManager manager);

Return or replace the StateManager instance that will be utilized during the Restore View
and Render Response phases of the request processing lifecycle to manage state persistence
for the components belonging to the current view. A default implementation must be
provided, which operates as described in Section 7.6 “StateManager”.

Chapter 7 Application Integration 7-3

7.1.5 ELResolver Property
public ELResolver getELResolver();

public void addELResolver(ELResolver resolver);

[N/T-start elresolver test] Return the ELResolver instance to be used for all EL resolution.
This is actually an instance of javax.el.CompositeELResolver that must contain the
ELResolver instances as specified in Section 5.6.2 “ELResolver for Programmatic
Access”. [N/T-end]

[N/T-start addELResolver ordering] addELResolver must cause the argument resolver

to be added at the end of the list in the javax.el.CompositeELResolver returned from
getELResolver(). See the diagram in Section 5.6.2 “ELResolver for Programmatic
Access” [N/T-end]

7.1.6 ELContextListener Property

public addELContextListener(ELContextListener listener);

public void removeELContextListener(ELContextListener listener);

public ELContextListener[] getELContextListeners();

addELContextListener() registers an ELContextListener for the current Faces

application. This listener will be notified on creation of ELContext instances, and it will be
called once per request.

removeELContextListener() removes the argument listener from the list of

ELContextListeners. If listener is null, no exception is thrown and no action is
performed. If listener is not in the list, no exception is thrown and no action is performed.

getELContextListeners() returns an array representing the list of listeners added by

calls to addELContextListener().

7-4 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

7.1.7 ViewHandler Property
public ViewHandler getViewHandler();

public void setViewHandler(ViewHandler handler);

See Section 7.5 “ViewHandler” for the description of the ViewHandler. The JSF
implementation must provide a default ViewHandler implementation. This implementation
may be replaced by calling setViewHandler() before the first time the Render Response
phase has executed. [P1-start setViewHandler() called after startup] If a call is made to
setViewHandler() after the first time the Render Response phase has executed, the call
must be ignored by the implementation. [P1-end]

7.1.8 ProjectStage Property

public ProjectStage getProjectStage();

[P1-start getProjectStage]This method must return the enum constant from the class
javax.faces.application.ProjectStage as specified in the corresponding application
init parameter, JNDI entry, or default Value. See Section 11.1.3 “Application Configuration
Parameters”.[P1-end]

7.1.9 Acquiring ExpressionFactory Instance

public ExpressionFactory getExpressionFactory();

Return the ExpressionFactory instance for this application. This instance is used by the
evaluateExpressionGet (Section 7.1.10 “Programmatically Evaluating
Expressions”) convenience method.

[P1-start getExpressionFactory requirements] The default implementation simply returns the

ExpressionFactory from the JSP container by calling
JspFactory.getDefaultFactory().getJspApplicationContext(servletCont
ext).getExpressionFactory(). [P1-end]

Chapter 7 Application Integration 7-5

7.1.10 Programmatically Evaluating Expressions
public Object evaluateExpressionGet(FacesContext context, String
expression, Class expectedType)

Get a value by evaluating an expression.

Call getExpressionFactory().createValueExpression() passing the argument

expression and expectedType. Call FacesContext.getELContext() and pass
it to ValueExpression.getValue(), returning the result.

It is also possible and sometimes desireable to obtain the actual ValueExpression or

MethodExpression instance directly. This can be accomplished by using the
createValueExpression() or createMethodExpression() methods on the
ExpressionFactory returned from getExpressionFactory().

7.1.11 Object Factories

The Application instance for a web application also acts as an object factory for the
creation of new JSF objects such as components, converters, and validators.

public UIComponent createComponent(String componentType);

public UIComponent createComponent(String componentType,
String rendererType);

public Converter createConverter(Class targetClass);

public Converter createConverter(String converterId);

public Validator createValidator(String validatorId);

Each of these methods creates a new instance of an object of the requested type1, based on
the requested identifier. The names of the implementation class used for each identifier is
normally provided by the JSF implementation automatically (for standard classes described
in this Specification), or in one or more application configuration resources (see Section 11.4
“Application Configuration Resources”) included with a JSF web application, or embedded
in a JAR file containing the corresponding implementation classes.

All variants createConverter() must take some action to inspect the converter for
@ResourceDependency and @ListenerFor annotations.

1. Converters can also be requested based on the object class of the value to be converted.

7-6 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 public UIComponent createComponent(ValueExpression
componentExpression, FacesContext context, String componentType);

[P1-start createComponent(ValueExpression) requirements] This method has the following

behavior:
■ Call the getValue() method on the specified ValueExpression, in the context of
the specified FacesContext. If this results in a non-null UIComponent instance,
return it as the value of this method.
■ If the getValue() call did not return a component instance, create a new component
instance of the specified component type, pass the new component to the setValue()
method of the specified ValueExpression, and return it.[P1-end]

public UIComponent createComponent(FacesContext context, Resource

componentResource);

All variants createComponent() must take some action to inspect the component for
@ResourceDependency and @ListenerFor annotations. Please see the JavaDocs and
Section 3.6.2 “Composite Component Metadata” for the normative specification relating to
this method.

public void addComponent(String componentType, String

componentClass);

public void addConverter(Class targetClass, String

converterClass);

public void addConverter(String converterId, String

converterClass);

public void addValidator(String validatorId, String

validatorClass);

Chapter 7 Application Integration 7-7

 JSF-based applications can register additional mappings of identifiers to a corresponding
fully qualified class name, or replace mappings provided by the JSF implementation in order
to customize the behavior of standard JSF features. These methods are also used by the JSF
implementation to register mappings based on <component>, <converter>, and
<validator> elements discovered in an application configuration resource.

public Iterator<String> getComponentTypes();

public Iterator<String> getConverterIds();

public Iterator<Class> getConverterTypes();

public Iterator<String> getValidatorIds();

JSF-based applications can ask the Application instance for a list of the registered
identifiers for components, converters, and validators that are known to the instance.

7.1.12 Internationalization Support

The following methods and properties allow an application to describe its supported locales,
and to provide replacement text for standard messages created by JSF objects.

public Iterator<Locale> getSupportedLocales();

public void setSupportedLocales(Collection<Locale> newLocales);
public Locale getDefaultLocale();
public void setDefaultLocale(Locale newLocale);

JSF applications may state the Locales they support (and the default Locale within the set
of supported Locales) in the application configuration resources file. The setters for the
following methods must be called when the configuration resources are parsed. Each time the
setter is called, the previous value is overwritten.

public String getMessageBundle();

public void setMessageBundle(String messageBundle);

Specify the fully qualified name of the ResourceBundle from which the JSF implementation
will acquire message strings that correspond to standard message keys See Section 2.5.2.4
“Localized Application Messages” for a list of the standard message keys recognized by JSF.

7-8 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

7.1.13 System Event Methods
System events are described in Section 3.4.3 “System Events”. This section describes the
methods defined on Application that support system events

7.1.13.1 Subscribing to system events

public abstract void subscribeToEvent(Class<? extends SystemEvent>

systemEventClass, SystemEventListener listener)
public abstract void subscribeToEvent(Class<? extends SystemEvent>
systemEventClass, Class sourceClass, SystemEventListener
listener);
public abstract void publishEvent(Class<? extends SystemEvent>
systemEventClass, SystemEventListenerHolder source);
public void publishEvent(Class<? extends SystemEvent>
systemEventClass, Class<?> sourceBaseType, Object source)

The first variant of subscribeToEvent() subscribes argument listener to have its

isListenerForSource() method, and (depending on the result from
isListenerForSource()) its processEvent() method called any time any call is
made to Application.publishEvent(Class<? extends SystemEvent>
systemEventClass, SystemEventListenerHolder source) where the first
argument in the call to publishEvent() is equal to the first argument to
subscribeToEvent(). [P1-start eventClassAndInheritance] NOTE: The implementation
must not support subclasses for the systemEventClass and/or sourceClass
arguments to subscribeToEvent() or publishEvent().[P1-end] For example,
consider two event types, SuperEvent and SubEvent extends SuperEvent. If a
listener subscribes to SuperEvent.class events, but later someone publishes a
BarEvent.class event, the listener for SuperEvent.class must not be called.

The second variant of subscribeToEvent() is equivalent to the first, with the additional
constraint the the sourceClass argument to publishEvent() must be equal to the
Class object obtained by calling getClass() on the source argument to
publishEvent().

See the javadocs for both variants of subscribeForEvent() for the complete
specification of these methods.

publishEvent() is called by the system at several points in time during the runtime of a
JSF application. The specification for when publishEvent() is called is given in the
javadoc for the event classes that are listed in Section 3.4.2.1 “Event Classes”. See the
javadoc for publishEvent() for the complete specification.

Chapter 7 Application Integration 7-9

7.1.13.2 Unsubscribing from system events

public abstract void unsubscribeFromEvent(Class<? extends

SystemEvent> systemEventClass, SystemEventListener listener);
public abstract void unsubscribeFromEvent(Class<? extends
SystemEvent> systemEventClass, Class sourceClass,
SystemEventListener listener);

See the javadocs for both variants of unsubscribeFromEvent() for the complete
specification.

7.2 ApplicationFactory
A single instance of javax.faces.application.ApplicationFactory must be
made available to each JSF-based web application running in a servlet or portlet container.
The factory instance can be acquired by JSF implementations or by application code, by
executing:

ApplicationFactory factory = (ApplicationFactory)

FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.APPLICATION_FACTORY);

The ApplicationFactory implementation class supports the following methods:

public Application getApplication();

public void setApplication(Application application);

Return or replace the Application instance for the current web application. The JSF
implementation must provide a default Application instance whose behavior is described
in Section 7.1 “Application”.

Note that applications will generally find it more convenient to access the Application
instance for this application by calling the getApplication() method on the
FacesContext instance for the current request.

7-10 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

7.3 Application Actions
An application action is an application-provided method on some Java class that performs
some application-specified processing when an ActionEvent occurs, during either the
Apply Request Values or the Invoke Application phase of the request processing lifecycle
(depending upon the immediate property of the ActionSource instance initiating the
event).

Application action is not a formal JSF API; instead any method that meets the following
requirements may be used as an Action by virtue of evaluating a method binding expression:
■ The method must be public.
■ The method must take no parameters.
■ The method must return Object.

The action method will be called by the default ActionListener implementation, as

described in Section 7.1.1 “ActionListener Property” above. Its responsibility is to perform
the desired application actions, and then return a logical “outcome” (represented as a
String) that can be used by a NavigationHandler in order to determine which view
should be rendered next. The action method to be invoked is defined by a MethodBinding
that is specified in the action property of a component that implements ActionSource.
Thus, a component tree with more than one such ActionSource component can specify
individual action methods to be invoked for each activated component, either in the same
Java class or in different Java classes.

7.4 NavigationHandler

7.4.1 Overview
A single NavigationHandler instance is responsible for consuming the logical outcome
returned by an application action that was invoked, along with additional state information
that is available from the FacesContext instance for the current request, and (optionally)
selecting a new view to be rendered. As mentioned below, if the outcome returned by the
application action is null, the same view must be re-displayed. This is the only case where
the same view (and component tree) is re-used..

public void handleNavigation(FacesContext context, String

fromAction, String outcome);

Chapter 7 Application Integration 7-11

 The handleNavigation method may select a new view by calling createView() on
the ViewHandler instance for this application, optionally customizing the created view,
and then selecting it by calling the setViewRoot() method on the FacesContext
instance that is passed. Alternatively, the NavigationHandler can complete the actual
response (for example, by issuing an HTTP redirect), and call responseComplete() on
the FacesContext instance.

After a return from the NavigationHandler, control will normally proceed to the Render
Response phase of the request processing lifecycle (see Section 2.2.6 “Render Response”),
which will cause the newly selected view to be rendered. If the NavigationHandler
called the responseComplete() method on the FacesContext instance, however, the
Render Response phase will be bypassed.

7.4.2 Default NavigationHandler Implementation

JSF implementations must provide a default NavigationHandler implementation that
maps the action reference that was utilized (by the default ActionListener
implementation) to invoke an application action, the logical outcome value returned by that
application action, as well as other state information, into the view identifier for the new
view to be selected. The remainder of this section describes the functionality provided by this
default implementation.

The behavior of the default NavigationHandler implementation is configured, at web

application startup time, from the contents of zero or more application configuration
resources (see Section 11.4 “Application Configuration Resources”). The configuration
information is represented as zero or more <navigation-rule> elements, each keyed to
a matching pattern for the view identifier of the current view expressed in a <from-view-
id> element. This matching pattern must be either an exact match for a view identifier (such
as “/index.jsp” if you are using the default ViewHandler), or the prefix of a component
view id, followed by an asterisk (“*”) character. A matching pattern of “*”, or the lack of a
<from-view-id> element inside a <navigation-rule> rule, indicates that this rule
matches any possible component view identifier.

Nested within each <navigation-rule> element are zero or more <navigation-

case> elements that contain additional matching criteria based on the action reference
expression value used to select an application action to be invoked (if any), and the logical
outcome returned by calling the invoke() method of that application action2. Finally, the
<navigation-case> element contains a <to-view-id> element whose content is the
view identifier that will be selected and stored in the FacesContext for the current
request. See below for an example of the configuration information for the default
NavigationHandler might be configured.

2. It is an error to specify more than one <navigation-case>, nested within one or more <navigation-rule> elements with the
same <from-view-id> matching pattern, that have exactly the same combination of <from-xxx> element values.

7-12 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

It is permissible for the application configuration resource(s) used to configure the default
NavigationHandler to include more than one <navigation-rule> element with the
same <from-view-id> matching pattern. For the purposes of the algorithm described
below, all of the nested <navigation-case> elements for all of these rules shall be
treated as if they had been nested inside a single <navigation-rule> element.

[P1-start navigation handler requirements] The default NavigationHandler

implementation must behave as if it were performing the following algorithm (although
optimized implementation techniques may be utilized):
■ If the logical outcome value passed to the handleNavigation() method is null, do
not scan for matching rules. This is an indication that the current view should be
redisplayed.
■ Find a <navigation-rule> element for which the view identifier (of the view in the
FacesContext instance for the current request) matches the <from-view-id>
matching pattern of the <navigation-rule>. Rule instances are considered in the
following order:
■ An exact match of the view identifier against a <from-view-id> pattern that does
not end with an asterisk (“*”) character.
■ For <from-view-id> patterns that end with an asterisk, an exact match on
characters preceding the asterisk against the prefix of the view id. If the patterns for
multiple navigation rules match, pick the longest matching prefix first.
■ If there is a <navigation-rule> with a <from-view-id> pattern of only an
asterisk3, it matches any view identifier.
■ From the <navigation-case> elements nested within the matching <navigation-
rule> element, locate a matching navigation case by matching the <from-action>
and <from-outcome> values against the corresponding parameter values passed in to
the handleNavigation() method. Navigation cases are checked in the following order:
■ Cases specifying both a <from-action> value and a <from-outcome> value are
matched against the action expression and outcome parameters passed to the
handleNavigation() method (both parameters must be not null, and both must be
equal to the corresponding condition values, in order to match).
■ Cases that specify only a <from-outcome> value are matched against the outcome
parameter passed to the handleNavigation() method (which must be not null,
and equal to the corresponding condition value, to match).
■ Cases that specify only a <from-action> value are matched against the action
expression parameter passed to the handleNavigation() method (which must be
not null, and equal to the corresponding condition value, to match).
■ Any remaining case is assumed to match.
■ If a matching <navigation-case> element was located, and the <redirect/> element
was not specified in this <navigation-case> (or the application is running in a Portlet
environment, where redirects are not possible), use the <to-view-id> element of the

3. Or, equivalently, with no <from-view-id> element at all.

Chapter 7 Application Integration 7-13

 matching case to request a new UIViewRoot instance from the ViewHandler instance
for this application, and pass it to the setViewRoot() method of the FacesContext
instance for the current request. Then, exit the algorithm.
■ If a matching <navigation-case> element was located, the <redirect/> element
was specified in this <navigation-case>, and the application is not running in a
Portlet environment, use the <to-view-id> element of the matching case to construct a
context-relative path that corresponds to that view id, cause the current response to
perform an HTTP redirect to this path, and call responseComplete() on the
FacesContext instance for the current request.
■ If no matching <navigation-case> element was located, return to Step 1 and find the
next matching <navigation-rule> element (if any). If there are no more matching
rule elements, return without changing the current view.

A rule match always causes a new view to be created, losing the state of the old view.[P1-
end]

7-14 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

7.4.3 Example NavigationHandler Configuration
The following <navigation-rule> elements might appear in one or more application
configuration resources (see Section 11.4 “Application Configuration Resources”) to
configure the behavior of the default NavigationHandler implementation:

<navigation-rule>

<description>
APPLICATION WIDE NAVIGATION HANDLING
</description>
<from-view-id> * </from-view-id>

<navigation-case>
<description>
Assume there is a “Logout” button on every page that
invokes the logout Action.
</description>
<display-name>Generic Logout Button</display-name>
<from-action>#{userBean.logout}</from-action>
<to-view-id>/logout.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>

<navigation-case>
<description>
Handle a generic error outcome that might be returned
by any application Action.
</description>
<display-name>Generic Error Outcome</display-name>
<from-outcome>loginRequired</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/must-login-first.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>

</navigation-rule>

Chapter 7 Application Integration 7-15

 <navigation-rule>

<description>
LOGIN PAGE NAVIGATION HANDLING
</description>
<from-view-id> /login.jsp </from-view-id>

<navigation-case>
<description>
Handle case where login succeeded.
</description>
<display-name>Successful Login</display-name>
<from-action>#{userBean.login}</from-action>
<from-outcome>success</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/home.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>

<navigation-case>
<description>
User registration for a new user succeeded.
</description>
<display-name>Successful New User Registration</display-name>
<from-action>#{userBean.register}</from-action>
<from-outcome>success</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/welcome.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>

<navigation-case>
<description>
User registration for a new user failed because of a
duplicate username.
</description>
<display-name>Failed New User Registration</display-name>
<from-action>#{userBean.register}</from-action>
<from-outcome>duplicateUserName</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/try-another-name.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>

</navigation-rule>

7-16 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

<navigation-rule>

<description>
Assume there is a search form on every page. These navigation
cases get merged with the application-wide rules above because
they use the same “from-view-id” pattern. The same thing would
also happen if “from-view-id” was omitted here, because that is
equivalent to a matching pattern of “*”.
</description>
<from-view-id> * </from-view-id>

<navigation-case>
<display-name>Search Form Success</display-name>
<from-action>#{searchForm.go}</from-action>
<from-outcome>success</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/search-results.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>

<navigation-case>
<display-name>Search Form Failure</display-name>
<from-action>#{searchForm.go}</from-action>
<to-view-id>/search-problem.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>

</navigation-rule>

Chapter 7 Application Integration 7-17

 <navigation-rule>

<description>
Searching works slightly differently in part of the site.
</description>
<from-view-id> /movies/* </from-view-id>

<navigation-case>
<display-name>Search Form Success</display-name>
<from-action>#{searchForm.go}</from-action>
<from-outcome>success</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/movie-search-results.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>

<navigation-case>
<display-name>Search Form Failure</display-name>
<from-action>#{searchForm.go}</from-action>
<to-view-id>/search-problem.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>

</navigation-rule>

7.5 ViewHandler
ViewHandler is the pluggability mechanism for allowing implementations of or
applications using the JavaServer Faces specification to provide their own handling of the
activities in the Render Response and Restore View phases of the request processing
lifecycle. This allows for implementations to support different response generation
technologies, as well as different state saving/restoring approaches.

A JSF implementation must provide a default implementation of the ViewHandler

interface. See Section 7.1.7 “ViewHandler Property” for information on replacing this
default implementation with another implementation.

7.5.1 Overview
ViewHandler defines the public APIs described in the following paragraphs

public Locale calculateLocale(FacesContext context);

public String calculateRenderKitId(FacesContext context);

7-18 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

These methods are called from createView() to allow the new view to determine the
Locale to be used for all subsequent requests, and to find out which renderKitId should
be used for rendering the view.

public void initView(FacesContext) throws FacesException;

public String calculateCharacterEncoding(FacesContext context);

The initView() method must be called as the first method in the implementation of the
Restore View Phase of the request processing lifecycle, immediately after checking for the
existence of the FacesContext parameter. The default implementation of initView()
calls through to calculateCharacterEncoding(). If this returns non-null,
initView() sets the request character encoding using the ExternalContext method
setRequestCharacterEncoding().

public UIViewRoot createView(FacesContext context, String viewId);

Create and return a new UIViewRoot instance, initialized with information from the
specified FacesContext and view identifier parameters.

If the view being requested is a Facelet view, the createView() method must ensure that
the UIViewRoot is fully populated with all the children defined in the PDL page before
createView() returns.

public String getActionURL(FacesContext context, String viewId);

Returns a URL, suitable for encoding and rendering, that (if activated) will cause the JSF
request processing lifecycle for the specified viewId to be executed

public String getResourceURL(FacesContext context, String path);

Returns a URL, suitable for encoding and rendering, that (if activated) will retrieve the
specified web application resource.

public void renderView(FacesContext context, UIViewRoot

viewToRender) throws IOException, FacesException;

This method must be called during the Render Response phase of the request processing
lifecycle. It must provide a valid ResponseWriter or ResponseStream instance,
storing it in the FacesContext instance for the current request (see Section 6.1.8
“ResponseStream and ResponseWriter”), and then perform whatever actions are required to
cause the view currently stored in the viewRoot of the FacesContext instance for the

Chapter 7 Application Integration 7-19

 current request to be rendered to the corresponding writer or stream. It must also interact
with the associated StateManager (see Section 7.6 “StateManager”), by calling the
getSerializedView() and saveView() methods, to ensure that state information for
current view is saved between requests.

public UIViewRoot restoreView(FacesContext context, String viewId)

throws IOException;

This method must be called from the Restore View phase of the request processing
lifecycle. It must perform whatever actions are required to restore the view associated with
the specified FacesContext and viewId.

It is the caller’s responsibility to ensure that the returned UIViewRoot instance is stored in
the FacesContext as the new viewRoot property. In addition, if restoreView()
returns null (because there is no saved state for this view identifier), the caller must call
createView(), and call renderResponse() on the FacesContext instance for this
request.

public void writeState(FacesContext context) throws IOException;

Take any appropriate action to either immediately write out the current view’s state
information (by calling StateManager.writeState()), or noting where state
information may later be written. This method must be called once per call to the
encodeEnd() method of any renderer for a UIForm component, in order to provide the
ViewHandler an opportunity to cause saved state to be included with each submitted form

7.5.2 Default ViewHandler Implementation

The terms view identifier and viewId are used interchangeably below and mean the context
relative path to the web application resource that produces the view, such as a JSP page. In
the JSP case, this is a context relative path to the jsp page representing the view, such as
/foo.jsp.

JSF implementations must provide a default ViewHandler implementation, designed to

support the rendering of JSP pages containing JSF components, that must behave as
described in the remainder of this section.

The specification of the default ViewHandler must execute the following algorithm, called
the “viewId derivation algorithm” for discussion, in the createView() and
restoreView()methods as called for below.

PENDING This section needs to be revised to account for the fact that JSP and Facelets are
the two supported Page Declaration Languages.

7-20 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

The ViewId derivation algorithm
■ If prefix mapping (such as “/faces/*”) is used for FacesServlet, the viewId is set
from the extra path information of the request URI.
■ If suffix mapping (such as “*.faces”) is used for FacesServlet, the viewId is set
using following algorithm.
Obtain the servlet path information of the request URI. For discussion call this value
requestViewId.
Obtain the value of the context initialization parameter named by the symbolic constant
ViewHandler.DEFAULT_SUFFIX_PARAM_NAME (if no such context initialization
parameter is present, use the value of the symbolic constant
ViewHandler.DEFAULT_SUFFIX). For discussion, call this value
configuredExtensions. This list is a space separated list of entries in the form
.<extension> where <extension> is replaced by the file extension, such as xhtml,
jsp or jsf.
For each entry in the configuredExtensions list, replace the suffix of requestViewId with
the current entry. For discussion, call this derivedViewId. If a physical resource exists with
that name, derivedViewId is the correct viewId. If the configuredExtensions list is
exhausted and no match is found, let viewId be the requestViewId.

[P1-start ViewHandler.calculateCharacterEncoding() requirements] The

calculateCharacterEncoding() method must fulfill the following responsibilities:
■ Examine the Content-Type request header. If it has a charset parameter extract it
and return it.
■ If not, test for the existence of a session by calling getSession(false) on the
ExternalContext for this FacesContext. If the session is non-null, look in the
Map returned by the getSessionMap() method of the ExternalContext for a
value under the key given by the value of the symbolic constant
javax.faces.application.ViewHandler.CHARACTER_ENCODING_KEY. If a
value is found, convert it to a String and return it. [P1-end]

[P1-start calculateLocale() requirements] The calculateLocale() method must fulfill

the following responsibilities:
■ Attempt to match one of the locales returned by the getLocales() method of the
ExternalContext instance for this request, against the supported locales for this
application as defined in the application configuration resources. Matching is performed
by the algorithm described in Section JSTL.8.3.2 of the JSTL Specification. If a match is
found, return the corresponding Locale object.
■ Otherwise, if the application has specified a default locale in the application configuration
resources, return the corresponding Locale object.
■ Otherwise, return the value returned by calling Locale.getDefault().[P1-end]

[P1-start calculateRenderKitId() requirements] The calculateRenderKitId() method

must fulfill the following responsibilities:

Chapter 7 Application Integration 7-21

 ■ Return the value of the request parameter named by the symbolic constant
ResponseStateManager.RENDER_KIT_ID_PARAM if it is not null.
■ Otherwise, return the value returned by
Application.getDefaultRenderKitId() if it is not null.
■ Otherwise, return the value specified by the symbolic constant
RenderKitFactory.HTML_BASIC_RENDER_KIT.

[P1-start createView() requirements] The createView() method must fulfill the following
responsibilities:
■ Calculate the viewId that corresponds to this request following the “The ViewId
derivation algorithm”.
■ If no viewId could be identified, or the viewId is exactly equal to the servlet mapping,
send the response error code SC_NOT_FOUND with a suitable message to the client.
■ Create a new UIViewRoot object instance
■ Conditionally copy the renderKitId and locale from any current view for the
current request (as described in the Javadocs for createView()).
■ If the page description language for the view being created is Facelets version 2.0, the
implementation must guarantee that the page is executed in such a way that the
UIComponent tree described in the PDL page is completely built and populated, rooted
at the new UIViewRoot instance created previously.
■ Return the newly created UIViewRoot. [P1-end]

[P1-start getActionURL() requirements] The getActionURL() method must fulfill the

following responsibilities:
■ If the specified viewId does not start with a “/”, throw
IllegalArgumentException.
■ If prefix mapping (such as “/faces/*”) is used for FacesServlet, prepend the context
path of the current application, and the specified prefix, to the specified viewId and return
the completed value. For example “/cardemo/faces/chooseLocale.jsp”.
■ If suffix mapping (such as “*.faces”) is used for FacesServlet, the following
algorithm must be followed to derive the result.
If the argument viewId has no extension, the result is contextPath + viewId +
mapping, where contextPath is the context path of the current application, viewId
is the argument viewId and mapping is the value of the mapping (such as “*.faces”).
If the argument viewId has an extension, and this extension is not mapping, the result
is contextPath + viewId.substring(0, period) + mapping.
If the argument viewId has an extension, and this extension is mapping, the result is
contextPath + viewId.
For example “/cardemo/chooseLocale.faces”[P1-end]

[P1-start getResourceURL() requirements] The getResourceURL() method must fulfill

the following responsibilities:

7-22 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

■ If the specified path starts with a “/”, prefix it with the context path for the current web
application, and return the result.
■ Otherwise, return the specified path value unchanged.[P1-end]

[P1-start initView() requirements] The initView() method must fulfill the following
responsibilities:
■ Call calculateCharacterEncoding(). If the result is non-null pass the result to
the setRequestCharacterEncoding() method of the ExternalContext for
this FacesContext. [P1-end]

[N/T-start renderView() requirements] The renderView() method must fulfill the

following responsibilities:
■ If the current request is a ServletRequest, call the set() method of the
javax.servlet.jsp.jstl.core.Config class, passing the current
ServletRequest, the symbolic constant Config.FMT_LOCALE, and the locale
property of the specfied UIViewRoot. This configures JSTL with the application’s
preferred locale for rendering this response.
■ Update the JSTL locale attribute in request scope so that JSTL picks up the new locale
from the UIViewRoot. This attribute must be updated before the JSTL setBundle tag
is called because that is when the new LocalizationContext object is created based
on the locale.
■ Create a wrapper around the current response from the ExternalContext and set it as
the new response in the ExternalContext. This wrapper must buffer all content
written to the response so that it is ready for output at a later point. This is necessary to
allow any content appearing after the <f:view> tag to appear in the proper position in
the page.
■ Execute the JSP page to build the view by treating the viewId as a context-relative path
(starting with a slash character), by passing it to the dispatch() method of the
ExternalContext associated with this request. This causes control to pass to the JSP
container, and then to UIComponentClassicTagBase. Please consult the javadocs
for that class for the specification of how to handle building the view by executing the
JSP page.
■ Store the wrapped response in a thread-safe manner for use below. The default
implementation uses the request scope for this purpose.
■ Restore the original response into the ExternalContext.
■ If the FacesContext has a non-null ResponseWriter create a new writer using its
cloneWithWriter() method, passing the response’s Writer as the argument.
Otherwise, use the current RenderKit to create a new ResponseWriter.
■ Set the new ResponseWriter into the FacesContext, saving the old one aside.
■ Call saveView() on the StateManager for this application, saving the result in a
thread-safe manner for use in the writeState() method of ViewHandler.
■ Call startDocument() on the ResponseWriter.
■ Call encodeAll() on the UIViewRoot.

Chapter 7 Application Integration 7-23

 ■ Output any content in the wrapped response from above to the response, removing the
wrapped response from the thread-safe storage.
■ Call endDocument() on the ResponseWriter.
■ If the old ResponseWriter was not null, place the old ResponseWriter back
into the FacesContext.

The restoreView() method must fulfill the following responsibilities:

■ Calculate the viewId that corresponds to this request using the “The ViewId derivation
algorithm”.
■ If no viewId could be identified, return null.
■ Call the restoreView() method of the associated StateManager, passing the
FacesContext instance for the current request and the calculated viewId, and return the
returned UIViewRoot, which may be null.

The writeState() method must fulfill the following responsibilities:

■ Obtain the saved state stored in a thread-safe manner during the invocation of
renderView() and pass it to the writeState() method of the StateManager for
this application. [N/T-end]

In non-JSP applications, these responsibilities must be performed by a custom ViewHandler

implementation.

7.6 StateManager
StateManager directs the process of saving and restoring the view between requests. The
StateManager instance for an application is retrieved from the Application instance,
and therefore cannot know any details of the markup language created by the RenderKit
being used to render a view. Therefore, the StateManager utilizes a helper object (see
Section 8.3 “ResponseStateManager”), that is provided by the RenderKit implementation,
and is therefore aware of the markup language details. The JSF implementation must provide
a default StateManager implementation that supports the behavior described below.

7.6.1 Overview
Conceptually, the state of a view can be divided into two pieces:
■ Tree Structure. This includes component parent-child relationships, including facets.
■ Component State. This includes:
■ Component attributes and properties, and

7-24 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 ■ Validators, Converters, FacesListeners, and other objects attached to a
component. The manner in which these attached objects are saved is up to the
component implementation. For attached objects that may have state, the
StateHolder interface (see Section 3.2.4 “StateHolder”) is provided to allow these
objects to preserve their own attributes and properties. If an attached object does not
implement StateHolder, but does implement Serializable, it is saved using
standard serialization. Attached objects that do not implement either StateHolder
or Serializable must have a public, zero-arg constructor, and will be restored only
to their initial, default object state4.
It is beneficial to think of this separation between tree structure and tree state to allow the
possibility that implementations can use a different mechanism for persisting the structure
than is used to persist the state. For example, in a system where the tree structure is stored
statically, as an XML file, for example, the system could keep a DOM representation of
the trees representing the webapp UI in memory, to be used by all requests to the
application.

7.6.2 State Saving Alternatives and Implications

JSF implementations support two primary mechanisms for saving state, based on the value of
the javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD initialization parameter (see Section 11.1.3
“Application Configuration Parameters”). The possible values for this parameter give a
general indication of the approach to be used, while allowing JSF implementations to
innovate on the technical details:
■ client -- Cause the saved state to be included in the rendered markup that is sent to the
client (such as in a hidden input field for HTML). The state information must be included
in the subsequent request, making it possible for JSF to restore the view without having
saved information on the server side. It is advisable that this information be encrypted and
tamper evident, since it is being sent down to the client, where it may persist for some
time.
■ server -- Cause the saved state to be stored on the server in between requests.
Implementations that wish to enable their saved state to fail over to a different container
instance must keep this in mind when implementing their server side state saving strategy.
The default implementation Serializes the view in both the client and server modes. In the
server mode, this serialized view is stored in the session and a unique key to retrieve the
view is sent down to the client. By storing the serialized view in the session, failover may
happen using the usual mechanisms provided by the container.

The values of all component attributes and properties (as well as the saved state of attached
objects) must implement java.io.Serializable.

4. The implementation classes for attached object must include a public zero-arguments constructor.

Chapter 7 Application Integration 7-25

7.6.3 State Saving Methods.
public Object saveView(FacesContext context);

[P1-start saveView() requirements] This method causes the tree structure and component
state of the view contained in the argument FacesContext to be collected, stored, and
returned in a java.lang.Object instance that must implement
java.io.Serializable. If null is returned from this method, there is no state to
save.[P1-end]

The returned object must represent the entire state of the view, such that a request processing
lifecycle can be run against it on postback. Special care must be taken to guarantee that
objects attached to component instances, such as listeners, converters, and validators, are also
saved. The StateHolder interface is provided for this reason.

This method must also enforce the rule that component ids within a NamingContainer
must be unique

public void writeState(FacesContext context, Object state) throws

IOException;

Save the state represented in the specified Object instance, in an implementation dependent
manner.

7.6.4 State Restoring Methods

public UIViewRoot restoreView(FacesContext context, String
viewId);

Restore the tree structure and the component state of the view for this viewId to be
restored, in an implementation dependent manner. If there is no saved state information
available for this viewId, this method returns null.

The default implementation of this method calls through to restoreTreeStructure()

and, if necessary restoreComponentState().

7-26 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

7.6.5 Convenience Methods
public boolean isSavingStateInClient(FacesContext context);

[P1-start isSavingStateInClient() requirements] Return true if and only if the value of the
ServletContext init parameter named by the value of the constant
StateManager.STATE_SAVING_METHOD_PARAM_NAME is equal to the value of the
constant STATE_SAVING_METHOD_CLIENT. Return false otherwise. [P1-end]

public String getViewState(FacesContext context);

Return the current view state as a String. [P1-start-getViewState] This method must call
ResposeStateManger.getViewState.[P1-end] Refer to Section 8.3
“ResponseStateManager” for more details.

7.7 PageDeclarationLanguage
PENDING

The normative specification for this class is in the javadoc for

javax.faces.webapp.pdl.PageDeclarationLanguage.

public PageDeclarationLanguage getPageDeclarationLanguage();

public void setPageDeclarationLanguage(PageDeclarationLanguage

impl);

Chapter 7 Application Integration 7-27

7.8 ResourceHandler
The normative specification for this class is in the javadoc for
javax.faces.application.ResourceHandler. See also Section 2.6 “Resource
Handling”.

public ResourceHandler getResourceHandler();

public void setResourceHandler(ResourceHandler impl);

7.9 Deprecated APIs

7.9.1 PropertyResolver Property

public PropertyResolver getPropertyResolver();
[deprecated]

public void setPropertyResolver(PropertyResolver resolver);

[deprecated]

[N/T-start getPropertyResolver() requirements] getPropertyResolver() must return a

PropertyResolver instance that wraps the ELResolver instance that Faces provides
to the unified EL. [N/T-end] The PropertyResolver instance will be utilized to evaluate
each . or [] operator when processing value expressions. This method has been deprecated
for getELResolver() (see Section 7.1.5 “ELResolver Property”).

setPropertyResolver() replaces the PropertyResolver instance that will be utilized

to evaluate each . or [] operator when processing a value binding expression. A default
implementation must be provided, which operates as described in Section 5.8.2
“PropertyResolver and the Default PropertyResolver”. This method has been deprecated.
See the Javadocs for setPropertyResolver().

7-28 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

7.9.2 VariableResolver Property
public VariableResolver getVariableResolver();
[deprecated]

public void setVariableResolver(VariableResolver resolver);

[deprecated]

[N/T-start getVariableResolver() requirements] getVariableResolver() must return the

VariableResolver that wraps the ELResolver instance that Faces provides to the
unified EL. The VariableResolver instance will be utilized to convert the first name in
a value expression into a corresponding object. The implementation must pass null as the
base argument for any methods invoked on the underlying ELResolver. This method has
been deprecated for getELResolver(). [N/T-end]

setVariableResolver replaces the VariableResolver instance that will be utilized

to resolve method and value bindings. A default implementation must be provided, which
operates as described in Section 5.8.1 “VariableResolver and the Default VariableResolver”.
The method has been deprecated. See the Javadocs for setVariableResolver().

7.9.3 Acquiring ValueBinding Instances

public ValueBinding createValueBinding(String ref);
[deprecated]

Create and return a ValueBinding that can be used to evaluate the specified value binding
expression. Call through to createValueExpression, passing the argument ref,
Object.class for the expectedType, and null for the fnMapper. To avoid
nondeterministic behavior, it is recommended that applications (or frameworks) wishing to
plug in their own resolver implementations do so before createValueBinding() is
called for the first time. This method has been deprecated for
createValueExpression() (Section 7.1.10 “Programmatically Evaluating
Expressions”

Chapter 7 Application Integration 7-29

7.9.4 Acquiring MethodBinding Instances
public MethodBinding createMethodBinding(String ref, Class
params[]);
[deprecated]

Create and return a MethodBinding that can be used to evaluate the specified method
binding expression, and invoke the specified method. The implementation must call through
to createMethodExpression, passing the given arguments, and wrap the result in a
MethodBinding implementation, returning it. The method that is invoked must have
parameter signatures that are compatible with the classes in the params parameter5 (which
may be null or a zero-length array if the method to be called takes no parameters). The
actual parameters to be passed when the method is executed are specified on the invoke()
call of the returned MethodBinding instance.

To avoid nondeterministic behavior, it is recommended that applications (or frameworks)

wishing to plug in their own resolver implementations do so before calling
createMethodBinding() for the first time. This method has been deprecated.

7.9.5 Object Factories

public UIComponent createComponent(ValueBinding componentBinding,
FacesContext context, String componentType);
[deprecated]

Special version of the factory for UIComponent instances that is used when evaluating
component binding expression properties. The implementation of this method must wrap the
argument componentBinding in an implementation of ValueExpression and call
through to createComponent(javax.el.ValueExpression,
javax.faces.FacesContext, java.lang.String). This method has been
deprecated for createComponent() using ValueExpression (see Section 7.1.11 “Object
Factories”)

5. The actual Method selected for execution must be selected as if by calling Class.getMethod() and passing the method
name and the parameters signature specified in the createMethodBinding() call.

7-30 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

7.9.6 StateManager
This method causes the tree structure and component state of the view contained in the
argument FacesContext to be collected, stored, and returned in a
StateManager.SerializedView instance. If null is returned from this method,
there is no state to save.

This method must also enforce the rule that component ids within a NamingContainer
must be unique

public void writeState(FacesContext context,

StateManager.SerializedView state) throws IOException;
[deprecated]

Save the state represented in the specified SerializedView instance, in an

implementation dependent manner.

protected Object getTreeStructureToSave(FacesContext context);

[deprecated]

This method must create a Serializable object that represents the tree structure of the
component tree for this view. Tree structure is comprised of parent-child relationships,
including facets. The id of each component and facet must also be saved to allow the
naming containers in the tree to be correctly restored when this view is restored.

protected Object getComponentStateToSave(FacesContext context);

[deprecated]

This method must create a Serializable object representing the component state
(attributes, properties, and attached objects) of the component tree for this view. Attached
objects that wish to save and restore their own state must implement StateHolder.

7.9.7 ResponseStateManager
This method causes the tree structure and component state of the view contained in the
argument FacesContext to be collected, stored, and returned in a
StateManager.SerializedView instance. If null is returned from this method,
there is no state to save.

Chapter 7 Application Integration 7-31

 This method must also enforce the rule that component ids within a NamingContainer
must be unique

public void writeState(FacesContext context,

StateManager.SerializedView state) throws IOException;
[deprecated]

Save the state represented in the specified SerializedView instance, in an

implementation dependent manner.

protected Object getTreeStructureToRestore(FacesContext context,

String viewId);
[deprecated]

The implementation must inspect the current request and return the tree structure Object
passed to it on a previous invocation of writeState()..

protected Object getComponentStateToRestore(FacesContext context,

String viewId);
[deprecated]

The implementation must inspect the current request and return the component state Object
passed to it on a previous invocation of writeState().

7-32 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 8

Rendering Model

JavaServer Faces supports two programming models for decoding component values from
incoming requests, and encoding component values into outgoing responses - the direct
implementation and delegated implementation models. When the direct implementation
model is utilized, components must decode and encode themselves. When the delegated
implementation programming model is utilized, these operations are delegated to a
Renderer instance associated (via the rendererType property) with the component.
This allows applications to deal with components in a manner that is predominantly
independent of how the component will appear to the user, while allowing a simple operation
(selection of a particular RenderKit) to customize the decoding and encoding for a
particular client device or localized application user.

Component writers, application developers, tool providers, and JSF implementations will
often provide one or more RenderKit implementations (along with a corresponding library
of Renderer instances). In many cases, these classes will be provided along with the
UIComponent classes for the components supported by the RenderKit. Page authors will
generally deal with RenderKits indirectly, because they are only responsible for selecting
a render kit identifier to be associated with a particular page, and a rendererType
property for each UIComponent that is used to select the corresponding Renderer.

8.1 RenderKit
A RenderKit instance is optionally associated with a view, and supports components using
the delegated implementation programming model for the decoding and encoding of
component values. [P1-start-renderkit]Each JSF implementation must provide a default
RenderKit instance (named by the render kit identifier associated with the String constant
RenderKitFactory.HTML_BASIC_RENDER_KIT as described below) that is utilized if
no other RenderKit is selected.[P1-end]

public Renderer getRenderer(String family, String rendererType);

Chapter 8 Rendering Model 8-1

 Return the Renderer instance corresponding to the specified component family and
rendererType (if any), which will typically be the value of the rendererType
property of a UIComponent about to be decoded or encoded.

public void addRenderer(String family, String rendererType,

Renderer renderer);

Applications that wish to go beyond the capabilities of the standard RenderKit that is
provided by every JSF implementation may either choose to create their own RenderKit
instances and register them with the RenderKitFactory instance (see Section 8.4
“RenderKitFactory”), or integrate additional (or replacement) supported Renderer
instances into an existing RenderKit instance. For example, it will be common for an
application that requires custom component classes and Renderers to register them with
the standard RenderKit provided by the JSF implementation, at application startup time
See Section 11.4.6 “Example Application Configuration Resource”for an example of a
faces-config.xml configuration resource that defines two additional Renderer instances
to be registered in the default RenderKit.

public ResponseWriter createResponseWriter(Writer writer, String

contentTypeList, String characterEncoding);

Use the provided Writer to create a new ResponseWriter instance for the specified
character encoding.

The contentTypeList parameter is an "Accept header style" list of content types for this
response, or null if the RenderKit should choose the best fit. [P1-start-
contentTypeList]The RenderKit must support a value for the contentTypeList
argument that comes straight from the Accept HTTP header, and therefore requires parsing
according to the specification of the Accept header.[P1-end] Please see Section 14.1 of
RFC 2616 (the HTTP 1.1 RFC) for the specification of the Accept header.

Implementors are advised to consult the getCharacterEncoding() method of class

javax.faces.servlet.ServletResponse to get the required value for the
characterEncoding parameter for this method. Since the Writer for this response will
already have been obtained (due to it ultimately being passed to this method), we know that
the character encoding cannot change during the rendering of the response. Please see
Section 6.4 “ResponseWriter”

public ResponseStream createResponseStream(OuputStream out);

8-2 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 Use the provided OutputStream to create a new ResponseStream instance.

public ResponseStateManager getResponseStateManager();

Return an instance of ResponseStateManager to handle rendering technology specific

state management decisions..

public Iterator<String> getComponentFamilies();

public Iterator<String> getRendererTypes(String componentFamily);

The first method returns an Iterator over the component-family entries supported by
this RenderKit. The second one can be used to get an Iterator over the renderer-
type entries for each of the component-family entries returned from the first method.

8.2 Renderer
A Renderer instance implements the decoding and encoding functionality of components,
during the Apply Request Values and Render Response phases of the request processing
lifecycle, when the component has a non-null value for the rendererType property.

public void decode(FacesContext context, UIComponent component);

For components utilizing the delegated implementation programming model, this method
will be called during the apply request values phase of the request processing lifecycle, for
the purpose of converting the incoming request information for this component back into a
new local value. See the API reference for the Renderer.decode() method for details on
its responsibilities.

public void encodeBegin(FacesContext context, UIComponent

component) throws IOException;

public void encodeChildren(FacesContext context, UIComponent

component) throws IOException;

public void encodeEnd(FacesContext context, UIComponent component)

throws IOException;

Chapter 8 Rendering Model 8-3

 For components utilizing the delegated implementation programming model, these methods
will be called during the Render Response phase of the request processing lifecycle. These
methods have the same responsibilities as the corresponding encodeBegin(),
encodeChildren(), and encodeEnd() methods of UIComponent (described in
Section 3.1.12 “Component Specialization Methods” and the corresponding Javadocs) when
the component implements the direct implementation programming model.

public String convertClientId(FacesContext context, String

clientId);

Converts a component-generated client identifier into one suitable for transmission to the
client.

public boolean getRendersChildren();

Return a flag indicating whether this Renderer is responsible for rendering the children of the
component it is asked to render.

public Object getConvertedValue(FacesContext context,

UIComponent component, Object submittedValue) throws
ConverterException;

Attempt to convert previously stored state information into an object of the type required for
this component (optionally using the registered Converter for this component, if there is
one). If conversion is successful, the new value should be returned from this method; if not,
a ConverterException should be thrown.

A Renderer may listen for events using the ListenerFor annotation. Refer to the
Javadocs for the ListenerFor class for more details.

8-4 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

8.3 ResponseStateManager
ResponseStateManager is the helper class to
javax.faces.application.StateManager that knows the specific rendering
technology being used to generate the response. It is a singleton abstract class. This class
knows the mechanics of saving state, whether it be in hidden fields, session, or some
combination of the two.

public Object getState(FacesContext context);

[P1-start-getState]The implementation must inspect the current request and return the
component tree state Object passed to it on a previous invocation of writeState()[P1-end]

public void writeState(FacesContext context, Object state) throws

IOException;

Take the argument state and write it into the output using the current ResponseWriter,
which must be correctly positioned already.

If the state is to be written out to hidden fields, the implementation must take care to make
all necessary character replacements to make the Strings suitable for inclusion as an HTTP
request parameter.

If the state saving method is client the implementation may encrypt the state to be saved to
the client. We recommend that the state be unreadable by the client, and also be tamper
evident.

Write out the render kit identifier associated with this ResponseStateManager
implementation with the name as the value of the String constant
ResponseStateManager.RENDER_KIT_ID_PARAM. [P1-start-
renderkitid]This render kit identifier must not be written if:
■ it is the default render kit identifier as returned by
Application.getDefaultRenderKitId() or
■ the render kit identifier is the value of
RenderKitFactory.HTML_BASIC_RENDER_KIT and
Application.getDefaultRenderKitId() returns null.[P1-end]

Chapter 8 Rendering Model 8-5

 ResponseStateManager.RENDER_KIT_ID_PARAM is the name of the request
parameter used by the default implementation of
ViewHandler.calculateRenderKitId()to derive a render kit identifier..

public boolean isPostback(FacesContext context);

Return true if the current request is a postback. The default implementation returns true
if this ResponseStateManager instance wrote out state on a previous request to which
this request is a postback. Return false otherwise.

Please see Section 7.9.7 “ResponseStateManager” for deprecated methods in

ResponseStateManager.

public String getViewState(FacesContext context);

Return the view state as a String without any markup related to the rendering technology
supported by this ResponseStateManager.

8.4 RenderKitFactory
[P1-start-renderkitFactory]A single instance of
javax.faces.render.RenderKitFactory must be made available to each JSF-
based web application running in a servlet or portlet container.[P1-end] The factory instance
can be acquired by JSF implementations, or by application code, by executing

RenderKitFactory factory = (RenderKitFactory)

FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.RENDER_KIT_FACTORY);

The RenderKitFactory implementation class supports the following methods:

public RenderKit getRenderKit(FacesContext context, String

renderKitId);

Return a RenderKit instance for the specified render kit identifier, possibly customized
based on the dynamic characteristics of the specified, (yet possibly null) FacesContext.
For example, an implementation might choose a different RenderKit based on the “User-

8-6 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 Agent” header included in the request, or the Locale that has been established for the
response view. Note that applications which depend on this feature are not guaranteed to be
portable across JSF implementations.

[P1-start-renderkitDefault]Every JSF implementation must provide a RenderKit instance

for a default render kit identifier that is designated by the String constant
RenderKitFactory.HTML_BASIC_RENDER_KIT.[P1-end] Additional render kit
identifiers, and corresponding instances, can also be made available.

public Iterator<String> getRenderKitIds();

This method returns an Iterator over the set of render kit identifiers supported by this
factory. [P1-start-renderkitIds]This set must include the value specified by
RenderKitFactory.HTML_BASIC_RENDER_KIT.[P1-end]

public void addRenderKit(String renderKitId, RenderKit renderKit);

Register a RenderKit instance for the specified render kit identifier, replacing any previous
RenderKit registered for that identifier.

8.5 Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation

To ensure application portability, all JSF implementations are required to include support for
a RenderKit, and the associated Renderers, that meet the requirements defined in this
section, to generate textual markup that is compatible with HTML 4.01. JSF implementors,
and other parties, may also provide additional RenderKit libraries, or additional
Renderers that are added to the standard RenderKit at application startup time, but
applications must ensure that the standard Renderers are made available for the web
application to utilize them.

The required behavior of the standard HTML RenderKit is specified in a set of external
HTML pages that accompany this specification, entitled “The Standard HTML RenderKit”.
The behavior described in these pages is normative, and are required to be fulfilled by all
implementations of JSF.

Chapter 8 Rendering Model 8-7

8.6 The Concrete HTML Component Classes
For each valid combination of UIComponent subclass and standard renderer given in the
previous section, there is a concrete class in the package
javax.faces.component.html package. Each class in this package is a subclass of an
corresponding class in the javax.faces.component package, and adds strongly typed
JavaBeans properties for all of the renderer-dependent properties.

TABLE 8-1 Concrete HTML Component Classes

javax.faces.component javax.faces.component.html
class renderer-type class

UICommand javax.faces.Button HtmlCommandButton

UICommand javax.faces.Link HtmlCommandLink
UIData javax.faces.Table HtmlDataTable
UIForm javax.faces.Form HtmlForm
UIGraphic javax.faces.Image HtmlGraphicImage
UIInput javax.faces.Hidden HtmlInputHidden
UIInput javax.faces.Secret HtmlInputSecret
UIInput javax.faces.Text HtmlInputText
UIInput javax.faces.Textarea HtmlInputTextarea
UIMessage javax.faces.Message HtmlMessage
UIMessages javax.faces.Messages HtmlMessages
UIOutput javax.faces.Format HtmlOutputFormat
UIOutput javax.faces.Label HtmlOutputLabel
UIOutput javax.faces.Link HtmlOutputLink
UIOutput javax.faces.Text HtmlOutputText
UIPanel javax.faces.Grid HtmlPanelGrid
UIPanel javax.faces.Group HtmlPanelGroup
UISelectBoolean javax.faces.Checkbox HtmlSelectBooleanCheckb
ox
UISelectMany javax.faces.Checkbox HtmlSelectManyCheckbox
UISelectMany javax.faces.Listbox HtmlSelectManyListbox
UISelectMany javax.faces.Menu HtmlSelectManyMenu

8-8 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

TABLE 8-1 Concrete HTML Component Classes

javax.faces.component javax.faces.component.html
class renderer-type class

UISelectOne javax.faces.Listbox HtmlSelectOneListbox

UISelectOne javax.faces.Menu HtmlSelectOneMenu
UISelectOne javax.faces.Radio HtmlSelectOneRadio

[P1-start-htmlComponent]As with the standard components in the

javax.faces.component package, each HTML component implementation class must
define a static public final String constant named COMPONENT_TYPE, whose value is
“javax.faces.” concatenated with the class name. HTML components, however, must
not define a COMPONENT_FAMILY constant, or override the getFamily() method they
inherit from their superclass.[P1-end]

Chapter 8 Rendering Model 8-9

8-10 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008
9

Integration with JSP

Any JavaServer Faces implementations that claims compliance with this specification must
include a complete JavaServer Pages implementation, and expose this implementation to the
runtime of any JSF application. JSF applications, however, need not use JSP as their Page
Declaration Language (PDL). In fact, a JSF application is free to use whatever technology it
likes for its PDL, as long as that PDL itself complies with the JSF specification.

This chapter describes the JSP support required by JavaServer Faces. This JSP support is
enabled by providing custom actions so that a JSF user interface can be easy defined in a JSP
page by adding tags corresponding to JSF UI components. Custom actions provided by a JSF
implementation may be mixed with standard JSP actions and custom actions from other
libraries, as well as template text for layout, in the same JSP page.

For JSP version 2.0 and onward, the file extension “.jsf” is reserved, and may optionally
be used (typically by authoring tools) to represent JSP pages containing JSF content1. When
running in a JSP 1.2 environment, JSP authors must give their JSP pages that contain JSF
content a filename ending in “.jsp”.

1. If this extension is used, it must be declared in the web application deployment descriptor, as described in the JSP 2.0 (or
later) specification.

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-1

9.1 UIComponent Custom Actions
A JSP custom action (aka custom tag or tag) for a JSF UIComponent is constructed by
combining properties and attributes of a Java UI component class with the rendering
attributes supported by a specific Renderer from a concrete RenderKit. For example,
assume the existence of a concrete RenderKit, HTMLRenderKit, which supports three
Renderer types for the UIInput component:

TABLE 9-1 Example Renderer Types

RendererType Render-Dependent Attributes

“Text” “size”
“Secret” “size”, “secretChar”
“Textarea” “size”, “rows”

9-2 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

The tag library descriptor (TLD) file for the corresponding tag library, then, would define
three custom actions—one per Renderer. Below is an example of a portion of the custom
action definition for the inputText tag2:

<tag>
<name>inputText</name>
<tag-class>acme.html.tags.InputTag</tag-class>
<bodycontent>JSP</bodycontent>
<attribute>
<name>id</name>
<required>false</required>
<rtexprvalue>true</rtexprvalue>
</attribute>
<attribute>
<name>value</name>
<required>false</required>
<deferred-value>
<type>java.lang.Object</type>
<deferred-value>
</attribute>
<attribute>
<name>size</name>
<required>false</required>
<deferred-value>
<type>java.lang.Integer</type>
<deferred-value>
</attribute>
...
</tag>

Note that the size attribute is derived from the Renderer of type “Text”, while the id and
value attributes are derived from the UIInput component class itself. Also note that the
id attribute has rtexprvalue set to true. This is to allow ${} expressions in the id
attribute so that <c:forEach> can include faces components that incorporate the index into
their id. RenderKit implementors will generally provide a JSP tag library which includes
component custom actions corresponding to each of the component classes (or types)
supported by each of the RenderKit’s Renderers. See Section 8.1 “RenderKit” and
Section 8.2 “Renderer” for details on the RenderKit and Renderer APIs. JSF
implementations must provide such a tag library for the standard HTML RenderKit (see
Section 9.5 “Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library”).

2. This example illustrates a non-normative convention for naming custom actions based on a combination of the
component name and the renderer type. This convention is useful, but not required; custom actions may be given any
desired custom action name; however the convention is rigorously followed in the Standard HTML RenderKit Tag
Library.

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-3

9.2 Using UIComponent Custom Actions in JSP
Pages
The following subsections define how a page author utilizes the custom actions provided by
the RenderKit implementor in the JSP pages that create the user interface of a JSF-based
web application.

9.2.1 Declaring the Tag Libraries

This specification hereby reserves the following Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) values to
refer to the standard tag libraries for the custom actions defined by JavaServer Faces:
■ http://java.sun.com/jsf/core -- URI for the JavaServer Faces Core Tag Library
■ http://java.sun.com/jsf/html -- URI for the JavaServer Faces Standard HTML RenderKit
Tag Library

The page author must use the standard JSP taglib directive to declare the URI of each tag
library to be utilized, as well as the prefix used (within this page) to identify custom actions
from this library. For example,

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

<%@ taglib uri=”http://java.sun.com/jsf/html” prefix=”h” %>

declares the unique resource identifiers of the tag libraries being used, as well as the prefixes
to be used within the current page for referencing actions from these libraries3.

9.2.2 Including Components in a Page

A JSF UIComponent custom action can be placed at any desired position in a JSP page that
contains the taglib directive for the corresponding tag library, subject to the following
restrictions:
■ When using a single JSP page to create the entire view, JSF component custom actions
must be nested inside the <f:view> custom action from the JSF Core Tag Library.

3. Consistent with the way that namespace prefixes work in XML, the actual prefix used is totally up to the page author,
and has no semantic meaning. However, the values shown above are the suggested defaults, which are used consistently
in tag library examples throughout this specification.

9-4 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 The following example illustrates the general use of a UIComponent custom action in a JSP
page. In this scenario:

<h:inputText id=”username” value=”#{logonBean.username}”/>

represents a UIInput field, to be rendered with the “Text” renderer type, and points to the
username property of a backing bean for the actual value. The id attribute specifies the
component id of a UIComponent instance, from within the component tree, to which this
custom action corresponds. If no id is specified, one will be automatically generated by the
custom action implementation.

Custom actions that correspond to JSF UIComponent instances must subclass

javax.faces.webapp.UIComponentELTag (see Section 11.2.6.3
“UIComponentELTag”)

During the Render Response phase of the request processing lifecycle, the appropriate
encoding methods of the component (or its associated Renderer) will be utilized to
generate the representation of this component in the response page. In addition, the first time
a particular page is rendered, the component tree may also be dynamically constructed.

All markup other than UIComponent custom actions is processed by the JSP container, in
the usual way. Therefore, you can use such markup to perform layout control, or include non-
JSF content, in conjunction with the actions that represent UI components.

9.2.3 Creating Components and Overriding Attributes

As UIComponent custom actions are encountered during the processing of a JSP page, the
custom action implementation must check the component tree for the existence of a
corresponding UIComponent, and (if not found) create and configure a new component
instance corresponding to this custom action. The details of this process (as implemented in
the findComponent() method of UIComponentClassicTagBase, for easy reuse) are as follows:
■ If the component associated with this component custom action has been identified
already, return it unchanged.
■ Identify the component identifier for the component related to this UIComponent custom
action, as follows:
■ If the page author has specified a value for the id attribute, use that value.
■ Otherwise, call the createUniqueId() method of the UIViewRoot at the root of
the component tree for this view, and use that value.
■ If this UIComponent custom action is creating a facet (that is, we are nested inside an
<f:facet> custom action), determine if there is a facet of the component associated
with our parent UIComponent custom action, with the specified facet name, and proceed
as follows:

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-5

 ■ If such a facet already exists, take no additional action.
■ If no such facet already exists, create a new UIComponent (by calling the
createComponent() method on the Application instance for this web
application, passing the value returned by getComponentType(), set the
component identifier to the specified value, call setProperties() passing the new
component instance, and add the new component as a facet of the component
associated with our parent UIComponent custom action, under the specified facet
name.
■ If this UIComponent custom action is not creating a facet (that is, we are not nested
inside an <f:facet> custom action), determine if there is a child component of the
component associated with our parent UIComponent custom action, with the specified
component identifier, and proceed as follows:
■ If such a child already exists, take no additional action.
■ If no such child already exists, create a new UIComponent (by calling the
createComponent() method on the Application instance for this web
application, passing the value returned by getComponentType(), set the
component identifier to the specified value, call setProperties() passing the new
component instance, and add the new component as a child of the component
associated with our parent UIComponent custom action.

9.2.4 Deleting Components on Redisplay

In addition to the support for dynamically creating new components, as described above,
UIComponent custom actions will also delete child components (and facets) that are already
present in the component tree, but are not rendered on this display of the page. For example,
consider a UIComponent custom action that is nested inside a JSTL <c:if> custom action
whose condition is true when the page is initially rendered. As described in this section, a
new UIComponent will have been created and added as a child of the UIComponent
corresponding to our parent UIComponent custom action. If the page is re-rendered, but
this time the <c:if> condition is false, the previous child component will be removed.

9-6 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

9.2.5 Representing Component Hierarchies
Nested structures of UIComponent custom actions will generally mirror the hierarchical
relationships of the corresponding UIComponent instances in the view that is associated
with each JSP page. For example, assume that a UIForm component (whose component id is
logonForm) contains a UIPanel component used to manage the layout. You might
specify the contents of the form like this:

<h:form id=”logonForm”>
<h:panelGrid columns=”2”>
<h:outputLabel for=”username”>
<h:outputText value=”Username:”/>
</h:outputLabel>
<h:inputText id=”username”
value=”#{logonBean.username}”/>
<h:outputLabel for=”password”>
<h:outputText value=”Password:”/>
</h:outputLabel>
<h:inputSecret id=”password”
value=”#{logonBean.password}”/>
<h:commandButton id=”submitButton” type=”SUBMIT”
action=”#{logonBean.logon}”/>
<h:commandButton id=”resetButton” type=”RESET”/>
</h:panelGrid>
</h:form>

9.2.6 Registering Converters, Event Listeners, and Validators

Each JSF implementation is required to provide the core tag library (see Section 9.4 “JSF
Core Tag Library”), which includes custom actions that (when executed) create instances of
a specified Converter, ValueChangeListener, ActionListener or Validator
implementation class, and register the created instance with the UIComponent associated
with the most immediately surrounding UIComponent custom action.

Using these facilities, the page author can manage all aspects of creating and configuring
values associated with the view, without having to resort to Java code. For example:

<h:inputText id=”username” value=”#{logonBean.username}”>

<f:validateLength minimum=”6”/>
</h:inputText>

associates a validation check (that the value entered by the user must contain at least six
characters) with the username UIInput component being described.

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-7

 Following are usage examples for the valueChangeListener and actionListener
custom actions.

<h:inputText id=”maxUsers”>
<f:convertNumber integerOnly=”true”/>
<f:valueChangeListener
type="custom.MyValueChangeListener"/>
</h:inputText>
<h:commandButton label="Login">
<f:actionListener type="custom.MyActionListener"/>
</h:commandButton>

This example causes a Converter and a ValueChangeListener of the user specified

type to be instantiated and added as to the enclosing UIInput component, and an
ActionListener is instantiated and added to the enclosing UICommand component. If
the user specified type does not implement the proper listener interface a JSPException
must be thrown.

9.2.7 Using Facets

A Facet is a subordinate UIComponent that has a special relationship to its parent
UIComponent, as described in Section 3.1.9 “Facet Management”. Facets can be defined in
a JSP page using the <f:facet> custom action. Each facet action must have one and only
one child UIComponent custom action4. For example:

<h:dataTable ...>
<f:facet name=”header”>
<h:outputText value=”Customer List”/>
</f:facet>
<h:column>
<f:facet name=”header”>
<h:outputText value=”Account Id”/>
</f:facet>
<h:outputText id=”accountId” value=
”#{customer.accountId}”/>
</h:column>
...
</h:dataTable>

4. If you need multiple components in a facet, nest them inside a <h:panelGroup> custom action that is the value of the
facet.

9-8 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

9.2.8 Interoperability with JSP Template Text and Other Tag
Libraries
It is permissible to use other tag libraries, such as the JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL) in the
same JSP page with UIComponent custom actions that correspond to JSF components,
subject to certain restrictions. When JSF component actions are nested inside custom actions
from other libraries, or combined with template text, the following behaviors must be
supported:
■ JSF component custom actions nested inside a custom action that conditionally renders its
body (such as JSTL’s <c:if> or <c:choose>) must contain a manually assigned id
attribute.
■ Interoperation with the JSTL Internationalization-Capable Formatting library (typically
used with the “fmt” prefix) is restricted as follows:
■ The <fmt:parseDate> and <fmt:parseNumber> custom actions should not be
used. The corresponding JSF facility is to use an <h:inputText> component
custom action with an appropriate DateTimeConverter or NumberConverter.
■ The <fmt:requestEncoding> custom action should not be used. By the time it is
executed, the request parameters will have already been parsed, so any change in the
setting here will have no impact. JSF handles character set issues automatically in most
cases. To use a fixed character set in exceptional circumstances, use the a “<%@ page
contentType=”[content-type];[charset]” %>” directive.
■ The <fmt:setLocale/> custom action should not be used. Even though it might
work in some circumstances, it would result in JSF and JSTL assuming different
locales. If the two locales use different character sets, the results will be undefined.
Applications should use JSF facilities for setting the locale property on the
UIViewRoot component to change locales for a particular user.

9.2.9 Composing Pages from Multiple Sources

JSP pages can be composed from multiple sources using several mechanisms:
■ The <%@include%> directive performs a compile-time inclusion of a specified source
file into the page being compiled5. From the perspective of JSF, such inclusions are
transparent—the page is compiled as if the inclusions had been performed before
compilation was initiated.
■ Several mechanisms (including the <jsp:include> standard action, the JSTL
<c:import> custom action when referencing a resource in the same webapp, and a call
to RequestDispatcher.include() for a resource in the same webapp) perform a
runtime dynamic inclusion of the results of including the response content of the
requested page resource in place of the include action. Any JSF components created by

5. In a JSP 2.0 or later environment, the same effect can be accomplished by using <include-prelude> and <include-coda>
elements in the <jsp-config> element in the web application deployment descriptor.

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-9

 execution of JSF component custom actions in the included resource will be grafted onto
the component tree, just as if the source text of the included page had appeared in the
calling page at the position of the include action.
■ For mechanisms that aggregate content by other means (such as use of an
HttpURLConnection, a RequestDispatcher.include() on a resource from a
different web application, or accessing an external resource with the JSTL <c:import>
custom action on a resource from a different web application, only the response content of
the aggregation request is available. Therefore, any use of JSF components in the
generation of such a response are not combined with the component tree for the current
page.

9.3 UIComponent Custom Action

Implementation Requirements
The custom action implementation classes for UIComponent custom actions must conform
to all of the requirements defined in the JavaServer Pages Specification. In addition, they
must meet the following JSF-specific requirements:
■ Extend the UIComponentELTag or UIComponentELBodyTag base class, so that JSF
implementations can recognize UIComponent custom actions versus others.
■ Provide a public getComponentType() method that returns a String-valued
component type registered with the Application instance for this web application. The
value returned by this method will be passed to Application.createComponent()
when a new UIComponent instance associated with this custom action is to be created.
■ Provide a public getRendererType() method that returns a String-valued renderer
type registered with the RenderKit instance for the currently selected RenderKit, or
null if there should be no associated Renderer. The value returned by this method
will be used to set the rendererType property of any UIComponent created by this
custom action.
■ Provide setter methods taking a javax.el.ValueExpression or
javax.el.MethodExpression parameter for all set-able (from a custom action)
properties of the corresponding UIComponent class, and all additional set-able (from a
custom action) attributes supported by the corresponding Renderer.
■ Provide a protected setProperties() method of type void that takes a
UIComponent instance as parameter. The implementation of this method must perform
the following tasks:
■ Call super.setProperties(), passing the same UIComponent instance
received as a parameter.
■ For each non-null custom action attribute that corresponds to a property based attribute
to be set on the underlying component, call either setValueExpression() or
getAttributes().put(), depending on whether or not a value expression was

9-10 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 specified as the custom action attribute value (performing any required type
conversion). For example, assume that title is the name of a render-dependent attribute
for this component:

public void setTitle(javax.el.ValueExpression title) {

this.title = title;
}

protected void setProperties(UIComponent component) throws

JspException {
super.setProperties(component);
if (title != null) {
try {
component.setValueExpression(“title”, title);
}
catch (ELException e) {
throw new JspException(e);
}
...
}

■ For each non-null custom action attribute that corresponds to a method based attribute
to be set on the underlying component, the value of the attribute must be a method
reference expression. We have a number of wrapper classes to turn a
MethodExpression into the appropriate listener. For example, assume that
valueChangeListener is the name of an attribute for this component:

public void setValueChangeListener(javax.el.MethodExpression me)

{
valueChangeListener = me;
}

protected void setProperties(UIComponent component) {

super.setProperties(component);
MethodExpressionValueChangeListener listener =
new MethodExpressionValueChangeListener(valueChangeListener);
input.addValueChangeListener(listener);
...
}

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-11

 ■ Non-null custom action attributes that correspond to a writable property to be set on
the underlying component are handled in a similar fashion. For example, assume a
custom action for the UIData component is being created that needs to deal with the
rows property (which is of type int):

public void setRows(javax.el.ValueExpression rows) {

this.rows = rows;
}

protected void setProperties(UIComponent component) {

super.setProperties(component);
if (rows != null) {
try {
component.setValueExpression(“rows”, rows);
} catch (ELException e) {
throw new JspException(e);
}
}
...
}

■ Optionally, provide a public release() method of type void, taking no parameters, to

be called when the JSP page handler releases this custom action instance. If implemented,
the method must perform the following tasks:
■ Call super.release() to invoke the superclass’s release functionality.
■ Clear the instance variables representing the values for set-able custom action
attributes (for example, by setting String values to null).
■ Optionally provide overridden implementations for the following method to fine tune the
behavior of your UIComponent custom action implementation class:
encodeComponent().

It is technically possible to override other public and protected methods of the

UIComponentELTag or UIComponentBodyELTag base class; however, it is likely that
overriding these methods will interfere with the functionality that other portions of the JSF
implementation are assuming to be present, so overriding these methods is strongly
discouraged.

The definition of each UIComponent custom action in the corresponding tag library
descriptor (TLD) must conform to the following requirements:
■ The <body-content> element for the custom action itself must specify JSP.
■ For each attribute that is intended to be passed on to the underlying faces component:
■ The attribute may not be named id. This name is reserved for Faces use.

9-12 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 ■ If the attribute represents a method expression, it must have a <deferred-method>
element containing a <method-signature> element that describes the signature of
the method pointed to by the expression, as described in section JSP.C.1 in the JSP 2.1
specification.
■ Otherwise, the attribute must be a value based attribute, and must have a
<deferred-value> element containing a <type> element which describes the
expected type to which the expression will evaluate. Please see section JSP.C.1 in the
JSP 2.1 specification for details.

9.3.1 Considerations for Custom Actions written for

JavaServer Faces 1.1 and 1.0
Versions 1.0 and 1.1 of the JavaServer Faces spec included their own EL that happend to
have similar semantics to the JSP EL, but the implementation was bundled into the Faces
implementation. This version leverages a new Unified EL facility provided by JSP. This
change has necessitated deprecating some methods and classes, including the classes Custom
Actions as their base class for tags that expose Faces components to the JSP page. This
section explains how custom actions built for Faces 1.0 and 1.1 can continue to run Faces
1.2.

9.3.1.1 Past and Present Tag constraints

Faces 1.0 and 1.1 were targeted at JSP version 1.2 and Servlet version 2.3. This decision
brought about several constraints for faces tag attributes:
■ all tag attributes had to declare rtexprvalue to be false.
■ all tag attributes had to take the type java.lang.String.
■ Faces had to choose a new expression delimiter, #{}, to prevent the JSP container from
prematurely evaluating the expression. This became known as deferred evaluation.
■ Because Faces had introduced its own version of the EL, the custom tag action layer had
to do a lot of extra work to “value binding enable” its attributes, calling Faces EL APIs to
turn the String attribute value into an instance of ValueBinding or MethodBinding.
■ Faces provided the UIComponentTag and UIComponentBodyTag base classes that
were designed to adhere to the above rules.

Tags that use the Unified EL have the following constraints:

■ all tag attributes must not have an rtexprvalue attribute
■ all tag attributes must accept javax.el.ValueExpression or
javax.el.MethodExpression as their type (depending on if the attribute refers to a
method or a value).

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-13

 ■ all tag attributes (except for id) must have a <deferred-value> or <deferred-
method> element. See Section 9.4 “JSF Core Tag Library” in the description for the
Attributes column.
■ The JSP Container will hand the tag setter a javax.el.ValueExpression or
javax.el.MethodExpression directly, so there is no need to use the Faces API to
create them.
■ The UIComponentTag and UIComponentBodyTag classes are deprecated and Faces
provides new base class, UIComponentELTag to the new rules for taglibs in Faces.

It’s very important to note that we still are using #{} as the delimiters for expressions that
appear in a JSP page in the value of a tag attribute, but when the Java API is used, either ${}
or #{} may be used for delimiters.

9.3.1.2 Faces 1.0 and 1.1 Taglib migration story

It is imperitive that applications written for Faces 1.0 and 1.1 continue to run on Faces 1.2.
From the JSP perspective, this means

1. that JSP pages using the standard h: and f: tags must work without change

2. that JSP pages using custom faces taglibs must work without change

The first item is enabled by re-writing the h: and f: taglibs which must be provided by the
Faces implementor.

The second item is enabled as follows. For discussion the term jsp-version is used to
denote the jsp-version element in a JSP 1.2 (and earlier) TLD, as well as the version
element in a JSP 2.0 (and later) TLD. The JSP container must examine the jsp-version
element of the TLD for a taglib. If the jsp-version is less than 2.1, the taglib is deemed
to be a Faces 1.0 or 1.1 taglib and the container must ignore all expressions that use #{} as
delimiters, except for those appearing in tag attribute with a property setter that takes a
javax.el.ValueExpression or javax.el.MethodExpression. If the jsp-
version is 2.1 or greater, the taglib is deemed to be a Faces 1.2 or later taglib and the JSP
container is aware of #{} expressions.

9.4 JSF Core Tag Library

[P1-start jsf_core taglib requirements] All JSF implementations must provide a tag library
containing core actions (described below) that are independent of a particular RenderKit.
The corresponding tag library descriptor must meet the following requirements:
■ Must declare a tag library version (<tlib-version>) value of 1.2.
■ Must declare a URI (<uri>) value of http://java.sun.com/jsf/core.

9-14 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

■ Must be included in the META-INF directory of a JAR file containing the corresponding
implementation classes, suitable for inclusion with a web application, such that the tag
library descriptor will be located automatically by the algorithm described in Section 7.3
of the JavaServer Pages Specification (version 2.1). [P1-end]

[P1-start no javascript in jsf_core taglib] The tags in the implementation of this tag library
must not cause JavaScript to be rendered to the client. Doing so would break the requirement
that the JSF Core Tag library is independent of any specific RenderKit. [P1-end]

Each custom action included in the JSF Core Tag Library is documented in a subsection
below, with the following outline for each action:
■ Name—The name of this custom action, as used in a JSP page.
■ Short Description—A summary of the behavior implemented by this custom action.
■ Syntax—One or more examples of using this custom action, with the required and
optional sets of attributes that may be used together. If the tag may have an id attribute,
its value may be a literal string, or an immediate, non-defferd expression, such as
“userName” or “user${i}” without the quotes.
■ Body Content—The type of nested content for this custom action, using one of the
standard values empty, JSP, or tagdependent as described in the JSP specification.
This section also describes restrictions on the types of content (template text, JSF core
custom actions, JSF UIComponent custom actions, and/or other custom actions) that can
be nested in the body of this custom action.
■ Attributes—A table containing one row for each defined attribute for this custom action.
The following columns provide descriptive information about each attribute:
■ Name—Name of this attribute, as it must be used in the page. If the name of the
attribute is in italics, it is required.
■ Expr—The type of dynamic expression (if any) that can be used in this attribute value.
Legal values are VE (this may be a literal or a value expression), ME (this may be a
method expression), or NONE (this attribute accepts literal values only). If the Expr
column is VE, the corresponding <attribute> declaration in the TLD must contain
a <deferred-value> element, optionally containing a <type> element that
contains the fully qualified java class name of the expected type of the expression. If
<type> is omitted, Object.class is assumed. If the Expr column is ME, the
corresponding <attribute> declaration in the TLD must contain a <deferred-
method> element, containing a <method-signature> element that describes the
exact method signature for the method. In this case, the Description column the
description column contains the method signature.
■ Type—Fully qualified Java class or primitive type of this attribute.
■ Description—The functional meaning of this attribute’s value.
■ Constraints—Additional constraints enforced by this action, such as combinations of
attributes that may be used together.
■ Description—Details about the functionality provided by this custom action.

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-15

9.4.1 <f:actionListener>
Register an ActionListener instance on the UIComponent associated with the closest
parent UIComponent custom action.

Syntax
<f:actionListener type=”fully-qualified-classname” binding=”value
Expression”/>

Body Content

empty.

Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

type VE String Fully qualified Java class name of an

ActionListener to be created and registered
binding VE ValueEx A ValueExpression expression that
pressio evaluates to an object that implements
n javax.faces.event.ActionListener

Constraints
■ Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action.
■ The corresponding UIComponent implementation class must implement
ActionSource, and therefore define a public addActionListener() method that
accepts an ActionListener parameter.
■ The specified listener class must implement
javax.faces.event.ActionListener.
■ type and/or binding must be specified.

[P1-start f:actionListener constraints] If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent

custom action, or the UIComponent implementation class does not correctly implement
ActionSource, or the specified listener class does not implement
javax.faces.event.ActionListener, throw a JspException. [P1-end]

Description

Locate the closest parent UIComponent custom action instance by calling

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase(). If
the getCreated() method of this instance returns true, check the binding attribute.

9-16 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

If binding is set, create a ValueExpression by invoking
Application.createValueExpression() with binding as the expression argument,
and Object.class as the expectedType argument. Use the ValueExpression to obtain
a reference to the ActionListener instance. If there is no exception thrown, and
ValueExpression.getValue() returned a non-null object that implements
javax.faces.event.ActionListener, register it by calling addActionListener().
If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a JspException.

If the listener instance could not be created, check the type attribute. If the type
attribute is set, instantiate an instance of the specified class, and register it by calling
addActionListener(). If the binding attribute was also set, evaluate the expression
into a ValueExpression and store the listener instance by calling setValue() on the
ValueExpression. If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a
JspException.

As an alternative to using the binding and/or type attributes, you may also register a
method in a backing bean class to receive ActionEvent notifications, by using the
actionListener attribute on the corresponding UIComponent custom action.

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-17

9.4.2 <f:attribute>
Add an attribute or ValueExpression on the UIComponent associated with the closest
parent UIComponent custom action.

Syntax
<f:attribute name=”attribute-name” value=”attribute-value”/>

Body Content

empty.

Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

name VE String Name of the component attribute to be set

value VE Object Value of the component attribute to be set

Constraints
■ Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action.

Description

Locate the closest parent UIComponent custom action instance by calling

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase().
Call the getValue() method on the argument name to obtain the name of the attribute. If
the associated component already has a component attribute with that name, take no action.
Otherwise, call the isLiteralText() method on the argument value. If it returns
true, store the value in the component’s attribute Map under the name derived above. If it
returns false, store the ValueExpression in the component’s ValueExpression
Map under the name derived above.

There is no standard implementation class for this action. It must be provided by the
implementation.

9-18 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

9.4.3 <f:convertDateTime>
Register a DateTimeConverter instance on the UIComponent associated with the
closest parent UIComponent custom action.

Syntax
<f:convertDateTime
[dateStyle=”{default|short|medium|long|full}”]
[locale=”{locale” | string}]
[pattern=”pattern”]
[timeStyle=”{default|short|medium|long|full}”]
[timeZone=”{timeZone| string}”]
[type=”{date|time|both}”]
[binding=”Value Expression”]/>

Body Content

empty.

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-19

 Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

date- VE String Predefined formatting style which

Style determines how the date component
of a date string is to be
formatted and parsed. Applied only
if type is “date” or “both”.
locale VE Locale Locale whose predefined styles for
or dates and times are used during
String formatting or parsing. If not
specified, the Locale returned by
FacesContext.getViewRoot().getLocal
e() will be used. Value must be
either a VE expression that
evaluates to a java.util.Locale
instance, or a String that is valid
to pass as the first argument to
the constructor
java.util.Locale(String language,
String country). The empty string
is passed as the second argument.
pattern VE String Custom formatting pattern which
determines how the date/time string
should be formatted and parsed.
time- VE String Predefined formatting style which
Style determines how the time component
of a date string is to be
formatted and parsed. Applied only
if type is “time” or “both”.
time- VE timezon Time zone in which to interpret any
Zone e or time information in the date
String string. Value must be either a VE
expression that evaluates to a
java.util.TimeVone instance, or a
String that is a timezone ID as
described in the javadocs for
java.util.TimeZone.getTimeZone().
type VE String Specifies whether the string value
will contain a date, time, or both.
binding VE ValueEx A ValueExpression expression that
pressio evaluates to an object that implements
n javax.faces.convert.Converter

Constraints

9-20 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

■ Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action whose component class
implements ValueHolder, and whose value is a java.util.Date (or appropriate
subclass).
■ If pattern is specified, the pattern syntax must use the pattern syntax specified by
java.text.SimpleDateFormat.
■ If pattern is not specified, formatted strings will contain a date value, a time value, or
both depending on the specified type. When date or time values are included, they will
be formatted according to the specified dateStyle and timeStyle, respectively.
■ if type is not specified:
■ if dateStyle is set and timeStyle is not, type defaults to date
■ if timeStyle is set and dateStyle is not, type defaults to time
■ if both dateStyle and timeStyle are set, type defaults to both

[P1-start f:convertDateTime constraints] If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent

custom action, or the UIComponent implementation class does not correctly implement
ValueHolder, throw a JspException [P1-end]

Description

Locate the closest parent UIComponent custom action instance by calling

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase(). If
the getCreated() method of this instance returns true, create, call
createConverter() and register the returned Converter instance on the associated
UIComponent.

[P1-start f:convertDateTime implementation requirements ]The implementation class for this

action must meet the following requirements:
■ Must extend javax.faces.webapp.ConverterELTag.
■ The createConverter() method must:
■ If binding is non-null, call getValue() on it to obtain a reference to the
Converter instance. If there is no exception thrown, and binding.getValue()
returned a non-null object that implements javax.faces.convert.Converter, it
must then cast the returned instance to
javax.faces.convert.DateTimeConverter and configure its properties
based on the specified attributes for this custom action, and return the configured
instance. If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a
JspException.
■ use the converterId if the converter instance could not be created from the
binding attribute. Call the createConverter() method of the Application
instance for this application, passing converter id “javax.faces.DateTime”. If the
binding attribute was also set, store the converter instance by calling
binding.setValue(). It must then cast the returned instance to
javax.faces.convert.DateTimeConverter and configure its properties
based on the specified attributes for this custom action, and return the configured
instance. If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a
JspException.
■ If the type attribute is not specified, it defaults as follows:

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-21

 ■ If dateStyle is specified but timeStyle is not specified, default to date.
■ If dateStyle is not specified but timeStyle is specified, default to time.
■ If both dateStyle and timeStyle are specified, default to both. [P1-end]

9-22 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

9.4.4 <f:convertNumber>
Register a NumberConverter instance on the UIComponent associated with the closest
parent UIComponent custom action.

Syntax
<f:convertNumber
[currencyCode=”currencyCode”]
[currencySymbol=”currencySymbol”]
[groupingUsed=”{true|false}”]
[integerOnly=”{true|false}”]
[locale=”locale”]
[maxFractionDigits=”maxFractionDigits”]
[maxIntegerDigits=”maxIntegerDigits”]
[minFractionDigits=”minFractionDigits”]
[minIntegerDigits=”minIntegerDigits”]
[pattern=”pattern”]
[type=”{number|currency|percent}”]
[binding=”Value Expression”]/>

Body Content

empty.

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-23

 Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

currenc VE String ISO 4217 currency code, applied

yCode only when formatting currencies.
currenc VE String Currency symbol, applied only when
ySymbol formatting currencies.
groupin VE boolean Specifies whether formatted output
gUsed will contain grouping separators.
integer VE boolean Specifies whether only the integer
Only part of the value will be parsed.
locale VE java.ut Locale whose predefined styles for
il.Loca numbers are used during formatting
le or parsing. If not specified, the
Locale returned by
FacesContext.getViewRoot().getLocal
e() will be used.
maxFrac VE int Maximum number of digits that will
tionDig be formatted in the fractional
its portion of the output.
maxInte VE int Maximum number of digits that will
gerDigi be formatted in the integer portion
ts of the output
minFrac VE int Minimum number of digits that will
tionDig be formatted in the fractional
its portion of the output.
minInte VE int Minimum number of digits that will
gerDigi be formatted in the integer portion
ts of the output.
pattern VE String Custom formatting pattern which
determines how the number string
should be formatted and parsed.
type VE String Specifies whether the value will be
parsed and formatted as a number,
currency, or percentage.
binding VE ValueEx A ValueExpression expression that
pressio evaluates to an object that implements
n javax.faces.convert.Converter

Constraints
■ Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action whose component class

9-24 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 implements ValueHolder, and whose value is a numeric wrapper class or primitive.
■ If pattern is specified, the pattern syntax must use the pattern syntax specified by
java.text.DecimalFormat.
■ If pattern is not specified, formatting and parsing will be based on the specified type.

[P1-start f:convertNumber constraints] If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent

custom action, or the UIComponent implementation class does not correctly implement
ValueHolder, throw a JspException. [P1-end]

Description

Locate the closest parent UIComponent custom action instance by calling

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase(). If
the getCreated() method of this instance returns true, create, call
createConverter() and register the returned Converter instance on the associated
UIComponent.

[P1-start f:convertNumber implementation] The implementation class for this action must
meet the following requirements:
■ Must extend javax.faces.webapp.ConverterELTag.
■ The createConverter() method must:
■ If binding is non-null, call binding.getValue() to obtain a reference to the
Converter instance. If there is no exception thrown, and binding.getValue()
returned a non-null object that implements javax.faces.convert.Converter, it must
then cast the returned instance to javax.faces.convert.NumberConverter and
configure its properties based on the specified attributes for this custom action, and return
the configured instance. If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a
JspException.
■ use the converterId if the converter instance could not be created from the binding
attribute. Call the createConverter() method of the Application instance for
this application, passing converter id “javax.faces.Number”. If the binding attribute was
also set, store the converter instance by calling binding.setValue(). It must then
cast the returned instance to javax.faces.convert.NumberConverter and
configure its properties based on the specified attributes for this custom action, and return
the configured instance. If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a
JspException. [P1-end]

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-25

9.4.5 <f:converter>
Register a named Converter instance on the UIComponent associated with the closest
parent UIComponent custom action.

Syntax
<f:converter converterId=”converterId” binding=”Value Expression”/>

Body Content

empty

Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

convert VE String Converter identifier of the converter to be created.

erId
binding VE ValueExpr A ValueExpression expression that
ession evaluates to an object that implements
javax.faces.convert.Converter

Constraints
■ Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action whose component class
implements ValueHolder.
■ converterId and/or binding must be specified.

[P1-start f:converter constraints] If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent custom
action, or the UIComponent implementation class does not correctly implement
ValueHolder, throw a JspException. [P1-end]

Description

Locate the closest parent UIComponent custom action instance by calling

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase(). If
the getCreated() method of this instance returns true, create, call
createConverter() and register the returned Converter instance on the associated
UIComponent.

[P1-start f:converter implementation] The implementation class for this action must meet the
following requirements:
■ Must extend javax.faces.webapp.ConverterJspTag.
■ The createConverter() method must:

9-26 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

■ If binding is non-null, call binding.getValue() to obtain a reference to the
Converter instance. If there is no exception thrown, and binding.getValue()
returned a non-null object that implements javax.faces.convert.Converter,
register it by calling setConverter(). If there was an exception thrown, rethrow
the exception as a JspException.Use the converterId attribute if the converter
instance could not be created from the binding attribute. If the converterId
attribute is set, call the createConverter() method of the Application
instance for this application, passing converter id specified by their converterId
attribute. If the binding attribute was also set, store the converter instance by calling
binding.setValue(). Register the converter instance by calling
setConverter(). If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a
JspException. [P1-end]

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-27

9.4.6 <f:facet>
Register a named facet (see Section 3.1.9 “Facet Management”) on the UIComponent
associated with the closest parent UIComponent custom action.

Syntax
<f:facet name=”facet-name”/>

Body Content

JSP. However, only a single UIComponent custom action (and any related nested JSF custom
actions) is allowed; no template text or other custom actions may be present.

Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

name NONE String Name of the facet to be created

Constraints
■ [P1-start f:facet constraints] Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action.
■ Exactly one UIComponent custom action must be nested inside this custom action
(although the nested component custom action could itself have nested children). [P1-end]

Description

Locate the closest parent UIComponent custom action instance by calling

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase(). If
the associated component does not already have a facet with a name specified by this custom
action’s name attribute, create a facet with this name from the UIComponent custom action
that is nested within this custom action.

[P1-start f:facet implementation] The implementation class must be, or extend,

javax.faces.webapp.FacetTag. [P1-end]

9-28 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

9.4.7 <f:loadBundle>
Load a resource bundle localized for the locale of the current view, and expose it (as a Map)
in the request attributes for the current request.

Syntax
<f:loadBundle basename=”resource-bundle-name” var=”attributeKey”/>

Body Content

empty

Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

basenam VE String Base name of the resource bundle to be loaded.

e
var NONE String Name of a request scope attribute under which the
resource bundle will be exposed as a Map.

Constraints
■ [P1-start f:loadBundle constraints] Must be nested inside an <f:view> custom action.
[P1-end]

Description

Load the resource bundle specified by the basename attribute, localized for the Locale of
the UIViewRoot component of the current view, and expose its key-values pairs as a Map
under the attribute key specified by the var attribute. In this way, value binding expressions
may be used to conveniently retrieve localized values. If the named bundle is not found,
throw JspException.

If the get() method for the Map instance exposed by this custom action is passed a key
value that is not present (that is, there is no underlying resource value for that key), the literal
string “???foo???” (where “foo” is replaced by the key the String representation of the key
that was requested) must be returned, rather than the standard Map contract return value of
null.

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-29

9.4.8 <f:param>
Add a child UIParameter component to the UIComponent associated with the closest
parent UIComponent custom action.

Syntax

Syntax 1: Unnamed value

<f:param [id=”componentIdOrImmediateExpression”] value=”parameter-
value”
[binding=”componentReference”]/>

Syntax 2: Named value

<f:param [id=”componentIdOrImmediateExpression”]
[binding=”componentReference”]
name=”parameter-name” value=”parameter-value”/>

Body Content

empty.

Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

binding VE ValueExpr ValueExpression expression to a backing bean

ession property bound to the component instance for the
UIComponent created by this custom action
id NONE String Component identifier of a UIParameter
component
name VE String Name of the parameter to be set
value VE String Value of the parameter to be set

Constraints
■ [P1-start f:param constraints] Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action. [P1-
end]

9-30 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

Description

Locate the closest parent UIComponent custom action instance by calling

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase(). If
the getCreated() method of this instance returns true, create a new UIParameter
component, and attach it as a child of the associated UIComponent. It is up to the parent
UIComponent to determine how it will handle its UIParameter children.

[P1-start f:param implementation] The implementation class for this action must meet the
following requirements:
■ Must extend javax.faces.UIComponentELTag.
■ The getComponentType() method must return “Parameter”.
■ The getRendererType() method must return null. [P1-end]

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-31

9.4.9 <f:phaseListener>
Register a PhaseListener instance on the UIViewRoot associated with the closest
parent UIViewRoot custom action.

Syntax
<f:phaseListener type=”fully-qualified-classname”
binding=”Value expression”/>

Body Content

empty.

Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

type VE String Fully qualified Java class name of an

PhaseListener to be created and registered
binding VE ValueEx A ValueExpression expression that
pressio evaluates to an object that implements
n javax.faces.event.PhaseListener

Constraints
■ [P1-start f:phaseListener constraints] Must be nested inside a UIViewRoot custom
action.
■ The specified listener class must implement javax.faces.event.PhaseListener.
■ type and/or binding must be specified. [P1-end]

Description

Locate the one and only UIViewRoot custom action instance by walking up the tag tree
until you find a UIComponentTagBase instance that has no parent. If the
getCreated() method of this instance returns true, check the binding attribute.

If binding is set, call binding.getValue() to obtain a reference to the

PhaseListener instance. If there is no exception thrown, and binding.getValue()
returned a non-null object that implements javax.faces.event.PhaseListener, register
it by calling addPhaseListener(). If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the
exception as a JspException.

9-32 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

If the listener instance could not be created, check the type attribute. If the type
attribute is set, instantiate an instance of the specified class, and register it by calling
addPhaseListener(). If the binding attribute was also set, store the listener instance
by calling binding.setValue(). If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the
exception as a JspException.

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-33

9.4.10 <f:selectItem>
Add a child UISelectItem component to the UIComponent associated with the closest
parent UIComponent custom action.

Syntax

Syntax 1: Directly Specified Value

<f:selectItem [id=”componentIdOrImmediateExpression”]
[binding=”componentReference”]
[itemDisabled=”{true|false}”]
itemValue=”itemValue”
itemLabel=”itemLabel”
[itemDescription=”itemDescription”]/>

Syntax 2: Indirectly Specified Value

<f:selectItem [id=”componentIdOrImmediateExpression”]
[binding=”componentReference”]
value=”selectItemValue”/>

Body Content

empty

9-34 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

binding VE ValueEx ValueExpression expression to a backing bean

pressio property bound to the component instance for the
n UIComponent created by this custom action.
id NONE String Component identifier of a UISelectItem
component.
itemDes VE String Description of this option (for use in development
criptio tools).
n
itemDisab VE boolean Flag indicating whether the option created by this
led component is disabled.
itemLabel VE String Label to be displayed to the user for this option.
itemValue VE Object Value to be returned to the server if this option is
selected by the user.
value VE javax.faces Value binding pointing at a SelectItem instance
.model.Sel containing the information for this option.
ectItem
escape VE boolean ValueExpression pointing to a boolean that tells
whether or not the label of this selectItem should
be escaped per HTML rules. Default is true.

Constraints
■ [P1-start f:selectItem constraints] Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action
that creates a UISelectMany or UISelectOne component instance.[P1-end]

Description

Locate the closest parent UIComponent custom action instance by calling

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase(). If
the getCreated() method of this instance returns true, create a new UISelectItem
component, and attach it as a child of the associated UIComponent.

[P1-start f:selectItem implementation] The implementation class for this action must meet the
following requirements:
■ Must extend javax.faces.UIComponentELTag.
■ The getComponentType() method must return “SelectItem”.
■ The getRendererType() method must return null.[P1-end]

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-35

9.4.11 <f:selectItems>
Add a child UISelectItems component to the UIComponent associated with the closest
parent UIComponent custom action.

Syntax
<f:selectItems [id=”componentIdOrImmediateExpression”]
[binding=”componentReference”]
value=”selectItemsValue”/>

Body Content

empty

Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

binding VE ValueEx ValueExpression expression to a backing bean

pressio property bound to the component instance for the
n UIComponent created by this custom action.
id NONE String Component identifier of a UISelectItem
component.
value VE javax.faces Value binding expression pointing at one of the
.model.Sel following instances:
ectItem, 1. an individual javax.faces.model.SelectItem
see 2. a java language array of
description javax.faces.model.SelectItem
for specific
3. a java.util.Collection of
details
javax.faces.model.SeleccItem
4. A java.util.Map where the keys are converted to
Strings and used as labels, and the
corresponding values are converted to Strings
and used as values for newly created
javax.faces.model.SelectItem instances. The
instances are created in the order of the iterator
over the keys provided by the Map.

Constraints
■ Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action that creates a UISelectMany or
UISelectOne component instance.

9-36 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

Description

Locate the closest parent UIComponent custom action instance by calling

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase(). If
the getCreated() method of this instance returns true, create a new UISelectItems
component, and attach it as a child of the associated UIComponent.

[P1-start f:selectItems implementation]The implementation class for this action must meet
the following requirements:
■ Must extend javax.faces.UIComponentELTag.
■ The getComponentType() method must return “javax.faces.SelectItems”.
■ The getRendererType() method must return null. [P1-end]

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-37

9.4.12 <f:setPropertyActionListener>
Tag implementation that creates a special ActionListener instance and registers it on the
ActionSource associated with our most immediate surrounding instance of a tag whose
implementation class is a subclass of UIComponentTag. This tag creates no output to the
page currently being created. This tag is useful for pushing a specific value into a managed
bean on page submit.

Syntax
<f:setPropertyActionListener target=”Value Expression” value=”value
Expression”/>

Body Content

empty.

Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

value VE ValueEx The ValueExpression from which the value is

pressio taken.
n
target VE ValueEx The ValueExpression into which the
pressio evaluated value from the “value” attribute is
n stored when the listener executes.

Constraints
■ Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action.
■ The corresponding UIComponent implementation class must implement
ActionSource, and therefore define a public addActionListener() method that
accepts an ActionListener parameter.
■ The tag implementation must only create and register the ActionListener instance
the first time the component for this tag is created
■ When the listener executes:
■ Call getValue() on the "value" ValueExpression.
■ If value of the "value" expression is null, call setValue()on the "target"
ValueExpression with the null value.
■ If the value of the "value" expression is not null, call getType()on the "value" and
"target" ValueExpressions to determine their property types.
■ Coerce the value of the "value" expression to the "target" expression value type
following the Expression Language coercion rules. Call setValue()on the "target"
ValueExpression with the resulting value.

9-38 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 ■ If either conversion or the execution of setValue() fails throw an
AbortProcessingException.
■ This tag creates no output to the page currently being created. It is used solely for the
side effect of ActionListener creation and addition.

[P1-start f:setPropertyActionListener constraints]If this tag is not nested inside a

UIComponent custom action, or the UIComponent implementation class does not
correctly implement ActionSource, or the specified listener class does not implement
javax.faces.event.ActionListener, throw a JspException. [P1-end]

Description

Locate the closest parent UIComponent custom action instance by calling

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase(). If
the getCreated() method of this instance returns true return SKIP_BODY.

Create an instance of ActionListener that implements StateHolder and stores the

target and value ValueExpression instances as instance variables included in the
state saving contract. The processAction() method of the listener must call
getValue() on the value ValueExpression and convert the value before passing the
result to a call to setValue() on the target ValueExpression.

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-39

9.4.13 <f:subview>
Container action for all JSF core and component custom actions used on a nested page
included via <jsp:include> or any custom action that dynamically includes another page
from the same web application, such as JSTL’s <c:import>.

Syntax

<f:subview id=”componentIdOrImmediateExpression”
[binding=”componentReference”]
[rendered=”{true|false}”]>
Nested template text and custom actions
</f:subview>

Body Content

JSP. May contain any combination of template text, other JSF custom actions, and custom
actions from other custom tag libraries.

Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

binding VE ValueEx ValueExpression expression to a backing

pressio bean property bound to the component instance for
n the UIComponent created by this custom action.
id NONE String Component identifier of a UINamingContainer
component
rendere VE Boolean Whether or not this subview should be rendered.
d

Constraints
■ [P1-start f:subview constraints] Must be nested inside a <f:view> custom action
(although this custom action might be in a page that is including the page containing the
<f:subview> custom action.
■ Must not contain an <f:view> custom action.
■ Must have an id attribute whose value is unique within the scope of the parent naming
container.
■ May be placed in a parent page (with <jsp:include> or <c:import> nested inside),
or within the nested page. [P1-end]

9-40 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

Description

Locate the closest parent UIComponent custom action instance by calling

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase(). If
the getCreated() method of this instance returns true, create a new
UINamingContainer component, and attach it as a child of the associated
UIComponent. Such a component provides a scope within which child component
identifiers must still be unique, but allows child components to have the same simple
identifier as child components nested in some other naming container. This is useful in
several scenarios:

“main.jsp”
<f:view>
<c:import url=”foo.jsp”/>
<c:import url=”bar.jsp”/>
</f:view>

“foo.jsp”
<f:subview id=”aaa”>
... components and other content ...
</f:subview>

“bar.jsp”
<f:subview id=”bbb”>
... components and other content ...
</f:subview>

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-41

 In this scenario, <f:subview> custom actions in imported pages establish a naming scope
for components within those pages. Identifiers for <f:subview> custom actions nested in
a single <f:view> custom action must be unique, but it is difficult for the page author (and
impossible for the JSP page compiler) to enforce this restriction.

“main.jsp”
<f:view>
<f:subview id=”aaa”>
<c:import url=”foo.jsp”/>
</f:subview>
<f:subview id=”bbb”>
<c:import url=”bar.jsp”/>
</f:subview>
</f:view>

“foo.jsp”
... components and other content ...

“bar.jsp”
... components and other content ...

In this scenario, the <f:subview> custom actions are in the including page, rather than
the included page. As in the previous scenario, the “id” values of the two subviews must be
unique; but it is much easier to verify using this style.

It is also possible to use this approach to include the same page more than once, but maintain
unique identifiers:

“main.jsp”
<f:view>
<f:subview id=”aaa”>
<c:import url=”foo.jsp”/>
</f:subview>
<f:subview id=”bbb”>
<c:import url=”foo.jsp”/>
</f:subview>
</f:view>

“foo.jsp”
... components and other content ...

In all of the above examples, note that foo.jsp and bar.jsp may not contain
<f:view>.

9-42 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

The implementation class for this action must meet the following requirements:
■ [P1-start f:subview implementation] Must extend
javax.faces.UIComponentELTag.
■ The getComponentType() method must return “NamingContainer”.
■ The getRendererType() method must return null. [P1-end]

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-43

9.4.14 <f:validateDoubleRange>
Register a DoubleRangeValidator instance on the UIComponent associated with the
closest parent UIComponent custom action.

Syntax

Syntax 1: Maximum only specified

<f:validateDoubleRange maximum=”543.21” binding=”VB Expression”/>

Syntax 2: Minimum only specified

<f:validateDoubleRange minimum=”123.45” binding=”VB Expression”/>

Syntax 3: Both maximum and minimum are specified

<f:validateDoubleRange maximum=”543.21” minimum=”123.45” binding=”VB
Expression”/>

Body Content

empty.

Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

maximum VE double Maximum value allowed for this component

minimum VE double Minimum value allowed for this component
binding VE ValueEx A ValueExpression expression that
pressio evaluates to an object that implements
n javax.faces.convert.Validator

Constraints
■ Must be nested inside a EditableValueHolder custom action whose value is (or is
convertible to) a double.
■ Must specify either the maximum attribute, the minimum attribute, or both.
■ If both limits are specified, the maximum limit must be greater than the minimum limit.

9-44 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

[P1-start f:validateDoubleRange constraints] If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent
custom action, or the UIComponent implementation class does not correctly implement
EditableValueHolder throw a JspException. [P1-end]

Description

Locate the closest parent UIComponent custom action instance by calling

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase(). If
the getCreated() method of this instance returns true, create, call
createValidator() and register the returned Validator instance on the associated
UIComponent.

[P1-start f:validateDoubleRange implementation] The implementation class for this action

must meet the following requirements:
■ Must extend javax.faces.webapp.ValidatorELTag.
■ The createValidator() method must:
■ If binding is non-null, create a ValueBinding by invoking
Application.createValueExpression() with binding as the expression
argument, and Validator.class as the expectedType argument.use the
ValueBinding to obtain a reference to the Validator instance. If there is no
exception thrown, and ValueExpression.getValue() returned a non-null object
that implements javax.faces.validator.Validator, it must then cast the returned
instance to javax.faces.validator.DoubleRangeValidator and
configure its properties based on the specified attributes for this custom action, and
return the configured instance. If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception
as a JspException.
■ use the validatorId if the validator instance could not be created from the
binding attribute. Call the createValidator() method of the Application
instance for this application, passing validator id “javax.faces.DoubleRange”. If the
binding attribute was also set, evaluate the expression into a ValueExpression
and store the validator instance by calling setValue() on the
ValueExpression. It must then cast the returned instance to
javax.faces.validator.DoubleRangeValidator and configure its
properties based on the specified attributes for this custom action, and return the
configured instance. If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a
JspException. [P1-end]

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-45

9.4.15 <f:validateLength>
Register a LengthValidator instance on the UIComponent associated with the closest
parent UIComponent custom action.

Syntax

Syntax 1: Maximum only specified

<f:validateLength maximum=”16” binding=”VB Expression”/>

Syntax 2: Minimum only specified

<f:validateLength minimum=”3” binding=”VB Expression”/>

Syntax 3: Both maximum and minimum are specified

<f:validateLength maximum=”16” minimum=”3” binding=”VB Expression”/>

Body Content

empty.

Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

maximum VE int Maximum length allowed for this component

minimum VE int Minimum length allowed for this component
binding VE ValueEx A ValueExpression expression that
pressio evaluates to an object that implements
n javax.faces.convert.Validator

Constraints
■ Must be nested inside a EditableValueHolder custom action whose value is a
String.
■ Must specify either the maximum attribute, the minimum attribute, or both.
■ If both limits are specified, the maximum limit must be greater than the minimum limit.

[P1-start f:validateLength constraints] If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent

custom action, or the UIComponent implementation class does not correctly implement
EditableValueHolder, throw a JspException. [P1-end]

9-46 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

Description

Locate the closest parent UIComponent custom action instance by calling

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase(). If
the getCreated() method of this instance returns true, create, call
createValidator() and register the returned Validator instance on the associated
UIComponent.

[P1-start f:validateLength implementation] The implementation class for this action must
meet the following requirements:
■ Must extend javax.faces.webapp.ValidatorELTag.
■ The createValidator() method must:
■ If binding is non-null, create a ValueExpression by invoking
Application.createValueExpression() with binding as the expression
argument, and Validator.class as the expectedType argument.use the
ValueExpression to obtain a reference to the Validator instance. If there is no
exception thrown, and ValueExpression.getValue() returned a non-null object
that implements javax.faces.validator.Validator, it must then cast the returned
instance to javax.faces.validator.LengthValidator and configure its
properties based on the specified attributes for this custom action, and return the
configured instance. If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a
JspException.
■ use the validatorId if the validator instance could not be created from the
binding attribute. Call the createValidator() method of the Application
instance for this application, passing validator id “javax.faces.Length”. If the binding
attribute was also set, evaluate the expression into a ValueExpression and store
the validator instance by calling setValue() on the ValueExpression. It must
then cast the returned instance to javax.faces.validator.LengthValidator
and configure its properties based on the specified attributes for this custom action, and
return the configured instance. If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception
as a JspException.[P1-end]

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-47

9.4.16 <f:validateLongRange>
Register a LongRangeValidator instance on the UIComponent associated with the
closest parent UIComponent custom action.

Syntax

Syntax 1: Maximum only specified

<f:validateLongRange maximum=”543” binding=”VB Expression”/>

Syntax 2: Minimum only specified

<f:validateLongRange minimum=”123” binding=”VB Expression”/>

Syntax 3: Both maximum and minimum are specified

<f:validateLongRange maximum=”543” minimum=”123” binding=”VB
Expression”/>

Body Content

empty.

Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

maximum VE long Maximum value allowed for this component

minimum VE long Minimum value allowed for this component
binding VE ValueEx A ValueExpression expression that
pressio evaluates to an object that implements
n javax.faces.convert.Validator

Constraints
■ Must be nested inside a EditableValueHolder custom action whose value is (or is
convertible to) a long.
■ Must specify either the maximum attribute, the minimum attribute, or both.
■ If both limits are specified, the maximum limit must be greater than the minimum limit.

9-48 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

[P1-start f:validateLongeRange constraints] If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent
custom action, or the UIComponent implementation class does not correctly implement
EditableValueHolder, throw a JspException. [P1-end]

Description

Locate the closest parent UIComponent custom action instance by calling

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase(). If
the getCreated() method of this instance returns true, create, call
createValidator() and register the returned Validator instance on the associated
UIComponent.

The implementation class for this action must meet the following requirements:
■ Must extend javax.faces.webapp.ValidatorELTag.
■ The createValidator() method must:
■ If binding is non-null, create a ValueExpression by invoking
Application.createValueExpression() with binding as the expression
argument, and Validator.class as the expectedType argument. Use the
ValueExpression to obtain a reference to the Validator instance. If there is no
exception thrown, and ValueExpression.getValue() returned a non-null object
that implements javax.faces.validator.Validator, it must then cast the returned
instance to javax.faces.validator.LongRangeValidator and configure
its properties based on the specified attributes for this custom action, and return the
configured instance. If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a
JspException.
■ use the validatorId if the validator instance could not be created from the
binding attribute. Call the createValidator() method of the Application
instance for this application, passing validator id “javax.faces.LongRange”. If the
binding attribute was also set, evaluate the expression into a ValueExpression
and store the validator instance by calling setValue() on the
ValueExpression. It must then cast the returned instance to
javax.faces.validator.LongRangeValidator and configure its properties
based on the specified attributes for this custom action, and return the configured
instance. If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a
JspException.

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-49

9.4.17 <f:validator>
Register a named Validator instance on the UIComponent associated with the closest
parent UIComponent custom action.

Syntax
<f:validator validatorId=”validatorId” binding=”VB Expression”/>

Body Content

empty

Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

validat VE String Validator identifier of the validator to be created.

orId
binding VE ValueEx A ValueExpression expression that
pressio evaluates to an object that implements
n javax.faces.convert.Validator

Constraints
■ Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action whose component class
implements EditableValueHolder.
■ validatorId and/or binding must be specified.

[P1-start f:validator constraints 2] If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent custom
action, or the UIComponent implementation class does not correctly implement
EditableValueHolder throw a JspException. [P1-end]

Description

Locate the closest parent UIComponent custom action instance by calling

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase(). If
the getCreated() method of this instance returns true, create, call
createValidator() and register the returned Validator instance on the associated
UIComponent.

The implementation class for this action must meet the following requirements:
■ Must extend javax.faces.webapp.ValidatorJspTag.
■ The createValidator() method must:

9-50 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

■ If binding is non-null, call binding.getValue() to obtain a reference to the
Validator instance. If there is no exception thrown, and binding.getValue()
returned a non-null object that implements javax.faces.validator.Validator,
register it by calling addValidator(). If there was an exception thrown, rethrow
the exception as a JspException.
■ use the validatorId attribute if the validator instance could not be created from
the binding attribute. If the validatorId attribute is set, call the
createValidator() method of the Application instance for this application,
passing validator id specified by their validatorId attribute. If the binding attribute
was also set, store the validator instance by calling binding.setValue(). Register
the validator instance by calling addValidator(). If there was an exception
thrown, rethrow the exception as a JspException.

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-51

9.4.18 <f:valueChangeListener>
Register a ValueChangeListener instance on the UIComponent associated with the
closest parent UIComponent custom action.

Syntax
<f:valueChangeListener type=”fully-qualified-classname” binding=”VB
Expression”/>

Body Content

empty.

Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

type VE String Fully qualified Java class name of a

ValueChangeListener to be created and
registered
binding VE ValueEx A ValueExpression expression that
pressio evaluates to an object that implements
n javax.faces.event.ValueChangeListen
er

Constraints
■ Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action.
■ The corresponding UIComponent implementation class must implement
EditableValueHolder, and therefore define a public
addValueChangeListener() method that accepts an ValueChangeListener
parameter.
■ The specified listener class must implement
javax.faces.event.ValueChangeListener.
■ type and/or binding must be specified.

[P1-start f:valueChangeListener constraints] If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent

custom action, or the UIComponent implementation class does not correctly implement
EditableValueHolder, or the specified listener class does not implement
javax.faces.event.ValueChangeListener, throw a JspException. [P1-end]

Description

Locate the closest parent UIComponent custom action instance by calling

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase(). If
the getCreated() method of this instance returns true, check the binding attribute.

9-52 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

If binding is non-null, call binding.getValue() to obtain a reference to the
ValueChangeListener instance. If there is no exception thrown, and
ValueExpression.getValue() returned a non-null object that implements
javax.faces.event.ValueChangeListener, register it by calling
addValueChangeListener(). If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the
exception as a JspException.

If the listener instance could not be created, check the type attribute. If the type
attribute is set, instantiate an instance of the specified class, and register it by calling
addValueChangeListener(). If the binding attribute was also set, store the listener
instance by calling binding.setValue(). If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the
exception as a JspException.

As an alternative to using the binding and/or type attributes, you may also register a
method in a backing bean class to receive ValueChangeEvent notifications, by using the
valueChangeListener attribute on the corresponding UIComponent custom
action.instantiate an instance of the specified class, and register it by calling
addValueChangeListener().

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-53

9.4.19 <f:verbatim>
Register a child UIOutput instance on the UIComponent associated with the closest
parent UIComponent custom action which renders nested body content.

Syntax
<f:verbatim [escape=”{true|false}” rendered=”{true|false”]/>

Body Content

JSP. However, no UIComponent custom actions, or custom actions from the JSF Core Tag
Library, may be nested inside this custom action.

Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

escape VE boolean If true, generated markup is escaped in a manner

appropriate for the markup language being
rendered. Default value is false.
rendere VE boolean Flag indicating whether or not this component
d should be rendered (during Render Response
Phase), or processed on any subsequent form
submit. Default value is true.

Constraints
■ [P1-start f:verbatim constraints] Must be implemented as a UIComponentBodyTag.[P1-
end]

Description

Locate the closest parent UIComponent custom action instance by calling

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase(). If
the getCreated() method of this instance returns true, creates a new UIOutput
component, and add it as a child of the UIComponent associated with the located instance.
The rendererType property of this UIOutput component must be set to
“javax.faces.Text”, and the transient property must be set to true. Also, the value (or
value binding, if it is an expression) of the escape attribute must be passed on to the
renderer as the value the escape attribute on the UIOutput component.

9-54 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

9.4.20 <f:view>
Container for all JSF core and component custom actions used on a page.

Syntax

<f:view [locale=”locale” renderKitId=”alternate”]

[beforePhase=”methodExpression”]
[afterPhase”methodExpression”]>
Nested template text and custom actions
</f:view>

Body Content

JSP. May contain any combination of template text, other JSF custom actions, and custom
actions from other custom tag libraries.

Attributes

Name Expr Type Description

renderKitId VE String The identifier for the render kit to use for
rendering this page.
locale VE String Name of a Locale to use for localizing this page
or (such as en_uk), or value binding expression that
Locale returns a Locale instance
beforePhase ME String MethodExpression expression that points to a
method whose signature is that of
javax.faces.event.PhaseListener.beforePha
se()
afterPhase ME String MethodExpression expression that points to a
method whose signature is that of
javax.faces.event.PhaseListener.afterPhas
e()

Constraints
■ [P1-start f:view constraints] Any JSP-created response using actions from the JSF Core
Tag Library, as well as actions extending
javax.faces.webapp.UIComponentELTag from other tag libraries, must be
nested inside an occurrence of the <f:view> action.

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-55

 ■ JSP page fragments included via the standard <%@ include %> directive need not have
their JSF actions embedded in a <f:view> action, because the included template text
and custom actions will be processed as part of the outer page as it is compiled, and the
<f:view> action on the outer page will meet the nesting requirement.
■ If the renderKitId attribute is present, its value is stored in UIViewRoot. If the
renderKitId attribute is not present, then the default render kit identifier as returned
by Application.getDefaultRenderKitId()is stored in UIViewRoot if it is
not null. Otherwise, the render kit identifier as specified by the constant
RenderKitFactory.HTML_BASIC_RENDER_KIT is stored in UIViewRoot.
Specifying a renderKitId for the current view also affects all subsequent views, unless
overridden by another use of the renderKitId attribute. Please refer to Section 7.5
“ViewHandler” for more information.
■ If the locale attribute is present, its value overrides the Locale stored in
UIViewRoot, normally set by the ViewHandler, and the doStartTag()
method must store it by calling UIViewRoot.setLocale().
■ The doStartTag() method must call
javax.servlet.jsp.jstl.core.Config.set(), passing the
ServletRequest instance for this request, the constant
javax.servlet.jsp.jstl.core.Config.FMT_LOCALE, and the Locale
returned by calling UIViewRoot.getLocale(). [P1-end]

Description

Provides the JSF implementation a convenient place to perform state saving during the
render response phase of the request processing lifecycle, if the implementation elects to
save state as part of the response.

The implementation class for this action must meet the following requirements:
■ Must extend javax.faces.UIComponentELTag.
■ The getComponentType() method must return “ViewRoot”.
■ The getRendererType() method must return null.

Please refer to the javadocs for javax.faces.application.StateManager for

details on what the tag handler for this tag must do to implement state saving.

9-56 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

9.5 Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library
All JSF implementations must provide a tag library containing actions that correspond to
each valid combination of a supported component class (see Chapter 4 “Standard User
Interface Components”) and a Renderer from the Standard HTML RenderKit (see
Section 8.5 “Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation”) that supports that component
type. [P1-start html_basic taglib requirements] The tag library descriptor for this tag library
must meet the following requirements:
■ Must declare a tag library version (<tlib-version>) value of 1.2.
■ Must declare a URI (<uri>) value of http://java.sun.com/jsf/html.
■ Must be included in the META-INF directory of a JAR file containing the corresponding
implementation classes, suitable for inclusion with a web application, such that the tag
library descriptor will be located automatically by the algorithm described in Section 7.3
of the JavaServer Pages Specification (version 1.2).[P1-end]

[P1-start html_basic return values]The custom actions defined in this tag library must specify
the following return values for the getComponentType() and getRendererType()
methods, respectively:.

TABLE 9-2 Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library

getComponentType() getRendererType() custom action name

javax.faces.Column (null)* column

javax.faces.HtmlCommand javax.faces.Button commandButton
Button
javax.faces.HtmlCommand javax.faces.Link commandLink
Link
javax.faces.HtmlDataTable javax.faces.Table dataTable
javax.faces.HtmlForm javax.faces.Form form
javax.faces.HtmlGraphicIm javax.faces.Image graphicImage
age
javax.faces.HtmlInputHidd javax.faces.Hidden inputHidden
en
javax.faces.HtmlInputSecre javax.faces.Secret inputSecret
t
javax.faces.HtmlInputText javax.faces.Text inputText
javax.faces.HtmlInputTexta javax.faces.Textarea inputTextarea
rea
javax.faces.HtmlMessage javax.faces.Message message

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-57

 TABLE 9-2 Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library

getComponentType() getRendererType() custom action name

javax.faces.HtmlMessages javax.faces.Messages messages

javax.faces.HtmlOutputFor javax.faces.Format outputFormat
mat
javax.faces.HtmlOutputLab javax.faces.Label outputLabel
el
javax.faces.HtmlOutputLin javax.faces.Link outputLink
k
javax.faces.Output javax.faces.Body body
javax.faces.Output javax.faces.Head head
javax.faces.Output javax.faces.resource.Script outputScript
javax.faces.Output javax.faces.resource.Styles outputStylesheet
heet
javax.faces.HtmlOutputTex javax.faces.Text outputText
t
javax.faces.HtmlPanelGrid javax.faces.Grid panelGrid
javax.faces.HtmlPanelGrou javax.faces.Group panelGroup
p
javax.faces.HtmlSelectBool javax.faces.Checkbox selectBooleanCheckbox
eanCheckbox
javax.faces.HtmlSelectMan javax.faces.Checkbox selectManyCheckbox
yCheckbox
javax.faces.HtmlSelectMan javax.faces.Listbox selectManyListbox
yListbox
javax.faces.HtmlSelectMan javax.faces.Menu selectManyMenu
yMenu
javax.faces.HtmlSelectOne javax.faces.Listbox selectOneListbox
Listbox
javax.faces.HtmlSelectOne javax.faces.Menu selectOneMenu
Menu
javax.faces.HtmlSelectOne javax.faces.Radio selectOneRadio
Radio
* This component has no associated Renderer, so the getRendererType() method must return null instead of a
renderer type.

[P1-end] [P1-start html_basic taglibrary requirements 2]The tag library descriptor for this tag
library (and the corresponding tag handler implementation classes) must meet the following
requirements:

9-58 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

■ The attributes for the tags, both in the TLD and in the associated tag handlers, must
conform exactly to the type, name, and description given in the TLDDocs for the
html_basic tag library.
■ If the type of the attribute is javax.el.ValueExpression, the TLD for the attribute
must contain a <deferred-value> with a nested <type> element, inside of which is
nested the expected type, as given in the TLDDocs. The JavaBeans setter method in the
tag handler for the tag must be of type javax.el.ValueExpression.
■ If the type of the attribute is javax.el.MethodExpression, the TLD for the
attribute must contain a <deferred-method> with a nested <method-signature>,
inside of which is the method signature for that MethodExpression, as given in the
TLDDocs. The actual name of the method in the signature declaration is immaterial and
unspecified. The JavaBeans setter method in the tag handler for the tag must be of type
javax.el.MethodExpression.
■ Any attributes listed in the TLDDocs with a request-time value of true must
specify an <rtexprvalue> of true in the TLD.
■ The following action must be taken to handle the value of the converter property. If
isLiteralText() on the converter property returns true, get the value of the
property and treat it as a converterId by passing it as the argument to the
createConverter() method of the Application instance for this webapp, then
pass the created Converter to the setConverter() method of the component for
this tag. If isLiteralText() on the converter property returns false, call
setValueExpression() on the component, passing “converter” as the name of the
ValueExpression and the ValueExpression instance as the value.
■ For a non-null action attribute on custom actions related to ActionSource2
components (commandButton, commandLink), the setProperties() method of
the tag handler implementation class must pass the value of the action attribute, which is
a MethodExpression, to the component’s setActionExpression() method.
■ For other non-null attributes that correspond to MethodExpression attributes on the
underlying components (actionListener, validator, valueChangeListener),
the setProperties() method of the tag handler implementation class must store that
instance as the value of the corresponding component property.
■ For any non-null id, scope, or var attribute, the setProperties() method of the
tag handler implementation class must simply set the value of the corresponding
component attribute.
■ For all other non-null attributes, the setProperties() of the tag handler
implementation class method must:
■ If the attribute.isLiteralText() returns true, set the corresponding
attribute on the underlying component (after performing any necessary type
conversion).
■ Otherwise, call the setValueExpression() method on the underlying component,
passing the attribute name and the ValueExpression‘ instance as parameters.[P1-
end]

Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-59

9-60 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008
 10

Facelets and its use in Web Applications

As of version 2 of this specification, JavaServer Faces implementations must support

(although JSF-based applications need not utilize) using Facelets as the page declaration
language for JSF pages. Facelets technology was created by JSR-252 EG Member Jacob
Hookom.

10.1 Non-normative Background

To aid implementors in providing a spec compliant runtime for Facelets, this section provides
a non-normative background to motivate the discussion of the Facelets feature. Facelets is a
replacement for JSP that was designed from the outset with JSF in mind. New features
introduced in version 2 and later are only exposed to page authors using Facelets. JSP is
retained for backwards compatibility.

10.1.1 Differences between JSP and Facelets

Facelets was the first non-JSP page declaration language designed for JavaServer Faces. As
such, Facelets was able to provide a simpler and more powerful programming model to JSF
developers than that provided by JSP, largely by leveraging JSF as much as possible without
carrying backwards compatibility with JSP. The following table lists some of the differences
between Facelets and JSP

Chapter 10 Facelets and its use in Web Applications 10-1

 TABLE 10-1 Comparison of Facelets and JSP

Feature Name JSP Facelets

Pages are A Servlet that gets executed each An abstract syntax tree that, when
compiled to... time the page renders. The executed, builds a UIComponent
UIComponent hierarchy is built by hierarchy.
the presence of custom tags in the
page.
Mapping of Not enforceable by the run-time. Page Enforced by the run-time by
custom tags to authors are free to do things eliminating the need for a custom tag
UIComponent incorrectly and make non-compatible handler in most cases.
instances components.
Handling of tag All tag attributes must be declared in Tag attributes are completely dynamic
attributes a TLD file. Conformance instances of and automatically map to properties,
components in a page with the attributes and ValueExpressions on
expected attributes can be enforced UIComponent instances
with a taglibrary validator.
Page templating Not supported, must go outside of Page templating is a core feature of
core JSP Facelets
Performance Due to the common implementation Facelets is simpler and faster than
technique of compiling a JSP page to JSP
a Servlet, performance can be slow
EL Expressions Expressions in template text cause Expressions in template text operate
unexpected behavior when used in as expected.
JSP
JCP Standard Yes, the specification is separate from No, the specification is defined by
the implementation for JSP and is one with the implementation.

10.1.2 Differences between Pre JSF 2.0 Facelets and Facelets

in JSF 2.0
The work of taking a snapshot of a version of Facelets and producing the specification for
Facelets in JSF 2.0 consists of extracting the parts of Facelets that are intended to be “public”
and leaving the rest as implementation details. A decision was made early in this process to
strive for backwards compatibility between the latest popular version of Facelets and
Facelets in JSF 2.0. The sole determinant to backwards compatibility lies in the answer to the
question, “is there any Java code in the application, or in libraries used by the application,
that extends from or depends on any class in package com.sun.facelets and/or its sub-
packages?”

10-2 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 ■ If the answer to this question is “yes”, Facelets in JSF 2.0 is not backwards compatibile
with Facelets and such an application must continue to bundle the Facelets jar file along
with the application, continue to set the Facelets configuration parameters, and also set the
javax.faces.DISABLE_FACELET_JSF_VIEWHANDLER <context-param> to
true. Please see Section 11.1.3 “Application Configuration Parameters” for details on
this option. Any code that extends or depends on any class in package
com.sun.facelets and/or its sub-packages must be modified to depend on the
appropriate classes in package javax.faces.webapp.pdl and/or its sub-packages.
■ If the answer to this question is “no”, Facelets in JSF 2.0 is backwards compatible with
pre-JSF 2.0 Facelets and such an application must not continue to bundle the Facelets jar
file along with the application, and must not continue to set the Facelets configuration
parameters.

Thankfully, most applications that use Facelets fall into the latter category, or, if they fall in
the former, their dependence will easily be migrated to the new public classes.

Facelets in JSF 2.0 provides tag libraries that are compatible with the following libraries
already found in pre JSF 2.0 Facelets.

TABLE 10-2 Taglibs in pre JSF 2.0 Facelets that are available in Facelets in JSF 2.0

Common prefix Namespace URI

h http://java.sun.com/jsf/core
f http://java.sun.com/jsf/html
c http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core
fn http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/functions
ui http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets

Naturally, new features built on Facelets in JSF 2.0 are not available in pre JSF 2.0 Facelets
and will only work in JSF 2.0 or later.

10.2 Specification for Facelets in JSF 2.0

This section specifies the requirements of a Facelet implementation. Adherence to this
specification will ensure applications and JSF component libraries that make use of Facelets
are portable across different implementations of JavaServer Faces.

Chapter 10 Facelets and its use in Web Applications 10-3

10.2.1 General Requirements

10.2.2 Requirements specific to composite components

All of the children in the defining page are placed inside of the
COMPOSITE_FACET_NAME facet, which is a child of the top level component

10.3 Standard Facelet Tag Libraries

This section specifies the tag libraries that must be provided by an implementation.

10.3.1 JSF Core Tag Library

This tag library must be equivalent to the one specified in Section 9.4 “JSF Core Tag
Library”.

10.3.2 Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library

This tag library must be equivalent to the one specified in Section 9.5 “Standard HTML
RenderKit Tag Library”.

10.3.3 Facelet Templating Tag Library

This tag library is the specified version of the ui: tag library found in pre JSF 2.0 Facelets.
The specification for this library can be found in the PDLDocs for the ui: library.

10.3.4 Composite Component Tag Library

This tag library is used to declare composite components. The specification for this tag
library can be found in the PDLDocs for the composite: library.

10-4 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

10.3.5 JSTL Core and Function Tag Libraries
Facelets exposes a subset of the JSTL Core tag library and the entirety of the JSTL Function
tag library. Please see the PDLDocs for the JSTL Core and JSTL Functions tag libraries for
the normative specification.

10.4 Creating UIComponent Tags in Facelets

PENDING:

10.5 Assertions relating to Integration between

Facelets and the Request Processing
Lifecycle
In Section 2.2.1 “Restore View”, Facelets is required to fully build the view during the
handling of the restore view phase on an initial request for a JSF view.

10.6 Assertions relating to the construction of the

view hierarchy
[P1-start processListenerForAnnotation] When the PDL calls for the creation of a
UIComponent instance, after calling Application.createComponent() to
instantiate the component instance, and after calling setRendererType() on the newly
instantiated component instance, the following action must be taken.
■ Obtain the Renderer for this component. If no Renderer is present, ignore the
following steps.
■ Call getClass() on the Renderer instance and inspect if the ListenerFor
annotation is present. If so, inspect if the Renderer instance implements
ComponentSystemEventListener. If neither of these conditions are true, ignore
the following steps.
■ Obtain the value of the systemEventClass() property of the ListenerFor
annotation on the Renderer instance.

Chapter 10 Facelets and its use in Web Applications 10-5

 ■ Call subscribeToEvent() on the UIComponent instance from which the
Renderer instance was obtained, using the systemEventClass from the annotation
as the second argument, and the Renderer instance as the third argument.

[P1-end]

10-6 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 11

Using JSF in Web Applications

This specification provides JSF implementors significant freedom to differentiate themselves

through innovative implementation techniques, as well as value-added features. However, to
ensure that web applications based on JSF can be executed unchanged across different JSF
implementations, the following additional requirements, defining how a JSF-based web
application is assembled and configured, must be supported by all JSF implementations.

11.1 Web Application Deployment Descriptor

JSF-based applications are web applications that conform to the requirements of the Java
Servlet Specification (version 2.3 or later), and also use the facilities defined in this
specification. Conforming web applications are packaged in a web application archive
(WAR), with a well-defined internal directory structure. A key element of a WAR is the web
application deployment descriptor, an XML document that describes the configuration of the
resources in this web application. This document is included in the WAR file itself, at
resource path /WEB-INF/web.xml.

Portable JSF-based web applications must include the following configuration elements, in
the appropriate portions of the web application deployment descriptor. Element values that
are rendered in italics represent values that the application developer is free to choose.
Element values rendered in bold represent values that must be utilized exactly as shown.

Executing the request processing lifecycle via other mechanisms is also allowed (for
example, an MVC-based application framework can incorporate calling the correct phase
implementations in the correct order); however, all JSF implementations must support the
functionality described in this chapter to ensure application portability.

Chapter 11 Using JSF in Web Applications 11-1

11.1.1 Servlet Definition
JSF implementations must provide request processing lifecycle services through a standard
servlet, defined by this specification. [P1-start-servlet]This servlet must be defined, in the
deployment descriptor of an application that wishes to employ this portable mechanism, as
follows:

<servlet>
<servlet-name> faces-servlet-name </servlet-name>
<servlet-class>
javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet
</servlet-class>
</servlet>

The servlet name, denoted as faces-servlet-name above, may be any desired value;
however, the same value must be used in the servlet mapping (see Section 11.1.2 “Servlet
Mapping”).[P1-end]

In addition to FacesServlet, JSF implementations may support other ways to invoke the
JavaServer Faces request processing lifecycle, but applications that rely on these mechanisms
will not be portable.

11.1.2 Servlet Mapping

All requests to a web application are mapped to a particular servlet based on matching a
URL pattern (as defined in the Java Servlet Specification) against the portion of the request
URL after the context path that selected this web application. [P1-start-mapping]JSF
implementations must support web application that define a <servlet-mapping> that
maps any valid url-pattern to the FacesServlet. [P1-end]Prefix or extension
mapping may be used. When using prefix mapping, the following mapping is recommended,
but not required:

<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name> faces-servlet-name </servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/faces/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

11-2 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 When using extension mapping the following mapping is recommended, but not required:

<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name> faces-servlet-name </servlet-name>
<url-pattern>*.faces</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

In addition to FacesServlet, JSF implementations may support other ways to invoke the
JavaServer Faces request processing lifecycle, but applications that rely on these mechanisms
will not be portable.

11.1.3 Application Configuration Parameters

Servlet containers support application configuration parameters that may be customized by
including <context-param> elements in the web application deployment descriptor. [P1-
start-configParams]All JSF implementations are required to support the following application
configuration parameter names:
■ javax.faces.CONFIG_FILES -- Comma-delimited list of context-relative resource
paths under which the JSF implementation will look for application configuration
resources (see Section 11.4.3 “Application Configuration Resource Format”), before
loading a configuration resource named “/WEB-INF/faces-config.xml” (if such a
resource exists).
■ javax.faces.DEFAULT_SUFFIX -- Allow the web application to define a list of
alternate suffixes for pages containing JSF content. This list is a space separated list of
values of the form .<extension>. The first physical resource whose extension matches
one of the configured extensions will be the suffix used to create the view ID. If this init
parameter is not specified, the default value is taken from the value of the constant
javax.faces.application.ViewHandler.DEFAULT_SUFFIX.
■ javax.faces.LIFECYCLE_ID -- Lifecycle identifier of the Lifecycle instance to
be used when processing JSF requests for this web application. If not specified, the JSF
default instance, identified by LifecycleFactory.DEFAULT_LIFECYCLE, must be
used.
■ javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD -- The location where state information is
saved. Valid values are “server” (typically saved in HttpSession) and “client (typically
saved as a hidden field in the subsequent form submit). If not specified, the default value
“server” must be used.
■ javax.faces.PROJECT_STAGE -- A human readable string describing where this
particular JSF application is in the software development lifecycle. Valid values are
“Development”, “UnitTest”, “SystemTest”, or “Production”, corresponding to
the enum constants of the class javax.faces.application.ProjectStage. It is
also possible to set this value via JNDI. See the javadocs for
Application.getProjectStage().

Chapter 11 Using JSF in Web Applications 11-3

 ■ javax.faces.DISABLE_FACELET_JSF_VIEWHANDLER -- If this param is set, and
calling toLowerCase().equals("true") on a String representation of its value
returns true, the default ViewHandler must behave as specified in the latest 1.2
version of this specification. Any behavior specified in Section 7.5 “ViewHandler” and
implemented in the default ViewHandler that pertains to handling requests for pages
authored in the JavaServer Faces Page Declaration Language must not be executed by the
runtime.
■ javax.faces.INTERPRET_EMPTY_STRING_SUBMITTED_VALUES_AS_NULL --
If this param is set, and calling toLowerCase().equals("true") on a String
representation of its value returns true, any implementation of
UIInput.validate() must take the following additional action.
■ If the
javax.faces.INTERPRET_EMPTY_STRING_SUBMITTED_VALUES_AS_NULL
context parameter value is true (ignoring case), and
UIInput.getSubmittedValue() returns a zero-length String call
UIInput.setSubmittedValue(null) and continue processing using null as the
current submitted value
■ javax.faces.DATETIMECONVERTER_DEFAULT_TIMEZONE_IS_SYSTEM_TIMEZO
NE -- If this param is set, and calling toLowerCase().equals("true") on a
String representation of its value returns true,
Application.createConverter() must guarantee that the default for the
timezone of all javax.faces.convert.DateTimeConverter instances must be
equal to TimeZone.getDefault() instead of “GMT”.
■ [P1-end]

JSF implementations may choose to support additional configuration parameters, as well as

additional mechanisms to customize the JSF implementation; however, applications that rely
on these facilities will not be portable to other JSF implementations.

11.2 Included Classes and Resources

A JSF-based application will rely on a combination of APIs, and corresponding
implementation classes and resources, in addition to its own classes and resources. The web
application archive structure identifies two standard locations for classes and resources that
will be automatically made available when a web application is deployed:
■ /WEB-INF/classes -- A directory containing unpacked class and resource files.
■ /WEB-INF/lib -- A directory containing JAR files that themselves contain class files
and resources.

In addition, servlet and portlet containers typically provide mechanisms to share classes and
resources across one or more web applications, without requiring them to be included inside
the web application itself.

11-4 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 The following sections describe how various subsets of the required classes and resources
should be packaged, and how they should be made available.

11.2.1 Application-Specific Classes and Resources

Application-specific classes and resources should be included in /WEB-INF/classes or
/WEB-INF/lib, so that they are automatically made available upon application
deployment.

11.2.2 Servlet and JSP API Classes (javax.servlet.*)

These classes will typically be made available to all web applications using the shared class
facilities of the servlet container. Therefore, these classes should not be included inside the
web application archive.

11.2.3 JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL) API Classes

(javax.servlet.jsp.jstl.*)
These classes will typically be made available to all web applications using the shared class
facilities of the servlet container. Therefore, these classes should not be included inside the
web application archive.

11.2.4 JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL) Implementation

Classes
These classes will typically be made available to all web applications using the shared class
facilities of the servlet container. Therefore, these classes should not be included inside the
web application archive.

11.2.5 JavaServer Faces API Classes (javax.faces.*)

These classes will typically be made available to all web applications using the shared class
facilities of the servlet container. Therefore, these classes should not be included inside the
web application archive.

Chapter 11 Using JSF in Web Applications 11-5

11.2.6 JavaServer Faces Implementation Classes
These classes will typically be made available to all web applications using the shared class
facilities of the servlet container. Therefore, these classes should not be included inside the
web application archive.

11.2.6.1 FactoryFinder
javax.faces.FactoryFinder implements the standard discovery algorithm for all
factory objects specified in the JavaServer Faces APIs. For a given factory class name, a
corresponding implementation class is searched for based on the following algorithm. Items
are listed in order of decreasing search precedence:

1. If a default JavaServer Faces configuration file (/WEB-INF/faces-config.xml) is bundled

into the web application, and it contains a factory entry of the given factory
class name, that factory class is used.

2. If the JavaServer Faces configuration resource(s) named by the

javax.faces.CONFIG_FILES ServletContext init parameter (if any) contain
any factory entries of the given factory class name, those factories are used, with the last
one taking precedence.

3. If there are any META-INF/faces-config.xml resources bundled any JAR files in the web
ServletContext’s resource paths, the factory entries of the given factory class
name in those files are used, with the last one taking precedence.

4. If a META-INF/services/{factory-class-name} resource is visible to the web

application class loader for the calling application (typically as a result of being present in
the manifest of a JAR file), its first line is read and assumed to be the name of the factory
implementation class to use.

5. If none of the above steps yield a match, the JavaServer Faces implementation specific
class is used.

If any of the factories found on any of the steps above happen to have a one-argument
constructor, with argument the type being the abstract factory class, that constructor is
invoked, and the previous match is passed to the constructor. For example, say the container
vendor provided an implementation of FacesContextFactory, and identified it in
META-INF/services/javax.faces.context.FacesContextFactory in a jar
on the webapp ClassLoader. Also say this implementation provided by the container vendor
had a one argument constructor that took a FacesContextFactory instance. The
FactoryFinder system would call that one-argument constructor, passing the
implementation of FacesContextFactory provided by the JavaServer Faces
implementation.

If a Factory implementation does not provide a proper one-argument constructor, it must

provide a zero-arguments constructor in order to be successfully instantiated.

11-6 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 Once the name of the factory implementation class is located, the web application class
loader for the calling application is requested to load this class, and a corresponding instance
of the class will be created. A side effect of this rule is that each web application will receive
its own instance of each factory class, whether the JavaServer Faces implementation is
included within the web application or is made visible through the container's facilities for
shared libraries.

public static Object getFactory(String factoryName);

Create (if necessary) and return a per-web-application instance of the appropriate

implementation class for the specified JavaServer Faces factory class, based on the discovery
algorithm described above.

JSF implementations must also include implementations of the several factory classes. In
order to be dynamically instantiated according to the algorithm defined above, the factory
implementation class must include a public, no-arguments constructor. [P1-start-
factoryNames]Factory class implementations must be provided for the following factory
names:
■ javax.faces.application.ApplicationFactory
(FactoryFinder.APPLICATION_FACTORY)—Factory for Application instances.
■ javax.faces.context.FacesContextFactory
(FactoryFinder.FACES_CONTEXT_FACTORY)—Factory for FacesContext
instances.
■ javax.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleFactory
(FactoryFinder.LIFECYCLE_FACTORY)—Factory for Lifecycle instances.
■ javax.faces.render.RenderKitFactory
(FactoryFinder.RENDER_KIT_FACTORY)—Factory for RenderKit instances.[P1-
end]

11.2.6.2 FacesServlet
FacesServlet is an implementation of javax.servlet.Servlet that accepts
incoming requests and passes them to the appropriate Lifecycle implementation for
processing. This servlet must be declared in the web application deployment descriptor, as
described in Section 11.1.1 “Servlet Definition”, and mapped to a standard URL pattern as
described in Section 11.1.2 “Servlet Mapping”.

public void init(ServletConfig config) throws ServletException;

Acquire and store references to the FacesContextFactory and Lifecycle instances

to be used in this web application. For the LifecycleInstance, first consult the init-
param set for this FacesServlet instance for a parameter of the name
javax.faces.LIFECYCLE_ID. If present, use that as the lifecycleID attribute to the

Chapter 11 Using JSF in Web Applications 11-7

 getLifecycle() method of LifecycleFactory. If not present, consult the
context-param set for this web application. If present, use that as the lifecycleID
attribute to the getLifecycle() method of LifecycleFactory. If neither param set
has a value for javax.faces.LIFECYCLE_ID, use the value DEFAULT. As an
implementation note, please take care to ensure that all PhaseListener instances defined
for the application are installed on all lifecycles created during this process.

public void destroy();

Release the FacesContextFactory and Lifecycle references that were acquired

during execution of the init() method.

public void service(ServletRequest request, ServletResponse

response) throws IOException, ServletException;

For each incoming request, the following processing is performed:

■ Using the FacesContextFactory instance stored during the init() method, call the
getFacesContext() method to acquire a FacesContext instance with which to
process the current request.
■ Call the execute() method of the saved Lifecycle instance, passing the
FacesContext instance for this request as a parameter. If the execute() method
throws a FacesException, re-throw it as a ServletException with the
FacesException as the root cause.
■ Call the render() method of the saved Lifecycle instance, passing the
FacesContext instance for this request as a parameter. If the render() method
throws a FacesException, re-throw it as a ServletException with the
FacesException as the root cause.
■ Call the release() method on the FacesContext instance, allowing it to be returned
to a pool if the JSF implementation uses one.

[P1-start-servletParams]The FacesServlet implementation class must also declare two static

public final String constants whose value is a context initialization parameter that affects the
behavior of the servlet:
■ CONFIG_FILES_ATTR -- the context initialization attribute that may optionally contain
a comma-delimited list of context relative resources (in addition to /WEB-INF/faces-
config.xml which is always processed if it is present) to be processed. The value of
this constant must be “javax.faces.CONFIG_FILES”.
■ LIFECYCLE_ID_ATTR -- the lifecycle identifier of the Lifecycle instance to be used
for processing requests to this application, if an instance other than the default is required.
The value of this constant must be “javax.faces.LIFECYCLE_ID”.[P1-end]

11-8 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

11.2.6.3 UIComponentELTag
[P1-start-uicomponenteltag]UIComponentELTag is an implementation of
javax.servlet.jsp.tagext.BodyTag, and must be the base class for any JSP
custom action that corresponds to a JSF UIComponent.[P1-end] See Chapter 9 “Integration
with JSP, and the Javadocs for UIComponentELTag, for more information about using this
class as the base class for your own UIComponent custom action classes.

11.2.6.4 FacetTag
JSP custom action that adds a named facet (see Section 3.1.9 “Facet Management”) to the
UIComponent associated with the closest parent UIComponent custom action. See
Section 9.4.6 “<f:facet>”.

11.2.6.5 ValidatorTag
JSP custom action (and convenience base class) that creates and registers a Validator
instance on the UIComponent associated with the closest parent UIComponent custom
action. See Section 9.4.14 “<f:validateDoubleRange>”, Section 9.4.15 “<f:validateLength>”,
Section 9.4.16 “<f:validateLongRange>”, and Section 9.4.17 “<f:validator>”.

11.3 Deprecated APIs in the webapp package

Faces depends on version JSP 2.1 or later, and the JSP tags in Faces expose properties that
leverage concepts specific to that release of JSP. Importantly, most Faces JSP tag attributes
are either of type javax.el.ValueExpression or javax.el.MethodExpression.
For backwards compatability with existing Faces component libraries that expose themselves
as JSP tags, the existing classes relating to JSP have been deprecated and new ones
introduced that leverage the EL API.

11.3.1 AttributeTag
[P1-start-attributetag]The faces implementation must now provide this class.[P1-end]

11.3.2 ConverterTag
This has been replaced with ConverterELTag

Chapter 11 Using JSF in Web Applications 11-9

11.3.3 UIComponentBodyTag
All component tags now implement BodyTag by virtue of the new class
UIComponentClassicTagBase implementing BodyTag. This class has been replaced
by UIComponentELTag.

11.3.4 UIComponentTag
This component has been replaced by UIComponentELTag.

11.3.5 ValidatorTag
This component has been replaced by ValidatorELTag.

11.4 Application Configuration Resources

This section describes the JSF support for portable application configuration resources used
to configure application components.

11.4.1 Overview
JSF defines a portable configuration resource format (as an XML document) for standard
configuration information. One or more such application resources will be loaded
automatically, at application startup time, by the JSF implementation. The information parsed
from such resources will augment the information provided by the JSF implementation, as
described below.

In addition to their use during the execution of a JSF-based web application, configuration
resources provide information that is useful to development tools created by Tool Providers.
The mechanism by which configuration resources are made available to such tools is outside
the scope of this specification.

11-10 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

11.4.2 Application Startup Behavior
Implementations may check for the presence of a servlet-class definition of class
javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet in the web application deployment descriptor
as a means to abort the configuration process and reduce startup time for applications that do
not use JavaServer Faces Technology.

At application startup time, before any requests are processed, the [P1-start-startup]JSF
implementation must process zero or more application configuration resources, located
according to the following algorithm:
■ Search for all resources named “META-INF/faces-config.xml” in the
ServletContext resource paths for this web application, and load each as a JSF
configuration resource (in reverse order of the order in which they are returned by
getResources() on the current Thread’s ContextClassLoader).
■ Check for the existence of a context initialization parameter named
javax.faces.CONFIG_FILES. If it exists, treat it as a comma-delimited list of
context relative resource paths (starting with a “/”), and load each of the specfied
resources.
■ Check for the existence of a web application configuration resource named “/WEB-
INF/faces-config.xml”, and load it if the resource exists.[P1-end]

This algorithm provides considerable flexibility for developers that are assembling the
components of a JSF-based web application. For example, an application might include one
or more custom UIComponent implementations, along with associated Renderers, so it
can declare them in an application resource named “/WEB-INF/faces-config.xml”
with no need to programmatically register them with Application instance. In addition,
the application might choose to include a component library (packaged as a JAR file) that
includes a “META-INF/faces-config.xml” resource. The existence of this resource
causes components, renderers, and other JSF implementation classes that are stored in this
library JAR file to be automatically registered, with no action required by the application.

[P1-start-startupErrors]XML parsing errors detected during the loading of an application

resource file are fatal to application startup, and must cause the application to not be made
available by the container. JSF implementations that are part of a Java EE technology-
compliant implementation are required to validate the application resource file against the
XML schema for structural correctness. [P1-end]The validation is recommended, but not
required for JSF implementations that are not part of a Java EE technology-compliant
implementation.

Chapter 11 Using JSF in Web Applications 11-11

11.4.3 Application Configuration Resource Format
[P1-start-schema]Application configuration resources that are written to run on JSF 2.0 must
include the following schema declaration and must conform to the schema shown in
Chapter A “Appendix A - JSF Metadata:

<faces-config 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/web-facesconfig_2_0.xsd"
version="2.0">

Application configuration resources that are written to run on JSF 1.2 Application
configuration resources must include the following schema declaration and must conform to
the schema referenced in the schemalocation URI shown below:

<faces-config version="1.2" 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/web-facesconfig_1_2.xsd">

Application configuration resources that are written to run on JSF 1.1 implementations must
use the DTD declaration and include the following DOCTYPE declaration:

<!DOCTYPE faces-config PUBLIC

“-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD JavaServer Faces Config 1.1//EN”
“http://java.sun.com/dtd/web-facesconfig_1_1.dtd”>

Application configuration resources that are written to run on JSF 1.0 implementations must
use the DTD declaration for the 1.0 DTD contained in the binary download of the JSF
reference implementation. They must also use the following DOCTYPE declaration:[P1-end]

<!DOCTYPE faces-config PUBLIC

“-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD JavaServer Faces Config 1.0//EN”
“http://java.sun.com/dtd/web-facesconfig_1_0.dtd”>

11-12 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

11.4.4 Configuration Impact on JSF Runtime
<!DOCTYPE faces-config PUBLIC
“-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD JavaServer Faces Config 1.1//EN”
“http://java.sun.com/dtd/web-facesconfig_1_1.dtd”>

The following XML elements1 in application configuration resources cause registration of

JSF objects into the corresponding factories or properties. It is an error if the value of any of
these elements cannot be correctly parsed, loaded, set, or otherwise used by the
implementation.
■ /faces-config/component -- Create or replace a component type / component class pair
with the Application instance for this web application.
■ /faces-config/converter -- Create or replace a converter id / converter class or target class
/ converter class pair with the Application instance for this web application.
■ /faces-config/render-kit -- Create and register a new RenderKit instance with the
RenderKitFactory, if one does not already exist for the specified render-kit-id.
■ /faces-config/render-kit/renderer -- Create or replace a component family + renderer id
/ renderer class pair with the RenderKit associated with the render-kit element we are
nested in.
■ /faces-config/validator -- Create or replace a validator id / validator class pair with the
Application instance for this web application.

For components, converters, and validators, it is legal to replace the implementation class
that is provided (by the JSF implementation) by default. This is accomplished by specifying
the standard value for the <component-type>, <converter-id>, or <validator-
id> that you wish to replace, and specifying your implementation class. To avoid class cast
exceptions, the replacement implementation class must be a subclass of the standard class
being replaced. For example, if you declare a custom Converter implementation class for
the standard converter identifier javax.faces.Integer, then your replacement class
must be a subclass of javax.faces.convert.IntegerConverter.

For replacement Renderers, your implementation class must extend

javax.faces.render.Renderer. However, to avoid unexpected behavior, your
implementation should recognize all of the render-dependent attributes supported by the
Renderer class you are replacing, and provide equivalent decode and encode behavior.

The following XML elements cause the replacement of the default implementation class for
the corresponding functionality, provided by the JSF implementation. See Section 11.4.5
“Delegating Implementation Support” for more information about the classes referenced by
these elements:

1. Identified by XPath selection expressions.

Chapter 11 Using JSF in Web Applications 11-13

 ■ /faces-config/application/action-listener -- Replace the default ActionListener
used to process ActionEvent events with an instance with the class specified.
The contents of this element must be a fully qualified Java class name that, when
instantiated, is an ActionListener.
■ /faces-config/application/navigation-handler -- Replace the default
NavigationHandler instance with the one specified. The contents of this element
must be a fully qualified Java class name that, when instantiated, is a
NavigationHandler.
■ /faces-config/application/property-resolver -- Replace the default
PropertyResolver instance with the one specified. The contents of this element
must be a fully qualified Java class name that, when instantiated, is a
PropertyResolver.
■ /faces-config/application/state-manager -- Replace the default StateManager
instance with the one specified. The contents of this element must be a fully qualified
Java class name that, when instantiated, is a StateManager.
■ /faces-config/application/system-event-listener -- Instantiate a new instance of the class
specified as the content within a nested system-event-listener-class element, which must
implement SystemEventListener. This instance is referred to as
systemEventListener for discussion. If a system-event-class is specified as a nested
element within system-event-listener, it must be a class that extends SystemEvent and
has a public zero-arguments constructor. The Class object for system-event-class is
obtained and is referred to as systemEventClass for discussion. If system-event-class is
not specified, SystemEvent.class must be used as the value of systemEventClass. If
source-class is specified as a nested element within system-event-listener, it must be a
fully qualified class name. The Class object for source-class is obtained and is referred
to as sourceClass for discussion. If source-class is not specified, let sourceClass be
null. Obtain a reference to the Application instance and call
subscribeForEvent(facesEventClass, sourceClass,
systemEventListener), passing the arguments as assigned in the discussion.
■

■ /faces-config/application/variable-resolver -- Replace the default

VariableResolver instance with the one specified. The contents of this element
must be a fully qualified Java class name that, when instantiated, is a
VariableResolver.
■ /faces-config/application/view-handler -- Replace the default ViewHandler instance
with the one specified. The contents of this element must be a fully qualified Java class
name that, when instantiated, is a ViewHandler.
■ /faces-config/application/resource-handler -- Replace the default ResourceHandler
instance with the one specified. The contents of this element must be a fully qualified
Java class name that, when instantiated, is a ResourceHandler.

The following XML elements cause the replacement of the default implementation class for
the corresponding functionality, provided by the JSF implementation. Each of the referenced
classes must have a public zero-arguments constructor:

11-14 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 ■ /faces-config/factory/application-factory -- Replace the default
ApplicationFactory instance with the one specified. The contents of this element
must be a fully qualified Java class name that, when instantiated, is an
ApplicationFactory.
■ /faces-config/factory/faces-context-factory -- Replace the default
FacesContextFactory instance with the one specified. The contents of this element
must be a fully qualified Java class name that, when instantiated, is a
FacesContextFactory.
■ /faces-config/factory/lifecycle-factory -- Replace the default LifecycleFactory
instance with the one specified. The contents of this element must be a fully qualified
Java class name that, when instantiated, is a LifecycleFactory.
■ /faces-config/factory/render-kit-factory -- Replace the default RenderKitFactory
instance with the one specified. The contents of this element must be a fully qualified
Java class name that, when instantiated, is a RenderKitFactory.

The following XML elements cause the addition of event listeners to standard JSF
implementation objects, as follows. Each of the referenced classes must have a public zero-
arguments constructor.
■ /faces-config/lifecycle/phase-listener -- Instantiate a new instance of the specified class,
which must implement PhaseListener, and register it with the Lifecycle instance
for the current web application.

In addition, the following XML elements influence the runtime behavior of the JSF
implementation, even though they do not cause registration of objects that are visible to a
JSF-based application.
■ /faces-config/managed-bean -- Make the characteristics of a managed bean with the
specified managed-bean-name available to the default VariableResolver
implementation.
■ /faces-config/navigation-rule -- Make the characteristics of a navigation rule available to
the default NavigationHandler implementation.

11.4.5 Delegating Implementation Support

When providing a replacement for the default PropertyResolver,
VariableResolver, ActionListener, NavigationHandler, ViewHandler, or
StateManager, the decorator design pattern is leveraged, so that if you provide a
constructor that takes a single argument of the appropriate type, the custom implementation
receives a reference to the implementation that was previously fulfilling the role. In this way,
the custom implementation is able to override just a subset of the functionality (or provide
only some additional functionality) and delegate the rest to the existing implementation.

Chapter 11 Using JSF in Web Applications 11-15

 For example, say you wanted to provide a custom ViewHandler that was the same as the
default one, but provided a different implementation of the calculateLocale() method.
Consider this code excerpt from a custom ViewHandler:

public class MyViewHandler extends ViewHandler {

public MyViewHandler() { }

public MyViewHandler(ViewHandler handler) {

super();
oldViewHandler = handler;
}

private ViewHandler oldViewHandler = null;

// Delegate the renderView() method to the old handler

public void renderView(FacesContext context, UIViewRoot view)
throws IOException, FacesException {
oldViewHandler.renderView(context, view);
}

// Delegate other methods in the same manner

// Overridden version of calculateLocale()

public Locale calculateLocale(FacesContext context) {
Locale locale = ... // Custom calculation
return locale;
}

The second constructor will get called as the application is initially configured by the JSF
implementation, and the previously registered ViewHandler will get passed to it.

In version 1.2, we added new wrapper classes to make it easier to override a subset of the
total methods of the class and delegate the rest to the previous instance. We provide wrappers
for javax.faces.application.ViewHandler,
javax.faces.application.StateManager, and
javax.faces.context.ResponseWriter. For example, you could have a faces-
config.xml file that contains the following:

11-16 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

<application>
<view-handler>com.foo.NewViewHandler</view-handler>
<state-manager>com.foo.NewStateManager</state-manager>
</application>

Chapter 11 Using JSF in Web Applications 11-17

 Where your implementations for these classes are simply:

package com.foo;

import javax.faces.application.ViewHandler;
import javax.faces.application.ViewHandlerWrapper;

public class NewViewHandler extends ViewHandlerWrapper {

private ViewHandler oldViewHandler = null;

public NewViewHandler(ViewHandler oldViewHandler) {

this.oldViewHandler = oldViewHandler;
}

public ViewHandler getWrapped() {

return oldViewHandler;
}
}

package com.foo;

import javax.faces.application.StateManager;
import javax.faces.application.StateManagerWrapper;

public class NewStateManager extends StateManagerWrapper {

private StateManager oldStateManager = null;

public NewStateManager(StateManager oldStateManager) {

this.oldStateManager = oldStateManager;
}

public StateManager getWrapped() {

return oldStateManager;
}
}

This allows you to override as many or as few methods as you’d like.

11-18 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

11.4.6 Example Application Configuration Resource
The following example application resource file defines a custom UIComponent of type
Date, plus a number of Renderers that know how to decode and encode such a
component:

<?xml version=”1.0”?>
<faces-config version="1.2" 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/web-facesconfig_1_2.xsd">
<!-- Define our custom component -->
<component>
<description>
A custom component for rendering user-selectable dates in
various formats.
</description>
<display-name>My Custom Date</display-name>
<component-type>Date</component-type>
<component-class>
com.example.components.DateComponent
</component-class>
</component>

<!-- Define two renderers that know how to deal with dates -->
<render-kit>
<!-- No render-kit-id, so add them to default RenderKit -->
<renderer>
<display-name>Calendar Widget</display-name>
<component-family>MyComponent</component-family>
<renderer-type>MyCalendar</renderer-type>
<renderer-class>
com.example.renderers.MyCalendarRenderer
</renderer-class>
</renderer>
<renderer>
<display-name>Month/Day/Year</display-name>
<renderer-type>MonthDayYear</renderer-type>
<renderer-class>
com.example.renderers.MonthDayYearRenderer
</renderer-class>
</renderer>
</render-kit>

</faces-config>

Chapter 11 Using JSF in Web Applications 11-19

 Additional examples of configuration elements that might be found in application
configuration resources are in Section 5.3.1 “Managed Bean Configuration Example” and
Section 7.4.3 “Example NavigationHandler Configuration”.

11.5 Annotations that correspond to and may take

the place of entries in the Application
Configuration Resources
An implementation must support several annotation types that take may take the place of
entries in the Application Configuration Resources. If the runtime discovers a conflict
between an entry in the Application Configuration Resources and an annotation, the entry in
the Application Configuration Resources takes precedence.

The annotations fall into two categories: annotations related to artifacts that reside in a page
and annotations related to artifacts that do not reside in a page.

11.5.1 Annotations that relate to artifacts that reside in a page

The following table lists the annations that the implementation must support. The normative
specification for each annotation is found in its corresponding javadoc.

TABLE 11-1 Annotations that relate to artifacts that reside in a page

Fully Qualifiied Class Name Description

javax.faces.component.FacesComponent Class level annotation on a class that

has UIComponent in its inheritance
hierarchy.
javax.faces.convert.FacesConverter Class level annotation on a class that
has Converter in its inheritance
hierarchy.
javax.faces.model.ManagedBean Class level annotation on a POJO that
is to be declared as a managed bean
javax.faces.model.ManagedBeans Container annotation for
ManagedBean to be used when one
managed-bean-class is to be exposed
as several different managed-bean-
names, each with potentially different
scopes

11-20 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 TABLE 11-1 Annotations that relate to artifacts that reside in a page

Fully Qualifiied Class Name Description

javax.faces.model.ManagedProperty Field level on a class annotated with

@ManagedBean that declares this
field as a managed-property.
This assumes the JavaBeans
conventions for getter and setter are
being followed.
javax.faces.render.FacesRenderer Class level annotation on a class that
has Renderer in its inheritance
hierarchy.
javax.faces.render.FacesRenderKit Class level annotation on a class that
has RenderKit in its inheritance
hierarchy.
javax.faces.validator.FacesValidator Class level annotation on a class that
has Validator in its inheritance
hierarchy.

11.5.2 Annotations related to artifacts that do not reside in a

page
PENDING: This section will include annotations for things like ViewHandler, ELResolver,
StateManager, etc.

Chapter 11 Using JSF in Web Applications 11-21

11-22 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008
 12

Lifecycle Management

In Chapter 2 “Request Processing Lifecycle,” the required functionality of each phase of the
request processing lifecycle was described. This chapter describes the standard APIs used by
JSF implementations to manage and execute the lifecycle. Each of these classes and
interfaces is part of the javax.faces.lifecycle package.

Page authors, component writers, and application developers, in general, will not need to be
aware of the lifecycle management APIs—they are primarily of interest to tool providers and
JSF implementors.

12.1 Lifecycle
Upon receipt of each JSF-destined request to this web application, the JSF implementation
must acquire a reference to the Lifecycle instance for this web application, and call its
execute() and render() methods to perform the request processing lifecycle. The
Lifecycle instance invokes appropriate processing logic to implement the required
functionality for each phase of the request processing lifecycle, as described in Section 2.2
“Standard Request Processing Lifecycle Phases”.

public void execute(FacesContext context) throws FacesException;

public void render(FacesContext context) throws FacesException;

The execute() method performs phases up to, but not including, the Render Response
phase. The render() method performs the Render Response phase. This division of
responsibility makes it easy to support JavaServer Faces processing in a portlet-based
environment.

As each phase is processed, registered PhaseListener instances are also notified. The
general processing for each phase is as follows:

Chapter 12 Lifecycle Management 12-1

 ■ From the set of registered PhaseListener instances, select the relevant ones for the
current phase, where “relevant” means that calling getPhaseId() on the
PhaseListener instance returns the phase identifier of the current phase, or the special
value PhaseId.ANY_PHASE.
■ Call the beforePhase() method of each relevant listener, in the order that the listeners
were registered.
■ If no called listener called the FacesContext.renderResponse() or
FacesContext.responseComplete() method, execute the functionality required
for the current phase.
■ Call the afterPhase() method of each relevant listener, in the reverse of the order that
the listeners were registered.
■ If the FacesContext.responseComplete() method has been called during the
processing of the current request, or we have just completed the Render Response phase,
perform no further phases of the request processing lifecycle.
■ If the FacesContext.renderResponse() method has been called during the
processing of the current request, and we have not yet executed the Render Response
phase of the request processing lifecycle, ensure that the next executed phase will be
Render Response

public void addPhaseListener(PhaseListener listener);

public void removePhaseListener(PhaseListener listener);

These methods register or deregister a PhaseListener that wishes to be notified before

and after the processing of each standard phase of the request processing lifecycle. The
webapp author can declare a PhaseListener to be added using the phase-listener
element of the application configuration resources file. Please see Section 12.3
“PhaseListener”.

12.2 PhaseEvent
This class represents the beginning or ending of processing for a particular phase of the
request processing lifecycle, for the request encapsulated by the FacesContext instance
passed to our constructor.

public PhaseEvent(FacesContext context, PhaseId phaseId, Lifecycle

lifecycle);

12-2 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 Construct a new PhaseEvent representing the execution of the specified phase of the
request processing lifecycle, on the request encapsulated by the specified FacesContext
instance. The Lifecycle instance must be the lifecycle used by the current
FacesServlet that is processing the request. It will serve as the source of the
java.util.EventObject from which PhaseEvent inherits.

public FacesContext getFacesContext();

public PhaseId getPhaseId();

Return the properties of this event instance. The specified FacesContext instance will
also be returned if getSource() (inherited from the base EventObject class) is called.

12.3 PhaseListener
This interface must be implemented by objects that wish to be notified before and after the
processing for a particular phase of the request processing lifecycle, on a particular request.
Implementations of PhaseListener must be programmed in a thread-safe manner.

public PhaseId getPhaseId();

The PhaseListener instance indicates for which phase of the request processing lifecycle
this listener wishes to be notified. If PhaseId.ANY_PHASE is returned, this listener will be
notified for all standard phases of the request processing lifecycle.

public void beforePhase(PhaseEvent event);

public void afterPhase(PhaseEvent event);

The beforePhase() method is called before the standard processing for a particular phase is
performed, while the afterPhase() method is called after the standard processing has been
completed. The JSF implementation must guarantee that, if beforePhase() has been
called on a particular instance, then afterPhase() will also be called, regardless of any
Exceptions that may have been thrown during the actual execution of the lifecycle phase. For
example, let’s say there are three PhaseListeners attached to the lifecycle: A, B, and C, in
that order. A.beforePhase() is called, and executes successfully. B.beforePhase()
is called and throws an exception. Any exceptions thrown during the beforePhase()
listeners must be caught, logged, and swallowed. In this example, C.beforePhase()
must not be called. Then the actual lifecycle phase executes. Any exceptions thrown during

Chapter 12 Lifecycle Management 12-3

 the execution of the actual phase must not be swallowed. When the lifecycle phase exits, due
to an exeception or normal termination, the afterPhase() listeners must be called in
reverse order from the beforePhase() listeners in the following manner.
C.afterPhase() must not be called, since C.beforePhase() was not called.
B.afterPhase() must not be called, since B.beforePhase() did not execute
successfully. A.afterPhase() must be called. Any exceptions thrown during the
afterPhase() liseteners must be caught, logged, and swallowed.

PhaseListener implementations may affect the remainder of the request processing

lifecycle in several ways, including:
■ Calling renderResponse() on the FacesContext instance for the current request,
which will cause control to transfer to the Render Response phase of the request
processing lifecycle, once processing of the current phase is complete.
■ Calling responseComplete() on the FacesContext instance for the current request, which
causes processing of the request processing lifecycle to terminate once the current phase
is complete.

12.4 LifecycleFactory
A single instance of javax.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleFactory must be made
available to each JSF-based web application running in a servlet or portlet container. The
factory instance can be acquired by JSF implementations or by application code, by
executing:

LifecycleFactory factory = (LifecycleFactory)

FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.LIFECYCLE_FACTORY);

The LifecycleFactory implementation class supports the following methods:

public void addLifecycle(String lifecycleId, Lifecycle lifecycle);

Register a new Lifecycle instance under the specified lifecycle identifier, and make it
available via calls to the getLifecycle method for the remainder of the current web
application’s lifetime.

public Lifecycle getLifecycle(String lifecycleId);

12-4 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

The LifecycleFactory implementation class provides this method to create (if
necessary) and return a Lifecycle instance. All requests for the same lifecycle identifier
from within the same web application will return the same Lifecycle instance, which
must be programmed in a thread-safe manner.

Every JSF implementation must provide a Lifecycle instance for a default lifecycle
identifier that is designated by the String constant
LifecycleFactory.DEFAULT_LIFECYCLE. For advanced uses, a JSF implementation
may support additional lifecycle instances, named with unique lifecycle identifiers.

public Iterator<String> getLifecycleIds();

This method returns an iterator over the set of lifecycle identifiers supported by this factory.
This set must include the value specified by
LifecycleFactory.DEFAULT_LIFECYCLE.

Chapter 12 Lifecycle Management 12-5

12-6 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008
 13

Ajax Integration

This chapter of the specification describes how Ajax integrates with the JavaServer Faces
framework to create dynamic web applications. JavaServer Faces 1.2 standardized portions
of the architecture to facilitate building Web 2.0 applications with Ajax. This chapter
describes the resources and JavaScript APIs that are used to expose the Ajax capabilities of
JavaServer Faces to page authors and component authors. It also describes the necessary
ingredients of a JavaServer Faces Ajax framework, namely, a resource delivery mechanism,
partial tree traversal, partial page update.

13.1 Ajax JavaScript Resource

There must be a single JavaScript resource that exists with the resource identifier ajax.js
and it must exist under the resource library javax.faces, following the conventions in
Section 2.6 “Resource Handling”. This Ajax resource contains the JavaScript
APIs for performing Ajax interaction with JavaServer Faces.

13.1.1 Ajax Resource Loading

The Ajax script resource can become available to a JavaServer Faces application using a
number of different approaches.

Chapter 13 Ajax Integration 13-1

13.1.1.1 The Annotation Approach
Component authors can specify that a custom component or renderer requires the Ajax
resource with the use of the ResourceDependency annotation.

@ResourceDependency (name="ajax.js", library="javax.faces",

target="head")
public class MyComponent extends UIOutput...

For more information on this approach refer to Section 2.6.2.1 “Relocatable Resources” and
Section 2.6.2.2 “Resource Rendering Using Annotations”.

13.1.1.2 The Resource API Approach

Component authors can also specify that a custom component or renderer requires the Ajax
resource by using the resource APIs. For example, a component or renderer’s encode method
may contain:

Resource resource = context.getApplication().getResourceHandler()

.createResource(“ajax.js”, “javax.faces”);
...
writer.startElement("script", component);
writer.writeAttribute("type", "text/javascript", "type");
writer.writeAttribute("src",((resource != null)?
resource.getRequestPath(): "RES_NOT_FOUND"),”src”);
writer.endElement(“script”);

Script resources are relocatable resources (see Section 2.6.2.1 “Relocatable Resources”)
which means you can control the rendering location for these resources by setting the
“target” attribute on the resource component:

public class MyComponent extends UIOutput {

...
getAttributes().put(“target”, “head”);
...
}

13-2 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 This attribute must be set before the component is added to the view. The component or
renderer must also implement the event processing method:

public void processEvent(SystemEvent event) throws

AbortProcessingException {
UIComponent component = (UIComponent) event.getSource();
FacesContext context = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
if (component.getAttributes().get("target") != null) {
context.getViewRoot().addComponentResource(context,
component);
}
}

When the component is added to the view, an event will be published. This event handling
method will add the component resource to one of the resource location facets under the
view root so it will be in place before rendering.

13.1.1.3 The Page Declaration Language Approach

Page authors can make the Ajax resource available to the current view using the
outputScript tag. For example:

<f:view contentType=”text/html”/>
<h:head>
<meta...
<title...
</h:head>
<h:body>
...
<h:outputScript name=”ajax.js” library=”javax.faces”
target=”body”/>
...
</h:body>
...

Chapter 13 Ajax Integration 13-3

13.2 JavaScript Namespacing
JavaScript objects that are not enclosed within a namespace are global, which means they run
the risk of interfering, overriding and/or clobbering previously defined JavaScript objects.
This section defines the requirements for applications intending to use the JavaServer Faces
2.0 JavaScript API.

The Open Ajax Alliance is an organization of leading vendors, open source projects, and
companies using Ajax. Their prime objective is to accelerate customer success with Ajax,
through the use of open standards. The Open Ajax Registry is an industry-wide Ajax
registration authority managed by the OpenAjax Alliance. The Registry maintains industry-
wide lists of Ajax runtime libraries to help prevent object collisions.

There is a top level namespace javax that is registered with the Open Ajax Alliance:

Java Ajax: {
namespaceURI:"http://www.sun.com",
version:"1.0",
globals_to_approve:["javax"],
comments: "Used in the JSF 2.0 specification.",
specificationURI:"http://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=316",
email: "[email protected]"
}

[P1-start openajax registration]To comply with the OpenAjax Alliance, libraries must register
themselves using OpenAjax.registerLibrary() at the time when the JavaScript files
are fetched and parsed by the browser’s JavaScript engine.

if (typeof OpenAjax != "undefined" &&

typeof OpenAjax.hub.registerLibrary != "undefined") {
OpenAjax.hub.registerLibrary("javax", "www.sun.com", "1.0",
null);
}

[P1-end]

[P1-start javascript namespace]Any page that intends to use the JavaServer Faces 2.0
JavaScript API must define a top level JavaScript object name javax, whose type is a
JavaScript associative array. Within that top level JavaScript object, found in the OpenAjax

13-4 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 Hub, there must be a property named faces whose value must be another JavaScript
associative array. Within the faces JavaScript object there must be another JavaScript
associative array under they key Ajax.

if (javax == null || typeof javax == "undefined") {

var javax = new Object();
}
if (javax.faces == null || typeof java.faces == "undefined") {
javax["faces"] = new Object();
}
if (javax.faces.Ajax == null || typeof javax.faces.Ajax ==
"undefined") {
javax.faces["Ajax"] = new Object();
}

[P1-end]

13.3 Ajax JavaScript API

This section of the specification defines the Ajax JavaScript APIs that are used to initiate
client side interactions with the JavaServer Faces framework including partial tree traversal
and partial page update. All of the functions in this JavaScript API will be exposed on a page
scoped JavaScript object and the JavaScript file that declares and defines this JavaScript
object is delivered to the page.

13.3.1 Collecting and Encoding View State

In JavaServer Faces 1.2 the javax.faces.viewState parameter was standardized to
facilitate “postback” requests to the server in a JavaServer Faces application.
Implementations must use this parameter to save the view state between requests. Refer to
the Javadocs for javax.faces.ResponseStateManager.

Collecting and encoding view state that will be sent to the server is a common operation used
by most JavaServer Faces Ajax frameworks. When a JavaServer Faces view is rendered, it
will contain a hidden field with the identifier javax.faces.ViewState whose value
contains the state for the current view. JSF Ajax clients collect additional view state,
combine it with the current view state and send it’s encoded form to the server.

javax.faces.Ajax.viewState(FORM_ELEMENT)

Chapter 13 Ajax Integration 13-5

 Collect and encode element data for the given FORM_ELEMENT and return it as the view
state that will be sent to the server. FORM_ELEMENT is the identifier for a DOM form
element.
■ Encode the name and value for each input element of FORM_ELEMENT. Only select
elements that have at least one of their options selected must be included. only checkbox
elements that are checked must be included.
■ Find the element identified as javax.faces.ViewState in the specified
FORM_ELEMENT and encode the name and value.
■ Return a concatenated String of the encoded input elements and
javax.faces.ViewState element.

13.3.1.1 Use Case

Collect and Encode Elements Of a Form

var viewState = javax.faces.Ajax.viewState(form);

13.3.2 Sending an Ajax Request

javax.faces.Ajax.ajaxRequest(ELEMENT, |event|, { |OPTIONS| });

The javax.faces.Ajax.ajaxRequest function is responsible for sending an Ajax

request to the server. [P1-start-ajaxrequest]The requirements for this function are as follows:
■ The request must be sent asynchronously
■ The request must be sent with method type POST
■ The request URL will be the form action attribute
■ All requests will be queued with the use of a client side request queue to help ensure
request ordering. [P1-end]

13-6 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

13.3.2.1 Usage
Typically, this function is attached as a JavaScript event handler (such as “onclick”).

<ANY_HTML_OR_JSF_ELEMENT
on|EVENT|="javax.faces.Ajax.ajaxRequest(THIS, |event|,
{ |OPTIONS| });" />

ANY_HTML_OR_JSF_ELEMENT is any jsf component or HTML element from which you

emit the event.|EVENT| is any javascript event supported by that element, such as
onmousedown, onclick, onblur, etc.

The function arguments are as follows:

THIS is the DOM element that triggered this Ajax request. The optional |event| argument
is the JavaScript event object. The optional |OPTIONS| argument is a JavaScript
associative object array that may contain the following name/value pairs:

TABLE 13-1 ajaxRequest OPTIONS

Name Value
execute A comma seperated list of client identifiers. These reference the
components that will be processed during the “execute” phase of the
request processing lifecycle.
render A comma seperated list of client identifiers. These reference the
components that will be processed during the “render” phase of the request
processing lifecycle.

13.3.2.2 Request Sending Specifics

The mechanics of sending an Ajax request becomes very important to promote component
compatability. Even more important, is standardizing on the post data that is sent to server
implementations, so they all can expect the same arguments. [P1-start-ajaxrequest-send]The
specifics of formulating post data and sending the request must be followed as outlined in the
JavaDocs for the javax.faces.Ajax.ajaxRequest function. The post data arguments
that must be sent are:
■ The name and value of the source element that triggered this request. The source
element is the ELEMENT argument.
■ The name javax.faces.ajax.partial with the value true.
■ The form element’s view state (the encoded String returned from
javax.faces.ajax.viewState - refer to Section 13.3.1 “Collecting and Encoding
View State”.[P1-end]

Chapter 13 Ajax Integration 13-7

13.3.2.3 Use Case

<h:commandbutton id="submit" value="submit"

onclick="javax.faces.ajax.ajaxRequest(this, event,
{execute:'submit',render:'outtext'}); return false;" />

This use case assumes there is another component in the view with the identifier outtext.

13.3.2.4 Ajax Request Queueing

[P1-start-ajaxrequest-queue] All Ajax requests must be put into a client side request queue
before they are sent to the server to ensure Ajax requests are processed in the order they are
sent. The request that has been waiting in the queue the longest is the next request to be sent.
After a request is sent the Ajax request callback function must remove the request from the
queue (also known as dequeuing). If the request completed successfully, it must be removed
from the queue. If there was an error, the client must be notified, but the request must still be
removed from the queue so the next request can be sent. The next request (the oldest request
in the queue) must be sent. Refer to the javax.faces.ajax.ajaxRequest JavaScript
documentation for for more specifics about the Ajax request queue.[P1-end]

13.3.2.5 Request Callback Function Specifics

The Ajax request callback function must drive the enqueing of Ajax requests onto the request
queue, and it must drive the dequeuing of Ajax requests from the request queue so as to
ensure that another request is not sent until the current request completes. [P1-start-
callback]In additon to the queue operations, the callback function must call the
javax.faces.ajax.ajaxResponse function passing the Ajax request object (for
example the XMLHttpRequest instance) if the request completed successfully.[P1-end] Refer
to Section 13.3.3 “Processing The Ajax Response”. Also refer to the
javax.faces.ajax.ajaxRequest JavaScript documentation for for more specifics
about the request callback function.

13-8 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

13.3.3 Processing The Ajax Response
javax.faces.Ajax.ajaxResponse(request);

The javax.faces.Ajax.ajaxResponse function is responsible for examining the

markup that is returned from the server and updating the client side DOM. The Ajax request
callback function should call this function when a request completes successfully. [P1-start-
ajaxresponse] The specifics details of this function’s operation must follow the
javax.faces.Ajax.ajaxResponse JavaScript documentation.[P1-end]

13.3.4 Determining An Application’s Project Stage

javax.faces.Ajax.getProjectStage();

[P1-start-projStage]This function must return the constant representing the current state of
the running application in a typical product development lifecycle. The returned value must
be the value returned from the server side method
javax.faces.application.Application.getProjectStage(); Refer to
Section 7.1.8 “ProjectStage Property” for more details about this property.[P1-end]

13.3.4.1 Use Case

var projectStage = javax.faces.Ajax.getProjectStage();

if (projectStage == “Production”) {
.... throw exception
else if (projectStage == “Development”) {
.... send an alert for debugging
}

13.4 Partial View Traversal

The JavaServer Faces lifecycle, can be viewed as consisting of an execute phase and a
render phase.

Chapter 13 Ajax Integration 13-9

 In JavaServer Faces 1.2 a very powerful feature was introduced that facilitates server side
partial view traversal and processing. A selected node (component) in the view can be visited
and processing can be performed on that component by using
javax.faces.component.UIComponent.invokeOnComponent. That method
expects a callback that implements a handler that adheres to the
javax.faces.component.ContextCallback interface. Refer to Section 3.1.8
“Component Tree Navigation” and the Javadocs for more details. With partial view
processing we can specify that one or more components in the view go through the execute
and/or render phase of the request processing lifecycle.

13.4.1 Partial View Execute

Partial view execute on the server is triggered by a request from the client. The request
contains special parameters that indicate the request is a partial execute request. The client
also sends a set of client ids of the components that must be processed through the execute
phase of the request processing lifecycle. Refer to Section 13.3.2 “Sending an Ajax Request”
about the request sending details. The FacesContext has methods that indicate the request
is a partial request based on the values of these special request parameters. Refer to
Section 6.1.10 “Partial Processing Constants And Methods” for the specifics of the
FacesContext constants and methods that facilitate partial processing. [P1-start-
partialExec]The UIViewRoot processDecodes, processValidators and
processUpdates methods must determine if the request is a partial request using the
FacesContext.isAjaxRequest() method. If FacesContext.isAjaxRequest()
returns true, then the respective processing (processDecodes, processValidators
or processUpdates) must be performed on each component as identified by the List of
client ids returned from the call to FacesContext.getExecutePhaseClientIds();
Refer to Section 2.2.2 “Apply Request Values”, Section 2.2.2.1 “Apply
Request Values Partial Processing”, Section 2.2.3 “Process

13-10 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 Validations”, Section 2.2.3.1 “Partial Validations Partial
Processing”, Section 2.2.4 “Update Model Values”, Section 2.2.4.1
“Update Model Values Partial Processing”.[P1-end]

13.4.2 Partial View Render

Partial view render on the server is triggered by a request from the client. It allows one or
more components in the view to perform the encoding process. The request contains special
parameters that indicate the request is a partial render request. The client also sends a set
of client ids of the components that must be processed through the render phase of the
request processing lifecycle. Refer to Section 13.3.2 “Sending an Ajax Request” about the
request sending details. The FacesContext has methods that indicate the request is a
partial request based on the values of these special request parameters. Refer to
Section 6.1.10 “Partial Processing Constants And Methods” for the specifics of the
FacesContext constants and methods that facilitate partial processing. [P1-start-
partialRender]The UIViewRoot encodeBegin, encodeChildren and encodeEnd
methods must determine if the request is a partial request using the
FacesContext.isAjaxRequest() method. If FacesContext.isAjaxRequest()
returns true, then these components must perform encoding as outlined in the Javadocs for
the UIViewRoot encodeBegin, encodeChildren and encodeEnd methods.[P1-
end]

13.4.3 Sending The Response to The Client

The Ajax response (also known as partial response) is formulated and sent to the client
during the Render Response phase of the request processing lifecycle. The partial response
consists of markup rendered by one or more components. The response should be in a
common format so JavaScript clients can interpret the markup in a consistent way - an
important requirement for component compatability. The agreed upon format and content
type for the partial response is XML. This means there should be a ResponseWriter
suitable for writing the response in XML. The UIViewRoot encodeXXX methods have
additional responsibility to produce the partial response if the request is a partial request.
Refer to Section 4.1.17.5 “Partial Processing” and the Javadocs for the UIViewRoot
encoding methods. The markup that is sent to the client must contain elements that the client
can recognize. In addition to the markup produced by server side components, the response
must contain “instructions” for the client to interpret, so the client will know, for example,
that it is to add new markup to the client DOM, or update existing areas of the DOM. When
the response is sent back to the client, it must contain the view state. [P1-start-sending-
response]Implementations must adhere to the response format as specified in the Javadocs
for the UIViewRoot encodeXXX methods.[P1-end] This is another important area for
component library compatability.

Chapter 13 Ajax Integration 13-11

13-12 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008
 A

Appendix A - JSF Metadata

This chapter lists the latest XML Schema definition and Document Type Definition for JSF
metadata and config files.

1.1 XML Schema Definition

<?xml version = "1.0" encoding = "UTF-8"?>

<!--

DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS HEADER.

Copyright 1997-2007 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.

The contents of this file are subject to the terms of either the GNU

General Public License Version 2 only ("GPL") or the Common Development

and Distribution License("CDDL") (collectively, the "License"). You

may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You can
obtain

a copy of the License at

https://glassfish.dev.java.net/public/CDDL+GPL.html

or glassfish/bootstrap/legal/LICENSE.txt. See the License for the specific

language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-1

 When distributing the software, include this License Header Notice in each

file and include the License file at glassfish/bootstrap/legal/LICENSE.txt.

Sun designates this particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception

as provided by Sun in the GPL Version 2 section of the License file that

accompanied this code. If applicable, add the following below the License

Header, with the fields enclosed by brackets [] replaced by your own

identifying information: "Portions Copyrighted [year]

[name of copyright owner]"

Contributor(s):

If you wish your version of this file to be governed by only the CDDL or

only the GPL Version 2, indicate your decision by adding "[Contributor]

elects to include this software in this distribution under the [CDDL or GPL

Version 2] license." If you don’t indicate a single choice of license, a

recipient has the option to distribute your version of this file under

either the CDDL, the GPL Version 2 or to extend the choice of license to

its licensees as provided above. However, if you add GPL Version 2 code

and therefore, elected the GPL Version 2 license, then the option applies

only if the new code is made subject to such option by the copyright

holder.

-->

<xsd:schema

targetNamespace="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"

xmlns:javaee="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"

A-2 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"

xmlns:xml="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace"

elementFormDefault="qualified"

attributeFormDefault="unqualified"

version="2.0">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

$Id: web-facesconfig_2_0.xsd,v 1.1.8.2 2008/03/20 21:12:50

edburns Exp $

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Copyright 2007 Sun Microsystems, Inc.,

901 San Antonio Road,

Palo Alto, California 94303, U.S.A.

All rights reserved.

Sun Microsystems, Inc. has intellectual property

rights relating to technology described in this document. In

particular, and without limitation, these intellectual

property rights may include one or more of the U.S. patents

listed at http://www.sun.com/patents and one or more

additional patents or pending patent applications in the

U.S. and other countries.

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-3

 This document and the technology which it describes are

distributed under licenses restricting their use, copying,

distribution, and decompilation. No part of this document

may be reproduced in any form by any means without prior

written authorization of Sun and its licensors, if any.

Third-party software, including font technology, is

copyrighted and licensed from Sun suppliers.

Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Solaris, Java, Java EE,

JavaServer Pages, Enterprise JavaBeans and the Java Coffee

Cup logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun

Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries.

Federal Acquisitions: Commercial Software - Government Users

Subject to Standard License Terms and Conditions.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

<![CDATA[

The XML Schema for the JavaServer Faces Application

Configuration File (Version 2.0).

A-4 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 All JavaServer Faces configuration files must indicate

the JavaServer Faces schema by indicating the JavaServer

Faces namespace:

http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee

and by indicating the version of the schema by

using the version element as shown below:

<faces-config xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"

xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"

xsi:schemaLocation="..."

version="2.0">

...

</faces-config>

The instance documents may indicate the published

version of the schema using xsi:schemaLocation attribute

for javaee namespace with the following location:

http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-facesconfig_2_0.xsd

]]>

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-5

 <xsd:include schemaLocation="javaee_5.xsd"/>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:element name = "faces-config" type="javaee:faces-configType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "faces-config" element is the root of the configuration

information hierarchy, and contains nested elements for all

of the other configuration settings.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:unique name="faces-config-converter-ID-uniqueness">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Converter IDs must be unique within a document.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:selector xpath="javaee:converter"/>

<xsd:field xpath="javaee:converter-id"/>

</xsd:unique>

A-6 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

<xsd:unique name="faces-config-converter-for-class-uniqueness">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

’converter-for-class’ element values must be unique

within a document.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:selector xpath="javaee:converter"/>

<xsd:field xpath="javaee:converter-for-class"/>

</xsd:unique>

<xsd:unique name="faces-config-validator-ID-uniqueness">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Validator IDs must be unique within a document.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:selector xpath="javaee:validator"/>

<xsd:field xpath="javaee:validator-id"/>

</xsd:unique>

<xsd:unique name="faces-config-managed-bean-name-uniqueness">

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-7

 <xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Managed bean names must be unique within a document.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:selector xpath="javaee:managed-bean"/>

<xsd:field xpath="javaee:managed-bean-name"/>

</xsd:unique>

</xsd:element>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-configType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "faces-config" element is the root of the configuration

information hierarchy, and contains nested elements for all

of the other configuration settings.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">

<xsd:element name="application"

type="javaee:faces-config-applicationType"/>

A-8 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 <xsd:element name="factory"

type="javaee:faces-config-factoryType"/>

<xsd:element name="component"

type="javaee:faces-config-componentType"/>

<xsd:element name="converter"

type="javaee:faces-config-converterType"/>

<xsd:element name="managed-bean"

type="javaee:faces-config-managed-beanType"/>

<xsd:element name="navigation-rule"

type="javaee:faces-config-navigation-ruleType"/>

<xsd:element name="referenced-bean"

type="javaee:faces-config-referenced-beanType"/>

<xsd:element name="render-kit"

type="javaee:faces-config-render-kitType"/>

<xsd:element name="lifecycle"

type="javaee:faces-config-lifecycleType"/>

<xsd:element name="validator"

type="javaee:faces-config-validatorType"/>

<xsd:element name="faces-config-extension"

type="javaee:faces-config-extensionType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded"/>

</xsd:choice>

<xsd:attribute name = "id" type = "xsd:ID"/>

<xsd:attribute name="version"

type="javaee:faces-config-versionType"

use="required"/>

</xsd:complexType>

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-9

 <!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name = "faces-config-extensionType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Extension element for faces-config. It may contain

implementation specific content.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:any namespace="##any"

processContents="lax"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded" />

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-applicationType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

A-10 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 The "application" element provides a mechanism to define
the

various per-application-singleton implementation artifacts

for

a particular web application that is utilizing

JavaServer Faces. For nested elements that are not

specified,

the JSF implementation must provide a suitable default.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">

<xsd:element name="action-listener"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "action-listener" element contains the

fully

qualified class name of the concrete

ActionListener implementation class that

will be

called during the Invoke Application phase

of the

request processing lifecycle.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-11

 </xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="default-render-kit-id"

type="javaee:string">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "default-render-kit-id" element allows the

application to define a renderkit to be used

other

than the standard one.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="message-bundle"

type="javaee:string">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The base name of a resource bundle

representing

the message resources for this application.

See

the JavaDocs for the "java.util.ResourceBundle"

class for more information on the syntax of

resource bundle names.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

A-12 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 </xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="navigation-handler"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "navigation-handler" element contains the

fully qualified class name of the concrete

NavigationHandler implementation class that

will

be called during the Invoke Application phase

of the request processing lifecycle, if the

default ActionListener (provided by the JSF

implementation) is used.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="view-handler"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "view-handler" element contains the fully

qualified class name of the concrete

ViewHandler

implementation class that will be called

during

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-13

 the Restore View and Render Response phases
of the

request processing lifecycle. The faces

implementation must provide a default

implementation of this class.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="state-manager"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "state-manager" element contains the fully

qualified class name of the concrete

StateManager

implementation class that will be called

during

the Restore View and Render Response phases

of the

request processing lifecycle. The faces

implementation must provide a default

implementation of this class.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="el-resolver"

A-14 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "el-resolver" element contains the fully

qualified class name of the concrete

javax.el.ELResolver implementation class

that will be used during the processing of

EL expressions.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="property-resolver"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "property-resolver" element contains the

fully

qualified class name of the concrete

PropertyResolver implementation class that will

be used during the processing of value binding

expressions.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-15

 <xsd:element name="variable-resolver"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "variable-resolver" element contains the

fully

qualified class name of the concrete

VariableResolver implementation class that will

be used during the processing of value binding

expressions.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="resource-handler"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

<![CDATA[

The "resource-handler" element contains the

fully qualified class name of the concrete

ResourceHandler implementation class that

will be used during rendering and decoding

of resource requests The standard

constructor based decorator pattern used for

other application singletons will be

A-16 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 honored.

]]>

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element

name="locale-config"

type="javaee:faces-config-locale-configType"/>

<xsd:element

name="resource-bundle"

type="javaee:faces-config-application-resource-
bundleType"/>

<xsd:element name="application-extension"

type="javaee:faces-config-application-
extensionType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded"/>

</xsd:choice>

<xsd:attribute name = "id" type = "xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-application-resource-bundleType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The resource-bundle element inside the application element

references a java.util.ResourceBundle instance by name

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-17

 using the var element. ResourceBundles referenced in this

manner may be returned by a call to

Application.getResourceBundle() passing the current

FacesContext for this request and the value of the var

element below.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:group ref="javaee:descriptionGroup"/>

<xsd:element name="base-name"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The fully qualified class name of the

java.util.ResourceBundle instance.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="var"

type="javaee:string">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The name by which this ResourceBundle instance

A-18 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 is retrieved by a call to

Application.getResourceBundle().

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name = "faces-config-application-extensionType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Extension element for application. It may contain

implementation specific content.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:any namespace="##any"

processContents="lax"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded" />

</xsd:sequence>

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-19

 <xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name = "faces-config-factoryType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "factory" element provides a mechanism to define the

various Factories that comprise parts of the implementation

of JavaServer Faces. For nested elements that are not

specified, the JSF implementation must provide a suitable

default.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">

<xsd:element name="application-factory"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "application-factory" element contains the

fully qualified class name of the concrete

ApplicationFactory implementation class that will

A-20 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 be called when

FactoryFinder.getFactory(APPLICATION_FACTORY) is

called.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="faces-context-factory"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "faces-context-factory" element contains the

fully qualified class name of the concrete

FacesContextFactory implementation class that will

be called when

FactoryFinder.getFactory(FACES_CONTEXT_FACTORY)

is called.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="lifecycle-factory"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "lifecycle-factory" element contains the fully

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-21

 qualified class name of the concrete
LifecycleFactory

implementation class that will be called when

FactoryFinder.getFactory(LIFECYCLE_FACTORY) is
called.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="render-kit-factory"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "render-kit-factory" element contains the fully

qualified class name of the concrete

RenderKitFactory

implementation class that will be called when

FactoryFinder.getFactory(RENDER_KIT_FACTORY) is

called.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="factory-extension"

type="javaee:faces-config-factory-extensionType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded"/>

</xsd:choice>

A-22 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 <xsd:attribute name = "id" type = "xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name = "faces-config-factory-extensionType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Extension element for factory. It may contain

implementation specific content.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:any namespace="##any"

processContents="lax"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded" />

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-attributeType">

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-23

 <xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "attribute" element represents a named, typed, value

associated with the parent UIComponent via the generic

attributes mechanism.

Attribute names must be unique within the scope of the

parent

(or related) component.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:group ref="javaee:descriptionGroup"/>

<xsd:element name="attribute-name"

type="javaee:string">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "attribute-name" element represents the name

under

which the corresponding value will be stored, in

the

generic attributes of the UIComponent we are

related

to.

A-24 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 </xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="attribute-class"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "attribute-class" element represents the Java

type

of the value associated with this attribute name.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="default-value"

type="javaee:faces-config-default-valueType"

minOccurs="0"/>

<xsd:element name="suggested-value"

type="javaee:faces-config-suggested-valueType"

minOccurs="0"/>

<xsd:element name="attribute-extension"

type="javaee:faces-config-attribute-extensionType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded"/>

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name = "id" type = "xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-25

 <!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name = "faces-config-attribute-extensionType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Extension element for attribute. It may contain

implementation specific content.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:any namespace="##any"

processContents="lax"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded" />

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-componentType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

A-26 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 The "component" element represents a concrete UIComponent

implementation class that should be registered under the

specified type identifier, along with its associated

properties and attributes. Component types must be unique

within the entire web application.

Nested "attribute" elements identify generic attributes

that

are recognized by the implementation logic of this

component.

Nested "property" elements identify JavaBeans properties of

the component class that may be exposed for manipulation

via tools.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:group ref="javaee:descriptionGroup"/>

<xsd:element name="component-type"

type="javaee:string">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "component-type" element represents the name

under

which the corresponding UIComponent class should be

registered.

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-27

 </xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="component-class"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "component-class" element represents the fully

qualified class name of a concrete UIComponent

implementation class.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="facet"

type="javaee:faces-config-facetType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded"/>

<xsd:element name="attribute"

type="javaee:faces-config-attributeType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded"/>

<xsd:element name="property"

type="javaee:faces-config-propertyType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded"/>

<xsd:element name="component-extension"

A-28 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 type="javaee:faces-config-component-extensionType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded"/>

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-component-extensionType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Extension element for component. It may contain

implementation specific content.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:any namespace="##any"

processContents="lax"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded" />

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-29

 <xsd:complexType name="faces-config-default-localeType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "default-locale" element declares the default locale

for this application instance.

It must be specified as :language:[_:country:[_:variant:]]

without the colons, for example "ja_JP_SJIS". The

separators between the segments may be ’-’ or ’_’.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:simpleContent>

<xsd:extension base="javaee:faces-config-localeType">

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:extension>

</xsd:simpleContent>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-default-valueType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "default-value" contains the value for the property or

A-30 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 attribute in which this element resides. This value
differs

from the "suggested-value" in that the property or

attribute

must take the value, whereas in "suggested-value" taking

the

value is optional.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:simpleContent>

<xsd:restriction base="javaee:string"/>

</xsd:simpleContent>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:simpleType name="faces-config-el-expressionType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

EL expressions present within a faces config file

must start with the character sequence of ’#{’ and

end with ’}’.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:restriction base="xsd:string">

<xsd:pattern value="#`.*\}"/>

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-31

 </xsd:restriction>

</xsd:simpleType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-facetType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Define the name and other design-time information for a

facet

that is associated with a renderer or a component.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:group ref="javaee:descriptionGroup"/>

<xsd:element name="facet-name"

type="javaee:java-identifierType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "facet-name" element represents the facet name

under which a UIComponent will be added to its

parent.

It must be of type "Identifier".

</xsd:documentation>

A-32 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 </xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="facet-extension"

type="javaee:faces-config-facet-extensionType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded"/>

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-facet-extensionType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Extension element for facet. It may contain implementation

specific content.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:any namespace="##any"

processContents="lax"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded" />

</xsd:sequence>

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-33

 <xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-from-view-idType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The value of from-view-id must contain one of the following

values:

- The exact match for a view identifier that is

recognized

by the the ViewHandler implementation being used (such

as

"/index.jsp" if you are using the default ViewHandler).

- A proper prefix of a view identifier, plus a trailing

"*" character. This pattern indicates that all view

identifiers that match the portion of the pattern up to

the asterisk will match the surrounding rule. When

more

than one match exists, the match with the longest

pattern

is selected.

- An "*" character, which means that this pattern applies

to all view identifiers.

A-34 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 </xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:simpleContent>

<xsd:restriction base="javaee:string"/>

</xsd:simpleContent>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-from-actionType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "from-action" element contains an action reference

expression that must have been executed (by the default

ActionListener for handling application level events)

in order to select the navigation rule. If not specified,

this rule will be relevant no matter which action reference

was executed (or if no action reference was executed).

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:simpleContent>

<xsd:extension base="javaee:faces-config-el-expressionType">

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:extension>

</xsd:simpleContent>

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-35

 </xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-converterType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "converter" element represents a concrete Converter

implementation class that should be registered under the

specified converter identifier. Converter identifiers must

be unique within the entire web application.

Nested "attribute" elements identify generic attributes

that

may be configured on the corresponding UIComponent in order

to affect the operation of the Converter. Nested

"property"

elements identify JavaBeans properties of the Converter

implementation class that may be configured to affect the

operation of the Converter. "attribute" and "property"

elements are intended to allow component developers to

more completely describe their components to tools and

users.

These elements have no required runtime semantics.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

A-36 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 <xsd:sequence>

<xsd:group ref="javaee:descriptionGroup"/>

<xsd:choice>

<xsd:element name="converter-id"

type="javaee:string">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "converter-id" element represents the

identifier under which the corresponding

Converter class should be registered.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="converter-for-class"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "converter-for-class" element represents

the

fully qualified class name for which a

Converter

class will be registered.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-37

 </xsd:element>

</xsd:choice>

<xsd:element name="converter-class"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "converter-class" element represents the fully

qualified class name of a concrete Converter

implementation class.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="attribute"

type="javaee:faces-config-attributeType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Nested "attribute" elements identify generic

attributes that may be configured on the

corresponding UIComponent in order to affect the

operation of the Converter. This attribute is

primarily for design-time tools and is not

specified to have any meaning at runtime.

A-38 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 </xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="property"

type="javaee:faces-config-propertyType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Nested "property" elements identify JavaBeans

properties of the Converter implementation class

that may be configured to affect the operation of

the Converter. This attribute is primarily for

design-time tools and is not specified to have

any meaning at runtime.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="converter-extension"

type="javaee:faces-config-converter-extensionType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded"/>

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-39

 <!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name = "faces-config-converter-extensionType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Extension element for converter. It may contain

implementation specific content.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:any namespace="##any"

processContents="lax"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded" />

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-lifecycleType">

<xsd:annotation>

A-40 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 <xsd:documentation>

The "lifecycle" element provides a mechanism to specify

modifications to the behaviour of the default Lifecycle

implementation for this web application.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">

<xsd:element name="phase-listener"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "phase-listener" element contains the fully

qualified class name of the concrete PhaseListener

implementation class that will be registered on

the Lifecycle.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="faces-lifecycle-listener"

type="javaee:faces-config-lifecycle-listenerType"

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-41

 minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded">

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="lifecycle-extension"

type="javaee:faces-config-lifecycle-extensionType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded"/>

</xsd:choice>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name = "faces-config-lifecycle-extensionType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Extension element for lifecycle. It may contain

implementation specific content.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:any namespace="##any"

processContents="lax"

minOccurs="0"

A-42 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 maxOccurs="unbounded" />

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:simpleType name="faces-config-localeType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The localeType defines valid locale defined by ISO-639-1

and ISO-3166.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:restriction base="xsd:string">

<xsd:pattern value="([a-z]{2})[_|]?([

{L}]{2})?[_|]?(\w+)?"/>

</xsd:restriction>

</xsd:simpleType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-locale-configType">

<xsd:annotation>

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-43

 <xsd:documentation>

The "locale-config" element allows the app developer to

declare the¬?supported locales for this application.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:element name="default-locale"

type="javaee:faces-config-default-localeType"

minOccurs="0">

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="supported-locale"

type="javaee:faces-config-supported-localeType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded">

</xsd:element>

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-managed-beanType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

A-44 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 The "managed-bean" element represents a JavaBean, of a

particular class, that will be dynamically instantiated

at runtime (by the default VariableResolver implementation)

if it is referenced as the first element of a value binding

expression, and no corresponding bean can be identified in

any scope. In addition to the creation of the managed

bean,

and the optional storing of it into the specified scope,

the nested managed-property elements can be used to

initialize the contents of settable JavaBeans properties of

the created instance.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:group ref="javaee:descriptionGroup"/>

<xsd:element name="managed-bean-name"

type="javaee:java-identifierType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "managed-bean-name" element represents the

attribute name under which a managed bean will

be searched for, as well as stored (unless the

"managed-bean-scope" value is "none").

</xsd:documentation>

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-45

 </xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="managed-bean-class"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "managed-bean-class" element represents the

fully

qualified class name of the Java class that will be

used‘to instantiate a new instance if creation

of the

specified‘managed bean is requested.

The specified class must conform to standard

JavaBeans

conventions. In particular, it must have a public

zero-arguments constructor, and zero or more public

property setters.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element

name="managed-bean-scope"

type="javaee:faces-config-managed-bean-scopeOrNoneType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

A-46 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 The "managed-bean-scope" element represents the
scope

into which a newly created instance of the

specified

managed bean will be stored (unless the value is

"none").

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:choice>

<xsd:element name="managed-property"

type="javaee:faces-config-managed-
propertyType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded"/>

<xsd:element name="map-entries"

type="javaee:faces-config-map-entriesType"/>

<xsd:element name="list-entries"

type="javaee:faces-config-list-entriesType"/>

</xsd:choice>

<xsd:element name="managed-bean-extension"

type="javaee:faces-config-managed-bean-
extensionType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded"/>

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-47

 <!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name = "faces-config-managed-bean-extensionType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Extension element for managed-bean. It may contain

implementation specific content.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:any namespace="##any"

processContents="lax"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded" />

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-managed-bean-scopeOrNoneType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

A-48 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 <![CDATA[

Defines the legal values for the <managed-bean-scope>

element’s body content, which includes all of the scopes

normally used in a web application, plus the "none" value

indicating that a created bean should not be stored into

any scope.

]]>

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:simpleContent>

<xsd:restriction base="javaee:string">

<xsd:enumeration value="request"/>

<xsd:enumeration value="view"/>

<xsd:enumeration value="session"/>

<xsd:enumeration value="application"/>

<xsd:enumeration value="none"/>

</xsd:restriction>

</xsd:simpleContent>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-managed-propertyType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-49

 The "managed-property" element represents an individual

property of a managed bean that will be configured to the

specified value (or value set) if the corresponding

managed bean is automatically created.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:group ref="javaee:descriptionGroup"/>

<xsd:element name="property-name"

type="javaee:string">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "property-name" element represents the

JavaBeans

property name under which the corresponding value

may

be stored.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="property-class"

type="javaee:java-typeType"

minOccurs="0">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

A-50 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 The "property-class" element represents the Java
type

of the value associated with this property name.

If not specified, it can be inferred from existing

classes; however, this element should be specified

if the configuration file is going to be the source

for generating the corresponding classes.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:choice>

<xsd:element name="map-entries"

type="javaee:faces-config-map-entriesType"/>

<xsd:element name="null-value"

type="javaee:faces-config-null-valueType">

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="value"

type="javaee:faces-config-valueType"/>

<xsd:element name="list-entries"

type="javaee:faces-config-list-entriesType"/>

</xsd:choice>

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-51

 <xsd:complexType name="faces-config-map-entryType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "map-entry" element reprsents a single key-entry pair

that will be added to the computed value of a managed

property of type java.util.Map.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:element name="key"

type="javaee:string">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "key" element is the String representation of a

map key that will be stored in a managed property

of

type java.util.Map.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:choice>

<xsd:element name="null-value"

type="javaee:faces-config-null-valueType"/>

A-52 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 <xsd:element name="value"

type="javaee:faces-config-valueType"/>

</xsd:choice>

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-map-entriesType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "map-entries’ element represents a set of key-entry

pairs

that will be added to the computed value of a managed

property

of type java.util.Map. In addition, the Java class types

of the key and entry values may be optionally declared.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:element name="key-class"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-classType"

minOccurs="0">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-53

 The "key-class" element defines the Java type to
which

each "key" element in a set of "map-entry" elements

will be converted to. If omitted,

"java.lang.String"

is assumed.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="value-class"

type="javaee:faces-config-value-classType"

minOccurs="0"/>

<xsd:element name="map-entry"

type="javaee:faces-config-map-entryType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded"/>

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-navigation-caseType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "navigation-case" element describes a particular

A-54 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 combination of conditions that must match for this case to

be executed, and the view id of the component tree that

should be selected next.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:group ref="javaee:descriptionGroup"/>

<xsd:element name="from-action"

type="javaee:faces-config-from-actionType"

minOccurs="0">

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="from-outcome"

type="javaee:string" minOccurs="0">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "from-outcome" element contains a logical

outcome

string returned by the execution of an application

action method selected via an "actionRef" property

(or a literal value specified by an "action"

property)

of a UICommand component. If specified, this rule

will be relevant only if the outcome value matches

this element’s value. If not specified, this rule

will be relevant no matter what the outcome value

was.

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-55

 </xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element name="to-view-id"

type="javaee:string">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "to-view-id" element contains the view

identifier

of the next view that should be displayed if this

navigation rule is matched.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:element

name="redirect"

type="javaee:faces-config-redirectType" minOccurs="0"/>

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-navigation-ruleType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

A-56 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 The "navigation-rule" element represents an individual

decision rule that will be utilized by the default

NavigationHandler implementation to make decisions on

what view should be displayed next, based on the

view id being processed.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:group ref="javaee:descriptionGroup"/>

<xsd:element name="from-view-id"

type="javaee:faces-config-from-view-idType"

minOccurs="0"/>

<xsd:element name="navigation-case"

type="javaee:faces-config-navigation-caseType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded"/>

<xsd:element

name="navigation-rule-extension"

type="javaee:faces-config-navigation-rule-extensionType"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded"/>

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-57

 <xsd:complexType name = "faces-config-navigation-rule-extensionType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Extension element for navigation-rule. It may contain

implementation specific content.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:any namespace="##any"

processContents="lax"

minOccurs="0"

maxOccurs="unbounded" />

</xsd:sequence>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

<xsd:complexType name="faces-config-null-valueType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

The "null-value" element indicates that the managed

A-58 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 property in which we are nested will be explicitly

set to null if our managed bean is automatically

created. This is different from omitting the managed

property element entirely, which will cause no

property setter to be called for this property.

The "null-value" element can only be used when the

associated "property-class" identifies a Java class,

not a Java primitive.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -->

1.2 XML Schema Definition for facelet-taglib

files
<?xml version = "1.0" encoding = "UTF-8"?>

<xsd:schema

targetNamespace="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"

xmlns:javaee="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"

xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-59

 xmlns:xml="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace"

elementFormDefault="qualified"

attributeFormDefault="unqualified"

version="2.0">

<xsd:include schemaLocation="javaee_5.xsd"/>

<xsd:element name="facelet-taglib" type="javaee:facelet-

taglibType">

<xsd:unique name="facelet-taglib-tagname-uniqueness">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

tag-names must be unique within a

document.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:selector xpath="javaee:tag"/>

<xsd:field xpath="javaee:tag-name"/>

</xsd:unique>

<xsd:unique name="faces-config-converter-ID-
uniqueness">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Converter IDs must be unique within a

document.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:selector xpath="javaee:converter"/>

<xsd:field xpath="javaee:converter-id"/>

A-60 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 </xsd:unique>

<xsd:unique name="faces-config-validator-ID-
uniqueness">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

Validator IDs must be unique within a

document.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

<xsd:selector xpath="javaee:validator"/>

<xsd:field xpath="javaee:validator-id"/>

</xsd:unique>

</xsd:element>

<xsd:complexType name="facelet-taglibType">

<xsd:choice>

<xsd:element name="library-class"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-
classType"/>

<xsd:choice>

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:element name="namespace" type=

"javaee:string"/>

<xsd:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"

name="composite-library-name"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-
classType"/>

<xsd:choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs=

"unbounded">

<xsd:element name="tag"

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-61

 type="javaee:facelet-
taglib-tagType"/>

<xsd:element name="function"

type="javaee:facelet-
taglib-functionType"/>

</xsd:choice>

</xsd:sequence>

</xsd:choice>

</xsd:choice>

<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>

<xsd:attribute name="version"

type="javaee:facelet-taglib-versionType"

use="required"/>

</xsd:complexType>

<xsd:complexType name="facelet-taglib-tagType">

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:element name="tag-name" type="javaee:string"/>

<xsd:choice>

<xsd:element name="handler-class"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-
classType"/>

<xsd:element name="component"

type="javaee:facelet-taglib-
tag-componentType"/>

<xsd:element name="converter"

type="javaee:facelet-taglib-
tag-converterType"/>

<xsd:element name="validator"

A-62 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 type="javaee:facelet-taglib-
tag-validatorType"/>

<xsd:element name="source" type=

"javaee:string"/>

</xsd:choice>

</xsd:sequence>

</xsd:complexType>

<xsd:complexType name="facelet-taglib-functionType">

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:element name="function-name" type=

"javaee:string"/>

<xsd:element name="function-class"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-
classType"/>

<xsd:element name="function-signature" type=

"javaee:string"/>

</xsd:sequence>

</xsd:complexType>

<xsd:complexType name="facelet-taglib-tag-componentType">

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:element name="component-type" type=

"javaee:string"/>

<xsd:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"

name="renderer-type" type=
"javaee:string"/>

<xsd:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"

name="handler-class"

type="javaee:fully-qualified-
classType"/>

</xsd:sequence>

</xsd:complexType>

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-63

 <xsd:complexType name="facelet-taglib-tag-converterType">

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:element minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"

name="converter-id" type=
"javaee:string"/>

<xsd:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"

name="handler-class" type=
"javaee:fully-qualified-classType"/>

</xsd:sequence>

</xsd:complexType>

<xsd:complexType name="facelet-taglib-tag-validatorType">

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:element minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"

name="validator-id" type=
"javaee:string"/>

<xsd:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"

name="handler-class" type=
"javaee:fully-qualified-classType"/>

</xsd:sequence>

</xsd:complexType>

<!-- **************************************************** -
->

<xsd:simpleType name="facelet-taglib-versionType">

<xsd:annotation>

<xsd:documentation>

This type contains the recognized versions of

facelet-taglib supported.

</xsd:documentation>

</xsd:annotation>

A-64 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 <xsd:restriction base="xsd:token">

<xsd:enumeration value="2.0"/>

</xsd:restriction>

</xsd:simpleType>

</xsd:schema>

Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-65

A-66 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008
 B

Appendix B - Change Log

2.1 Changes Between 1.1 and 1.2

Unified Expression Language (EL)

Previous versions of the JavaServer Faces included an innovative, EL tailored to the needs of
Faces. The main emphasis of this version of the Faces spec, and also the focus of the JSP
spec corresponding to it, is to take those innovations and expose them to JSP page authors by
creating a Unified EL that leverages the combined power of the Faces and JSP ELs. The
Faces EL would then be deprecated, and the deprecated implementation would be written in
terms of the Unified EL to preserve backwards compatability.

2.1.0.1 Guide to Deprecated Methods Relating to the Unified EL and their

Corresponding Replacements
The following classes and methods have been deprecated:
■ javax.faces.el.EvaluationException
■ replaced by: javax.el.ELException
■ javax.faces.el.MethodBinding
■ replaced by: javax.el.MethodExpression
■ javax.faces.el.MethodNotFoundException
■ replaced by: javax.el.MethodNotFoundException
■ javax.faces.el.PropertyNotFoundException
■ replaced by: javax.el.PropertyNotFoundException

Chapter B Appendix B - Change Log B-67

 ■ javax.faces.el.PropertyResolver
■ replaced by: javax.el.ELResolver
■ javax.faces.el.ReferenceSyntaxException
■ replaced by: javax.el.ELException
■ javax.faces.el.ValueBinding
■ replaced by: javax.el.ValueExpression
■ javax.faces.el.VariableResolver
■ replaced by: javax.el.ELResolver
■ javax.faces.application.Application.createComponent(ValueBindin
g componentBinding, FacesContext context, String
componentType)
■ replaced by:
javax.faces.application.Application.createComponent(ValueExp
ression componentExpression, FacesContext context, String
componentType)
■ javax.faces.application.Application.createMethodBinding
■ replaced by:
javax.faces.application.Application.createMethodExpression
■ javax.faces.application.Application.createValueBinding
■ replaced by calling:
javax.faces.application.Application.getExpressionFactory then
ExpressionFactory.createValueExpression
■ see Javadoc for
javax.faces.application.Application.createValueBinding
■ javax.faces.application.Application.getPropertyResolver
■ replaced by: javax.faces.application.Application.getELResolver
■ javax.faces.application.Application.setPropertyResolver
■ see Javadoc for
javax.faces.application.Application.setPropertyResolver
■ javax.faces.application.Application.getVariableResolver
■ replaced by: javax.faces.application.Application.getELResolver
■ javax.faces.application.Application.setVariableResolver
■ see Javadoc for
javax.faces.application.Application.setVariableResolver
■ javax.faces.component.ActionSource.getAction
■ replaced by:
javax.faces.component.ActionSource2.getActionExpression
■ javax.faces.component.ActionSource.setAction

B-68 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 ■ replaced by:
javax.faces.component.ActionSource2.setActionExpression
■ javax.faces.component.ActionSource.getActionListener
■ replaced by:
javax.faces.component.ActionSource.getActionListeners
■ see Javadoc for
javax.faces.component.ActionSource.getActionListener
■ javax.faces.component.ActionSource.setActionListener
■ replaced by:
javax.faces.component.ActionSource.addActionListener
■ javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.getValidator
■ replaced by:
javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.getValidators
■ see Javadoc for:
javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.getValidator
■ javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.setValidator
■ replaced by:
javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.addValidator
■ see Javadoc for:
javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.setValidator
■ javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.getValueChangeListene
r
■ replaced by:
javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.getValueChangeList
eners
■ see Javadoc for:
javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.getValueChangeList
ener
■ javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.setValueChangeListene
r
■ replaced by:
javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.addValueChangeList
ener
■ see Javadoc for:
javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.setValueChangeList
ener
■ javax.faces.component.UICommand.getAction
■ replaced by: javax.faces.component.UICommand.getActionExpression
■ javax.faces.component.UICommand.setAction

Chapter B Appendix B - Change Log B-69

 ■ replaced by: javax.faces.component.UICommand.setActionExpression
■ javax.faces.component.UICommand.getActionListener
■ replaced by: javax.faces.component.UICommand.getActionListeners
■ see Javadoc for:
javax.faces.component.UICommand.getActionListener
■ javax.faces.component.UICommand.setActionListener
■ replaced by: javax.faces.component.UICommand.addActionListener
■ see Javadoc for:
javax.faces.component.UICommand.setActionListener
■ javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.getValueBinding
■ replaced by:
javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.getValueExpression
■ javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.setValueBinding
■ replaced by:
javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.setValueExpression
■ javax.faces.component.UIComponent.getValueBinding
■ replaced by:
javax.faces.component.UIComponent.getValueExpression
■ javax.faces.component.UIComponent.setValueBinding
■ replaced by:
javax.faces.component.UIComponent.setValueExpression
■ javax.faces.component.UIData.setValueBinding
■ replaced by: javax.faces.component.UIData.setValueExpression
■ javax.faces.component.UIGraphic.getValueBinding
■ replaced by: javax.faces.component.UIGraphic.getValueExpression
■ javax.faces.component.UIGraphic.setValueBinding
■ replaced by: javax.faces.component.UIGraphic.setValueExpression
■ javax.faces.component.UIInput.getValidator
■ replaced by: javax.faces.component.UIInput.getValidators
■ see Javadoc for: javax.faces.component.UIInput.getValidator
■ javax.faces.component.UIInput.setValidator
■ replaced by: javax.faces.component.UIInput.addValidator
■ see Javadoc for: javax.faces.component.UIInput.setValidator
■ javax.faces.component.UIInput.setValueChangeListener
■ replaced by:
javax.faces.component.UIInput.addValueChangeListener

B-70 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 ■ see Javadoc for:
javax.faces.component.UIInput.setValueChangeListener
■ javax.faces.component.UISelectBoolean.getValueBinding
■ replaced by:
javax.faces.component.UISelectBoolean.getValueExpression
■ javax.faces.component.UISelectBoolean.setValueBinding
■ replaced by:
javax.faces.component.UISelectBoolean.setValueExpression
■ javax.faces.component.UISelectMany.getValueBinding
■ replaced by:
javax.faces.component.UISelectMany.getValueExpression
■ javax.faces.component.UISelectMany.setValueBinding
■ replaced by:
javax.faces.component.UISelectMany.setValueExpression

New Methods not replacing a Deprecated methods:

■ javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.getBeforePhaseListener
■ javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.setBeforePhaseListener
■ javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.getAfterPhaseListener
■ javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.setAfterPhaseListener

Guide to Deprecated Methods Relating to State Management and

their Corresponding Replacements
The following classes and methods have been deprecated:
■ javax.faces.application.StateManager.SerializedView
■ replaced by java.lang.Object that implements java.io.Serializable
■ javax.faces.application.StateManager.saveSerializedView
■ replaced by javax.faces.application.StateManager.saveView
■ javax.faces.application.StateManager.getTreeStructureToSave
■ The separation between tree structure and component state is now a recommended
implementation detail.
■ javax.faces.application.StateManager.getComponentStateToSave
■ The separation between tree structure and component state is now a recommended
implementation detail.
■ javax.faces.application.StateManager.writeState that takes a
SerializedView

Chapter B Appendix B - Change Log B-71

 ■ replaced by javax.faces.application.StateManager.writeState that
takes a java.lang.Object that implements Serializable.
■ javax.faces.application.StateManager.restoreTreeStructure
■ The separation between tree structure and component state is now a recommended
implementation detail.
■ javax.faces.application.StateManager.restoreComponentState
■ The separation between tree structure and component state is now a recommended
implementation detail.
■ javax.faces.render.ResponseStateManager.writeState that takes
a javax.faces.application.StateManager.SerializedView
■ Replaced by javax.faces.render.ResponseStateManager.writeState
that takes a java.lang.Object that implements
java.io.Serializable.
■ javax.faces.render.ResponseStateManager.getTreeStructureToResto
re
■ The separation between tree structure and component state is now a recommended
implementation detail. Semantically has been replaced by
javax.faces.render.ResponseStateManager.getState.
■ javax.faces.render.ResponseStateManager.getComponentStateToRest
ore
■ The separation between tree structure and component state is now a recommended
implementation detail. Semantically has been replaced by
javax.faces.render.ResponseStateManager.getState.

JavaServer Faces 1.2 Backwards Compatibility

■ Faces 1.2 is backwards compatible with Faces 1.1. This means that a web-application that
was developed to run with Faces 1.1 won’t require any modification when run with Faces
1.2 except in the cases described in the following section.
■ Note that Faces is a part of the Java EE platform as of Faces 1.2. A web application
therefore does not need to bundle a Faces implementation anymore when it runs on a web
container that is Java EE technology compliant. Should a Faces implementation be
bundled with a web-application, it will simply be ignored as the Faces implementation
provided by the platform always takes precedence.
■ The JSP aspects of backwards compatability are described in the JSP specification in the
Preface, in the section titled “Backwards Compatability with JSP 2.0”.

B-72 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

Breakages in Backwards Compatability
■ In Faces 1.1 you could override implicit objects in your custom resolvers. For example,
for the following expression: ${param[‘x’]} you could change the meaning of
param in your custom VariableResolver. In Faces 1.2, implicit objects are
always recognized - so param will always mean a map of parameters. See Section 5.3
“The Managed Bean Facility”
■ In Faces 1.1, any custom resolvers that do not honor the “decorator” pattern - that is,
delegate to their parent resolver, will still work in Faces 1.2 with the following
clarification: those resolvers would operate independently with regards to other resolvers
in the chain. See Section 5.6.1 “Faces ELResolver for Markup Pages”.
■ In Faces 1.1 it was valid to call setVariableResolver() or
setPropertyResolver() on the Application at any point in the application’s
lifetime. This allowed for the application to be in an indeterminate state. In Faces 1.2,
neither of these methods may be called after the application has served any requests.

General changes
The numbers in the text below refer to issue numbers in the issue tracker found at
<https://javaserverfaces-spec-public.dev.java.net/servlets/ProjectIssues>.
■ 2 - Clarify that for client side state saving, the state should be encrypted for security.
■ 3 - Clarify the specification with respect to constraint violations for tags in the Core Tag
Library.
■ 4 - Added headerClass and footerClass attributes at the “h:column” level. Please
see Section 8.5 “Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation” for more details.
■ 5 - Clarified the use of a string literal for the “action” attribute on ActionSource
components.
■ 6 - Introduced a new optional “label” attribute for input components that will provide an
association between a component, and the message that the component (indirectly)
produced. Please refer to Section 8.5 “Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation” and
Section 2.5.2.4 “Localized Application Messages” for more details.
■ 8 - Made UViewRoot a source of PhaseEvent(s) for all phases of the request processing
lifecycle except RestoreView. Provided additional “before” and “after” phase listener
attributes for the <f:view> tag. Please see Section 4.1.17 “UIViewRoot” for more details.
■ 9 - Clarified the behavior of PhaseListener implementations in the following way: they
must guarantee that if “beforePhase()” is called, then “afterPhase()” must also be called,
regardless of any thrown exceptions. Please see Section 12.3 “PhaseListener” for more
specifics.
■ 11 - Provide a unique window identifier (in addition to the “viewid”) to accomodate
applications that have mutiple instances of the same view, but perhaps in different
browser windows or frames.

Chapter B Appendix B - Change Log B-73

 ■ 13 - Specified “by type” converter registration for BigDecimal and BigInteger.
■ 15 - Enhanced the usage of the “Decorator Pattern” for ViewHandler, StateManager and
ResponseWriter classes by providing abstract wrapper classes to make it easier to override
a subset of the total methods for those classes. Please see Section 11.4.5 “Delegating
Implementation Support” for more details.
■ 16 - Provided additional I18n attributes “dir and “lang” for the tags: <h:outputText>,
<h:outputFormat>, <h:messages>, <h:message>. Please see Section 8.5 “Standard HTML
RenderKit Implementation” for descriptions of these components.
■ 17 - Introduced a new optional “layout” attribute on the “PanelGroup” component that
controls the rendering of either a “div” or “span” HTML element. Please see Section 8.5
“Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation” for more details.
■ 18 - When a resource lookup is done on the java.util.Map (loaded from <f:loadBundle>)
using a key, and the key is not found in the Map, return the literal string ???KEY???
where KEY is the key being looked up in the Map (instead of throwing a
MissingResourceException). Throw a JspException if the named bundle identified by
<f:loadBundle> does not exist. Please see Section 9.4.7 “<f:loadBundle>”.
■ 20 - Specify that the event queue should be cleared after each phase (except
RestoreViewPhase and RenderResponse) if “responseComplete” or “renderResponse” has
been set on the FacesContext.
■ 21 - Provided an additional “binding” attribute for the core Converter, Listener and
Validator tags that would be used as a ValueExpression to alternatively create the
Converter, Listener or Validator instance. Please see Section 9.4 “JSF Core Tag Library”
for more details.
■ 27 - <h:messages> now renders HTML list elements (“<ul>”,”<li>”) if the “layout”
attribute is “list” or the “layout” attribute is not specified. If the “layout” is “table”, an
HTML “table” element is rendered instead of an outer “span”. Please see Section 8.5
“Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation” for more details.
■ 29 - Allow the use of user-defined “onclick” Javascript on CommandLink.
■ 30 - Make the “commandButton” “image” attribute render the same as the
“graphicImage” “img” attribute for consistency. Please see Section 8.5 “Standard HTML
RenderKit Implementation” for more information.
■ 35 - Provided a new facet for DataTable Renderer that allows the rendering of a table
“caption” element immediately following the “table” element. Also provided style sheet
attributes for this new element. Please see Section 8.5 “Standard HTML RenderKit
Implementation” for a descrption of this component.
■ 43 - Migrated over to using XML Schema (from DTD) for configuation file validation.
Please see Section 1.1 “XML Schema Definition”.
■ 45 - Avoided concurrent read issues by using a java.util.HashMap instead of
java.util.WeakHashMap for a component’s Property Descriptor Map. This also fixes the
performance problem as identified in the forum. Please refer to the Property Descriptor
methods and the constructor in javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.
■ 47 - Introduced a mechanism to detect if a request is a postback.

B-74 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

■ 48 - Specify the algorithm used for client id generation as well as provide a way to allow
the page author to specify exactly what the client Id should be, and preventing Faces from
altering it.
■ 50 - Allow an application to specify multiple render kits by introducing an optional
“renderKitId” attribute on “<f:view>”. It is no longer required to write a custom
ViewHandler to incorporate a different render kit. Please refer to Section 8.3
“ResponseStateManager” and Section 9.4.20 “<f:view>” for more details.
■ 51 - Clarify the specification with respect to “Application Startup Behavior”. Allow
implementations to check for the presence of a servlet-class definition in a web
application deployment descriptor as a means to abort the configuration and save startup
time.
■ 54 - Added new extension elements to the Faces XML schema. Please see Section 1.1
“XML Schema Definition”.
■ 55 - For postback requests, in the “RestoreViewPhase”, during ValueExpression
examination for each component in the component tree, specify that calling the
setValue() method on each ValueExpression, should be done in a “parent-first”
fashion, calling the setValue() method and then traversing the children.
■ 58 - Enabed “protected” access to internal “DataModel” in UIData.
■ 59 - Avoid EL expression evaluation for “value” attribute on “AttributeTag”.
“AttributeTag” now passes the expression to UIComponent for evaluation.
■ 65 - Added standard converter messages. Please see Section 2.5.2.4 “Localized
Application Messages” for more details.
■ 66 - Specified that “FormRenderer” must render the “name” attribute with the same value
as the “id” attribute. Please see Section 8.5 “Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation”
for more details.
■ 67 - Allow the resetting of an input component’s value by introducing a resetValue()
method on UIInput.
■ 68 - Specify that the component tree may be manipulated throughout the request
processing lifecycle, except during render. Please see Section 2.2.6 “Render Response”
for more details.
■ 69 - Permit the passing of a null value to SelectItem.setValue().
■ 72 - Improve XHTML compliance by rendering both “lang” and “xml:lang” attributes.
■ 73 - Added a new FacesException - “javax.faces.application.ViewExpiredException”.
Specified that implementations must throw this exception when an attempt to restore a
view results in failure on postback. Please see Section 2.2.1 “Restore View” for more
details.
■ 74 - Added “disabled” property to “outputLink” and “commandLink”. Please see
Section 8.5 “Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation” for more details.
■ 75 - Added “getRequestContentType” and “getResponseContentType” to ExternalContext.
■ 78 - Added a more “user-friendly” default error message for UIInput “update model”.
Please see Section 2.5.2.4 “Localized Application Messages” for more details.

Chapter B Appendix B - Change Log B-75

 ■ 80 - Specify that the JSF Core Tag Library must not contain any tags that cause JavaScript
to be rendered to the client.
■ 81 - Enable the message displayed for “required” validation, conversion, and validation to
be overridden by the page author (JSP or non-JSP)
■ 82 - Added new feature, the ability to resolve ResourceBundles via the EL without the use
of the <f:loadBundle> tag.
■ 84 - Added rendered attribute to the core f:verbatim tag. Please see Section 9.4
“JSF Core Tag Library” for more details.
■ 85 - Add new tag: f:setPropertyActionListener. Useful for pushing values into managed
beans without allowing modification of the value.
■ 86 - Specified that “OutputLinkRenderer” must render the “name” attribute with the same
value as the “id” attribute. Please see Section 8.5 “Standard HTML RenderKit
Implementation” for more details.
■ 87 - Modified specification for the setVariableResolver() and
setPropertyResolver() methods on Application to state that they may not be
called after the application has served any requests.
■ 93 - Added “escape” flag indicating the text of UISelectItem should be escaped when
rendering.
■ 95 - Allow multiple instances of FacesServlet in a single webapp, mapped with
different URI mappings, to use different implementations of Lifecycle by allowing the
lifecycle-id to be specified as an init-param in addition to the existing way of
specifying it as a context-param.
■ 98 - Specified that “SelectManyCheckboxListRenderer: and “RadioRenderer” must render
the “label” element after the “input element for each “SelectItem. Specified that the
“label” element must refer to the “input” element using the “for” attribute. Please see
Section 8.5 “Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation” for more details.
■ 99 - Specified Java EE 5 Generics usage where applicable.
■ 105 - Specified that for commandButton rendering, the “image” attribute value must not
be escaped. Specified that for graphicImage rendering, the “src” attribute value must not
be escaped.
■ 108 - Specified that JSF implementations that are part of a Java EE technology-compliant
implementation are required to validate the application resource file against the XML
schema for structural correctness. Also specified that validation is recommended, but not
required for JSF implementatons that are not part of a Java EE technology compliant
implementation. Please refer to Section 11.4.2 “Application Startup Behavior” for more
details.
■ 111 - Specified that a component must allow child components to be added to and
removed from the child list of the current component, even though the child component
returns null from getParent().
■ 118 - Specified that an implementation of Map returned from
ExternalContext.getSessionMap implement a “clear” method that calls “removeAttribute”
on each attribute in the Servlet or Portlet session.

B-76 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

■ 119 - Specified that implementations running in a JSR-250 compliant container have their
managed bean methods annotated with @PostConstruct be called after the object is
instantiated, and after injection is performed, but before the bean is placed into scope.
Specified that methods annotated with @PreDestroy be called when the scope for the
bean is ending.
■ 120 - Specified in the renderkit docs that commandButton rendering can generate
javascript for “onclick” attribute.
■ 122 - Clarified renderkit docs with respect to what gets rendered for disabled command
link attributes.
■ 123 - Clarified renderkit docs with respect to dataTable attribute rendering.
■ 124 - Clarified renderkit docs with repsect to graphicImage “alt” attribute.
■ 131 - Specified that a compliant implementation must allow the registration of a converter
for class java.lang.String and java.lang.String.TYPE that will be used to convert values
for these types.
■ 133 - Removed the incorrect statement: “"It is the callers responsibility to ensure that
setViewId() is called on the returned view, passing the same viewId value." pertaining to
ViewHandler.createView()
■ 134 - Fixed backwards compatability issues.
■ 135 - Support Java EE 5 enums as valid types/
■ 138 - Change the required return type for action methods to be Object instead of String.
This allows the usage of Enums for the return type of action methods, as long as the
toString() method of the enum matches the expected value in the application configuration
resources.
■ 145 - Define new method on UIComponent, invokeOnComponent(). This will find a
component in the tree by clientId and invoke a user specified callback on it. Please see
Section 3.1.8 “Component Tree Navigation” and Section 4.1.1.3 “Methods” [of UIData]
for more details.
■ jsf-ri 127 - Specify that FacesContext methods getClientIdsWithMessages( ) and
getMessages( ) must be implemented using order-preserving structures so the items in the
iterator are returned in the order they were added with addMessage().Spec document
changes
■ 147 - Clarified grammer with respect to component id.
■ 151 - Specified standard converter for Enums
■ 152 - Specified EL coercion usage in API javadocs UISelectOne/UISelectMany (when
items are compared in validation) and standard html renderkit docs during encoding of
select components.
■ 154 - Fixed FacesTag “name” attribute discrepency - made it a String (was
ValueExpression).
■ 155 - Specified “columnClasses”, “rowClasses” descriptions for panelGrid in renderkit
docs.

Chapter B Appendix B - Change Log B-77

 ■ 160 - Added and specified ResponseWriter.writeText method that takes a UIComponent
argument.
■ The TLDDocs for the h: tag library are now a normative part of the spec.

Following is a section by section breakdown of the main changes since the last release of this
document. This work was done mainly to support changes in tree creation and content
interweaving for JSP based faces applications, as well as for fixing the following issues from
the above list: 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 11 13 15 16 17 18 20 21 27 29 30 35 43 45 47 48 50 51 53 54
55 58 59 65 66 67 68 69 72 73 74 75 78 80 81 82 84 85 86 93 95 98 99 105 108 111 118 119
120 122 123 124 131 133 134 135 138 145 147 151 152 154 155 160.

Preface
■ Added new section: Guide to Deprecated Methods Relating to State Management and
their Corresponding Replacements.

Section 2.2.1 “Restore View”

■ Do per-component actions in a "parent-first" fashion, calling the setValue() method and
*then* traversing the children.
■ Describe the new responsibilities of this phase with respect to the new StateSaving
changes.
■ Describe when ViewHandler.initView() is to be called.
■ Describe how the ViewHandler.calculateRenderKitId() and
ResponseStateManager.isPostback() method are to be used.
■ Specify that implementations must throw
javax.faces.application.ViewExpiredException when an attempt to
restore a view results in failure on postback.

Section 2.2.6 “Render Response”

■ Specify that the component tree may be manipulated throughout the request processing
lifecycle, except during render.

Section 2.4.2.1 “Create A New View”

Document that multiple renderkits are supported.

B-78 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

Section 2.5.2.4 “Localized Application Messages”
Added updates to standard messages; Also mentioned new parameter substitution token for
the generic input component attribute "label".

Section 3.1.10 “Generic Attributes”

Completely specify how attribute/property transparency works.

Section 3.1.12 “Component Specialization Methods”

Add new method, encodeAll(), which is now the preferred method for developers to call to
render a child or facet().

Section 4.1.4 “UIForm”

Document the new prependId property and getContainerClientId() method.

UIData Section 4.1.3.2 “Properties”

Added protected property for DataModel.

UIInput Section 4.1.6 “UIInput”

■ Document the behavior of the requiredMessage, converterMessage and
validatorMessage properties.

UIInput Section 4.1.6.3 “Methods”

■ Add mention of resetValue() to the "Methods" section for UIInput.

Section 4.1.17 “UIViewRoot”

■ Change callsite for saveSerializedView and writeState().
■ Change to clear the event queue after each phase if skipping to rendering response.
■ JSP tag no longer deals with state saving.

Chapter B Appendix B - Change Log B-79

 Section 5.1.2 and 5.1.3 “ValueExpression Syntax” and
“ValueExpression Semantics”
Removed and made reference to EL spec.

Section 5.2.1 “MethodExpression Syntax and Semantics”

Make reference to EL spec.

Section 5.4 “Leveraging Java EE 5 Annotations in Managed Beans”

■ This new section covers the modifications necessary to allow managed beans to be the
target of container managed dependency injection using the @Resource and @EJB
annotations.
■ Added section 5.4.1 that specifies how the @PostConstruct and @PreDestroy
annotations must be handled.

Section 5.5.3 “ExpressionFactory”

■ Update signature of createValueExpresion() and createMethodExpression() to include
ELContext as the first argument.

Section 5.6.1.4 “ResourceBundle ELResolver for Markup Pages”

■ This resolver, when coupled with the javax.el.ResourceBundleELResolver,
allows the resolution of ResourceBundles and entries therein via the EL. See also
Section 5.6.2.5 “el.ResourceBundleELResolver” and Section 5.6.2.6 “ResourceBundle
ELResolver for Programmatic Access”.

Section 7.5.1 “Overview” ViewHandler

■ Document new methods initView() and calculateCharacterEncoding();

Section 7.5.2 “Default ViewHandler Implementation”

■ modify createView() to reflect current reality:
■ Do the viewId discovery algorithm formerly in restoreView().
■ Redirect to the context root if no viewId can be discerned.
■ Do the existing processing.
■ modify restoreView() to reflect current reality:

B-80 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

 ■ Do the existing processing.
■ Do the viewId discovery algorithm now in createView().
■ If no viewId can be discovered, return null.
■ Always call StateManager.restoreView().
■ no longer set the character encoding, this has moved out to the Restore View phase
implementation
■ change callsite for saveSerializedView() to be saveView().
■ added ViewHandler.calculateRenderKitId responsibility of returning the request parameter
named ResponseStateManager.RENDER_KIT_ID_PARAM if not null.

State Saving Section 7.6.1 “Overview”

■ Soften the wording about the separation between tree structure and component state, say
it's only a recommendation to keep these two separate.

Section 7.6.2 “State Saving Alternatives and Implications”

■ Modified client state saving text to add "It is advisable that this information be encrypted
and tamper evident, since it is being sent down to the client, where it may persist for some
time."
■ Modified server state saving text to add "Implementations that wish to enable their saved
state to fail over to a different container instance must keep this in mind when
implementing their server side state saving strategy. The default implementation Serializes
the view in both the client and server modes. In the server mode, this serialized view is
stored in the session and a unique key to retrieve the view is sent down to the client. By
storing the serialized view in the session, failover may happen using the usual
mechanisms provided by the container."
■ The values of all component attributes and properties must implement Serializable.
■ New section 7.7.6 StateManager in the "Deprecated APIs" section (7.7)
■ New section 7.7.7 ResponseStateManager in the "Deprecated APIs" section (7.7)

Section 8.3 “ResponseStateManager”

Describe the non-deprecated methods.
■ Added verbiage about ResponseStateManager implementation's responsibility of writing
out render kit identifier.
■ Describe the isPostback() method.

Chapter B Appendix B - Change Log B-81

 Section 9.1 “UIComponent Custom Actions”
■ Specify that id is now rtexprvalue true.

Section 9.2.8 “Interoperability with JSP Template Text and Other

Tag Libraries”
■ Changes in the current version of the EL allow Faces applications to use JSTL
<c:forEach> tags with Faces components as long as the items attribute points to a
deferred EL expression (ie, a #{} expression, as opposed to an immediate ${}
expression).
■ Also, remove the requirements that <f:verbatim> be used, and that components added
to the tree programmatically will only be rendered if they are the children of a
rendersChildren==true component

Section “Integration with JSP”

■ Changes to account for moving from UIComponentTag/UIComponentBodyTag to
UIComponentELTag.

Section 9.3.1.2 “Faces 1.0 and 1.1 Taglib migration story”

■ Describe the new jsp-version TLD based migration story.

Section 9.4 “JSF Core Tag Library”

■ For listener/converter/validator tags, clarified that exceptions would be rethrown as
JspException. Also specfy JspException should be thrown if certain constraints are not
met.
■ Specify that tags may have non-deferred expressions as the value of their id attribute.
■ Added binding attribute to listener/converter/validator tags.
■ Added rendered attribute to verbatim tag.
■ Specify that none of the tags in the JSF Core Tag Library may cause JavaScript to be
rendered to the client.

Section 9.4.2 “<f:attribute>”

■ Specify that the argument value must be interrogated to see if it isLiteralText(). If so,
store in the attributes set, If not, store in the ValueExpression set.

B-82 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008

Section 9.4.12 “<f:setPropertyActionListener>”
■ New Section, document this new tag.

Section 9.4.20 “<f:view>”

■ Added renderKitId attribute description to f:view;

Section 9.5 “Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library”

■ Specify how to handle action attributes that are string literals.
■ Call out to TLDDocs for parts of the requirements. TLDDocs are now normative.

Section 11.2.6.2 “FacesServlet”

■ Describe how the init-param then the context-param must be consulted for the
lifecycleID for this FacesServlet instance.

Section 11.3 “Deprecated APIs in the webapp package”

New section describing deprecated APIs. Previous section at this address moved to next
section number.

Section 11.4.2 “Application Startup Behavior”

■ Implementations may check for the presence of a servlet-class definition of class
javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet in the web application deployment descriptor as a means
to abort the configuration process and reduce startup time for applications that do not use
JavaServer Faces Technology.

Chapter A “XML Schema Definition

■ New appendix for XML Schema and DTD

Chapter B Appendix B - Change Log B-83

B-84 JavaServer Faces Specification • September 2008