Referencing components inside of composite components (and vice versa)

Question

I'm having one or two problems with Primefaces (v5.2):

Referencing components inside composite components

Let's say I have a composite component that wraps an inputfield:

myinputfield.xhtml

<composite:interface>
    <composite:attribute name="value" />
    ...
</composite:interface>

<composite:implementation>
    <h:inputText value="#{cc.attrs.value}" />
</composite:implementation>

(Of course the real application does "a little" more.)

In my page I now use this field like this:

index.xhtml

<my:myinputputfield value=#{controller.inputstring} />

This works. But: Know I want to reference that inner inputfield from outside, for example for labels or messages. Something like:

<p:inputLabel for="mif" value="Your Input:"/>
<my:myinputputfield id="mif" value=#{controller.inputstring} />
<p:message for="mif" />

Of course that doesn't work, because id isn't defined for myinputfield. So the first idea that pops to mind is to extent the cc like this:

myinputfield.xhtml (new)

<composite:interface>
    <composite:attribute name="id" />
    <composite:attribute name="value" />
    ...
</composite:interface>

<composite:implementation>
    <h:inputText id="{cc.attrs.id}" value="#{cc.attrs.value}" />
</composite:implementation>

Which does not work as well. I tried different things and read different answers and articles without finding an answer to this.

The second problem is the complete opposite:

Referencing components outside composite components

This time imagine it the other way around. I have a customized label, message or in my case a tooltip:

mytooltip.xhtml

<composite:interface>
    <composite:attribute name="for" />
    <composite:attribute name="value" />
    ...
</composite:interface>

<composite:implementation>
    <p:toolTip for="#{cc.attrs.for}" value="#{cc.attrs.value}" />
</composite:implementation>

This time I want to attach mytooltip to an existing component:

index.xhtml

<h:outputtext id="ot" value="Hello World!" />
<my:mytooltip for="ot" value="since 1974" />

Which also does not work. (Of course!?)

This problem I had some time ago and solved it by inclduing the outputText in the composite component.

But I have the feeling it should be possible to manage both user cases. But how?

Always best btw to ask 1 question per question. Issue in this case is that a composite component is **always** naming container. Read about those in this context (and check the html source to see it in action, check the real client id of the inputtext) — Kukeltje, Jun 21 '17 at 18:33

Michele Mariotti · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-22T08:10:50.637

Referencing components inside composite components

give the internal input a static id

<composite:interface>
    <composite:attribute name="value" />
    ...
</composite:interface>

<composite:implementation>
    <h:inputText id="input" value="#{cc.attrs.value}" />
</composite:implementation>

reference the internal component as with any naming container:

<p:inputLabel for="mif:input" value="Your Input:"/>
<my:myinputputfield id="mif" value=#{controller.inputstring} />
<p:message for="mif:input" />

Referencing components outside composite components

the canonical way is to use the full client id:

<h:form id="form">
    <h:outputText id="ot" value="Hello World!" />
    <my:mytooltip for=":form:ot" value="since 1974" />
</h:form>

but, since you are passing the search expression to a PF component, you can also:

<h:form>
    <h:outputText id="ot" value="Hello World!" />
    <my:mytooltip for="@form:ot" value="since 1974" />
</h:form>

or generically:

<p:tabView>
    <p:tab title="random tab">
        <h:outputText id="ot" value="Hello World!" />
        <my:mytooltip for="@namingcontainer:ot" value="since 1974" />
    </p:tab>
</p:tabView>

or even:

<h:outputText value="Hello World!" />
<my:mytooltip for="@composite:@previous" value="since 1974" />

however, in such cases, a tag-component/facelet-tag-file could be a better approach.

add 1: the referencing works, and it turned out, that I oversimplified the problem. (It's about a parametrerized "required" tag that works, but does not generate the asterisk on the label. I'll put on another question for that one if I can't figured it out by myself.) - add 2: I'll look into that, when I have the time. It's probably a worthwhile read anyway. — Robin Koch, Jun 22 '17 at 08:31

Referencing components inside of composite components (and vice versa)

1 Answers1