Render extended data table after file download

Question

I am working on jsf 2 with richfaces 4. I have a requirement to select a record from extended data table and to download XML based on the selection.

For implementing download, I followed the approach mentioned by BalusC in Forcing a save as dialogue from any web browser from JSF application

My code is as below.

XHTML File
----------
<h:commandButton id="Download" value="#{msg.buttonDownload}"
action="#{studentMBean.downloadStudent}"
render="studentTable,datascroller" immediate="true">
</h:commandButton>

downloadStudent method
----------------------
Student student  = studentSvc.downloadStudent(studentMap);
JAXBContext jaxbContext = JAXBContext.newInstance(Student.class);
Marshaller jaxbMarshaller = jaxbContext.createMarshaller();
jaxbMarshaller.setProperty(Marshaller.JAXB_FORMATTED_OUTPUT, true);
FacesContext facesContext = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
ExternalContext externalContext = facesContext.getExternalContext();
HttpServletResponse response = (HttpServletResponse) externalContext.getResponse();
response.reset();
response.setContentType("application/xml");
response.setHeader("Content-disposition", "attachment; filename=\"studentData.xml\"");
jaxbMarshaller.marshal(student, response.getWriter());
response.getWriter().close();
facesContext.responseComplete();

The problem here is studentTable and dataScroller are not getting rendered after file download. So the check box values selected for download are not cleared. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

I think it is not possible at all. See this explanation about what happens with responseComplete. --> JSF 2.0 RenderResponse and ResponseComplete

You can either have a file as the response of your request to download, or an AJAX partial update to re-render something. Both at the same time is not possible and you will need two requests to do so. I guess that's only possible via some custom javascript-ajax call when you click the button.