rich:column sorting can't be resolved

Question

I'm new in Richfaces framework which I'm going to use in the nearest project in my job.

I've created some simple example in which I have rich:dataTable and I'm trying to make column sorted. I've read in the tutorial ( http://docs.jboss.org/richfaces/latest_3_3_X/en/devguide/html/rich_column.html ) that everything what I need is to type "sortBy" parameter to the "rich:column" tag . Unfortunately columns can't be sort. Can anybody help me? Below source code of my simple app :

<ui:composition 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:a4j="http://richfaces.org/a4j"
xmlns:rich="http://richfaces.org/rich">

<f:view>
    <h:head></h:head>
    <h:body>
    <rich:panel header="Richfaces dataTable">
    <rich:dataTable value="#{TaskListBean.dataList}" var="dataItem"
    rows="4" columnClasses="50,100,100,100"
    onRowMouseOver="this.style.backgroundColor='#B5F3FB'"
    onRowMouseOut="this.style.backgroundColor='#{a4jSkin.rowBackgroundColor}'"
    width="350">

    <f:facet name="caption">
    <h:outputText value="This is the caption" />
    </f:facet>

    <f:facet name="header">
    <h:outputText value="Trouble Ticket Systems" />
    </f:facet>

    <rich:column colspan="4">
    <h:outputText value="Trouble Tickets opened" />
    </rich:column>

    <rich:column sortBy="#{dataItem.taskInstanceId}">
    <f:facet name="header">Ticket Id</f:facet>
    <h:outputText value="#{dataItem.taskInstanceId}" />
    </rich:column>

    <rich:column sortBy="#{dataItem.taskNode}">
    <f:facet name="header">Status</f:facet>
    <h:outputText value="#{dataItem.taskNode}" />
    </rich:column>

    <rich:column sortBy="#{dataItem.actorId}">
    <f:facet name="header">Actor</f:facet>
    <h:outputText value="#{dataItem.actorId}" />
    </rich:column>

    <rich:column>
    <f:facet name="header">Description</f:facet>
    <h:outputText value="#{dataItem.description}" />
    </rich:column>

    <f:facet name="footer">
    <h:outputText value="This is the footer" />
    </f:facet>

    </rich:dataTable>
    </rich:panel>
    </h:body>
</f:view>

Menaged Bean of my app:

package richfacesr;

import java.io.Serializable;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import javax.faces.bean.ManagedBean;

@ManagedBean(name = "manager")
public class TaskListBean implements Serializable {

private ArrayList dataList;

public void loadDataList() {

    dataList = new ArrayList();

    TaskListData data1 = new TaskListData();
    data1.setTaskInstanceId(1000l);
    data1.setActorId("Willy smith");
    data1.setTaskNode("In Charge");
    data1.setDescription("CR 123456");

    TaskListData data2 = new TaskListData();
    data2.setTaskInstanceId(1001l);
    data2.setActorId("Frank Sinatra");
    data2.setTaskNode("Rejected");
    data2.setDescription("CR 654321");

    dataList.add(data1);
    dataList.add(data2);

    }

public List<TaskListData> getDataList() {
    loadDataList();
    return dataList;
    }

 }

and the object:

package richfacesr;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;    

public class TaskListData {
  private String taskNode;
  private long taskInstanceId;
  private String actorId;
  private String description;

  public String getActorId() {
   return actorId;
  }
  public void setActorId(String actorId) {
   this.actorId = actorId;
  }
  public String getTaskNode() {
   return taskNode;
  }
  public void setTaskNode(String currentNode) {
   this.taskNode = currentNode;
  }
  public String getDescription() {
   return description;
  }
  public void setDescription(String description) {
   this.description = description;
  }
  public long getTaskInstanceId() {
   return taskInstanceId;
  }
  public void setTaskInstanceId(long taskInstanceId) {
   this.taskInstanceId = taskInstanceId;
  }
}

Answer 1

Taken from the Richfaces 4 documentation, built in sorting for dataTables does not work.

The built-in sort controls are only available with the extendedDataTable component. Support for built-in sort controls in the dataTable component will be added in a subsequent release.

It did work in Richfaces 3, but it seems that they have changed a bit, so that this feature is currently not working in Richfaces 4, out of the box.

Although you say that you use Richfaces 5, which is Alpha1, I doubt that this feature is already in there. So you will need to write some code for yourself.

Looking a the Richfaces 4 showcase about table sorting you need to

• put your managed bean into ViewScope - otherwise the unsorted list will be created again and again
• move your loadDataList out of getDataList() into the constuctor or annotate it with @PostConstruct - otherwise the unsorted list will be created again and again
• make your TaskListData Serializable
• add a sort method to your TaskListBean - do the sorting there - maybe as described in Sort ArrayList of custom Objects by property
• check the name of your ManagedBean TaskListBean - in the code you call it manager, but in your xhtml you call it TaskListBean

Here is my tuned version of your xhtml

<f:view>
    <h:head />
    <h:body>
        <h:form>
            <rich:dataTable id="table" var="dataItem"
                value="#{manager.dataList}" width="350">

                <rich:column id="ticketId" sortBy="#{dataItem.taskInstanceId}">
                    <f:facet name="header">
                        <a4j:commandLink value="Ticket Id" render="table"
                            action="#{manager.sortBy('Ticket Id')}" />
                    </f:facet>
                    <h:outputText value="#{dataItem.taskInstanceId}" />
                </rich:column>

                <rich:column sortBy="#{dataItem.taskNode}">
                    <f:facet name="header">
                        <a4j:commandLink value="Status" render="table"
                            action="#{manager.sortBy('Status')}" />
                    </f:facet>
                    <h:outputText value="#{dataItem.taskNode}" />
                </rich:column>

                <rich:column sortBy="#{dataItem.actorId}">
                    <f:facet name="header">
                        <a4j:commandLink value="Actor" render="table"
                            action="#{manager.sortBy('Actor')}" />
                    </f:facet>
                    <h:outputText value="#{dataItem.actorId}" />
                </rich:column>

                <rich:column>
                    <f:facet name="header">
                        <a4j:commandLink value="Description" render="table"
                            action="#{manager.sortBy('Description')}" />
                    </f:facet>
                    <h:outputText value="#{dataItem.description}" />
                </rich:column>

            </rich:dataTable>
        </h:form>
    </h:body>
</f:view>

My tuned version of your TaskListBean

import java.io.Serializable;
import java.util.*;

import javax.annotation.PostConstruct;
import javax.faces.bean.*;

@ViewScoped
@ManagedBean(name="manager")
public class TaskListBean implements Serializable {

    private ArrayList<TaskListData> dataList;

    @PostConstruct
    public void loadDataList() {
        dataList = new ArrayList<TaskListData>();

        TaskListData data1 = new TaskListData();
        data1.setTaskInstanceId(1000l);
        data1.setActorId("Willy smith");
        data1.setTaskNode("In Charge");
        data1.setDescription("CR 123456");

        TaskListData data2 = new TaskListData();
        data2.setTaskInstanceId(1001l);
        data2.setActorId("Frank Sinatra");
        data2.setTaskNode("Rejected");
        data2.setDescription("CR 654321");

        dataList.add(data1);
        dataList.add(data2);

    }

    public void sortBy(String aColumn) {
        System.out.println("sort by: " + aColumn);
        // TODO sort the list by that attribute
    }

    public List<TaskListData> getDataList() {
        return dataList;
    }

}