JSF 2.2 Table conditional rendering not working

Question

Im trying to display a simple table with an @Entity infos using the following tag-libs:

xmlns:ui="http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/facelets"
xmlns:c="http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsp/jstl/core"

Here's the mapped entity attribute, a boolean:

@NotNull
@Column(name = "ACTIVE", columnDefinition = "BIT", length = 1)
private boolean active;

//... getters and setters
public boolean getActive() {
    return active;
}

public boolean isActive() {
    return active;
}

public void setActive(boolean active) {
    this.active= active;
}

ps.: by debugging the backing bean, im getting the desired list.

Here's my .xhtml (jsf page) snippet:

<ui:repeat var="u" value="#{usersList}">
            <tr>
                <td>#{u.name}</td>
                <td>#{u.login}</td>
                <td>#{u.email}</td>
                <td>
                    <c:choose>
                        <c:when test="${u.active}">
                            <span style="color: green" class="glyphicon glyphicon-ok"></span>
                        </c:when>
                        <c:otherwise>
                            <span style="color: red"
                                                            class="glyphicon glyphicon-remove"></span>
                        </c:otherwise>
                    </c:choose>
                </td>
            </tr>
        </c:when>
</ui:repeat>

Altough the list is not empty, the empty message is being shown, and no row is displayed.

If i force the row displaying, removing the conditional rendering, i get the following error:

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Cannot convert 1 of type class java.lang.Long to class java.lang.Boolean

for the property active.

I've tried a few solutions before asking, like these:

How does Java expression language resolve boolean attributes? (in JSF 1.2)

javax.el.PropertyNotFoundException when trying to resolve Boolean properties in EL

Update 1: reviewing my code, i realised i was empty testing an object, not a list, updating my snippet also, so, the conditional on the rows displaying its ok now, but the active property issue, still throwing the error.

It throws the same exception, also tried changing the datatype to String, wich displayed **true**, by using the EL `#{u.active}`, but using `#{u.active == 'true'}` as the condition, doesnt return true, at least, it doesnt throw any error. — vcorrea, May 28 '14 at 17:15
jsf snippet: `#{u.active} | #{u.active == 'true'} | active ` displays: `true | true | ` — vcorrea, May 28 '14 at 17:20

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:50

The problem is that JSF tags (e.g. ui:repeat) are evaluated in a different (later) phase then JSTL tags (e.g. c:when). Therefore the values of your user list are just not available when the c:when statement is evaluated. Sometimes this results in a weird behaviour so that it looks like the values are available. Have a look at this answer to get some details.

You should use the rendered attribute of some JSF component:

<c:choose>
  <c:when test="${u.active}">
     <span style="color: green" class="glyphicon glyphicon-ok"></span>
  </c:when>
  <c:otherwise>
    <span style="color: red" class="glyphicon glyphicon-remove"></span>
  </c:otherwise>
</c:choose>

turns into:

<h:panelGroup rendered="#{u.active}">
  <span style="color: green" class="glyphicon glyphicon-ok"></span>
</h:panelGroup>
<h:panelGroup rendered="#{not u.active}">
  <span style="color: red" class="glyphicon glyphicon-remove"></span>
</h:panelGroup>

You can also use it for values like this:

<h:outputText rendered="#{u.active}" value="#{u.name}" />

See also:

Perfect! Thought about using rendered, based on recent studies, but since i havent been using jsf for a long time, im still getting used to new stuff. Thanks for the great answer, and references! — vcorrea, May 28 '14 at 18:08

JSF 2.2 Table conditional rendering not working

1 Answers1