JSF 2 check / uncheck list of h:selectBooleanCheckbox

Question

I have a loop with a bunch of h:selectBooleanCheckboxs inside a ui:repeat and I want to be able to check / uncheck all of them with one click. Following this this is how I try to do it:

<h:selectBooleanCheckbox value="#{bean.selectAll}" valueChangeListener="#{bean.selectAllCustomers}">
    <f:ajax execute="@form" render="entireLoop"/>
</h:selectBooleanCheckbox>

The loop:

<h:panelGroup id="entireLoop">  
  <ui:repeat var="customer" varStatus="status" value="#{bean.customers}">

    <tr> 
        <td>
    <h:selectBooleanCheckbox value="#{bean.customersMap[customer]}"/>
        </td>
      <td><h:commandLink value="#{customer.userID}" action="#{navBean.gotoEditCustomer(customer)}"/></td>
      <td>#{bean.getContact(user)}</td>
      <td>#{customer.companyName}</td>
      <td>#{customer.email}</td>
      <td>#{customer.phone}</td>
    </tr>       
  </ui:repeat>  
</h:panelGroup>

The code in the bean:

public void selectAllCustomers() {
    Iterator<User> keys = customersMap.keySet().iterator();
    while(keys.hasNext()) {
        User user = keys.next();
        customersMap.put(user, selectAll);
    }
}

When I click to check the "select all" checkbox, I have two problems:

1. Nothing happens. Only when I click on somewhere else in the page the method is called. How can I get it to go directly?

2. The entire loop disappears from the page. Why? (I tried to get the ajax to render only the selectBooleanCheckbox by giving it an id, or a name, but I'm getting an error saying this is not a naming component.)

Answer 1

Instead of using valueChangeListener, your method will work if you use the listener attribute of the <f:ajax> tag. It would be something like this:

<h:selectBooleanCheckbox value="#{bean.selectAll}">
    <f:ajax listener="#{bean.selectAllCustomers}" render="entireLoop"/>
</h:selectBooleanCheckbox>

Besides, you don't need to submit the whole form with execute="@form". You only need to submit selectAll property and re-render the entireLoop.

If you really want to use valueChangeListener, you must note that your method will be triggered before the new value is applied in the selectAll property. As a result, your entireLoop will not be updated until the next request. To use valueChangeListener, your listener method should look like this:

public void selectAllCustomers(ValueChangeEvent e) {
    boolean newSelectAll = (Boolean) e.getNewValue();
    Iterator<Users> keys = customersMap.keySet().iterator();
    while(keys.hasNext()) {
        Users user = keys.next();
        customersMap.put(user, newSelectAll);
    }
}