Using Popup Windows in JavaServer Faces Applications

[Sergey Smirnov]

The example was created one year ago. So, it never been tested with MyFaces 1.0.8. Probably, it might not work for any reason. I will check it as soon as I find a spare time in my schedule.

[hoadai]

Hi!
I have a form for creating a news. I use corejsf tag to upload image. But when I add th attribute: enctype="multipart/form-data" into my form, the text data in the input fields is not right as Uncode which I want. So I decide to separate it into two form. One for text input and another one for attaching image. The last form is put into a popup window.

And I got a problem when using a popup window to load an Image.
My "EditNews" form has lots of fields to alow user enter the information of a news, and one "Attach" button for attaching an Image for the news. When user click on the button, one popup window will be opened in order for user attach image.
The problem here is: If I create a news but not attach image (not click on "Attach" button ), there is not any problems. But, if I click on the "Attach" button to attach image and save the information of the news after the popup window is closed, the text data in my input fields is not right as Unicode.
Why it is that? Please help me!

[rtse]

You might already be aware of this, but this example doesn't work with the JSF 1.1 RI. Specifically, you will get a javascript error like

'hform[...]' is null or not an object

All you get in the popup window is a blank screen.

If you check the html source, the commandLink in the hidden form is generated as follows:

<a id="placeList:find" href="#" onclick="document.forms['placeList']['placeList:_idcl'].value='placeList:find';

Note the "_idcl" -- this should be "find".


The only way I could get this to work was to change in the showPlaceList() function:

hform[form+':'+target].value=form+':'+target
to
hform[form+':_idcl'].value=form+':'+target

This must be a bug in the 1.1 RI, since the 1.0 RI generates what you'd expect (unless they changed it on purpose???)

BTW, for anyone who has read the Core JavaServer Faces book by Geary, the example in that book is very similar to this one. But they say in the book that you can use any value like "x" to simulate the link being clicked - again true in 1.0 RI ... not true in 1.1 RI - it only works if the value is form:target. All you see with 1.1 is the same page that was supposed to open the window.

So either I have really bad luck, or there really is a problem with 1.1.
Has anyone else encountered the same problems? - it better not be just me, or I'll cry...

[Sergey Smirnov]

Hardcoding _idcl is really not a good idea. For jsf 1.1 replace the showPlaceList function with the following one:

Code: Select all

      // This function calls the popup window.
      //
      function showPlaceList(action, form, target) {
         formId=action.form.id;
         features="height=300,width=250,status=yes,toolbar=no,menubar=no,location=no,scrollbars=yes";         
         winId=window.open('','list',features); // open an empty window

         hform=document.forms[form]; // reference to the hidden form
          
         // Copy the current country variable value
         // to the corresponding field of the hidden form.
         hform[form+":country"].value = getCountry(action.form);

         // Submit the hidden form. The output will be sent to the just opened window.

         document.getElementById(form+':'+target).onclick();
      }

[hoadai]

Sorry, I don't mean your example or CoreJsf's example. Here I have own my popup page. I just use corejsf:upload tag of CoreJsf. Almost everything work except the data of the input fields is not right.
I don't know why? Are there any differences between: click and not click on the button to open the popup window?

[Guest]

Sergey, thanks for the tip. I wasn't sure how else to make this work ... my javascript is pretty weak.

[Guest]

I have noticed that if you continue to use the popup regularly, it eventually "breaks" and all you see in the popup is the page that had opened the window.

You can simulate this by continuing to click on the open popup link. The exact number of times needed varies, but for me it was generally 15-20. It will then revert back to normal behavior but break more frequently going forward.

In this particular example, that problem isn't important as the user would only be clicking on the popup once to select a country. However, I use a similar popup to display attributes related to a variety of items displayed to the user. It is not uncommon for a user to click on 30 or 40 of these in one session.

Has anyone experienced this and have any idea what the cause is? Is there a way to correct it?

[Guest]

Did you by any chance find a solution to this problem?

Thx

I have noticed that if you continue to use the popup regularly, it eventually "breaks" and all you see in the popup is the page that had opened the window.

You can simulate this by continuing to click on the open popup link. The exact number of times needed varies, but for me it was generally 15-20. It will then revert back to normal behavior but break more frequently going forward.

In this particular example, that problem isn't important as the user would only be clicking on the popup once to select a country. However, I use a similar popup to display attributes related to a variety of items displayed to the user. It is not uncommon for a user to click on 30 or 40 of these in one session.

Has anyone experienced this and have any idea what the cause is? Is there a way to correct it?

[Sergey Smirnov]

I still cannot reproduce the problem.

[massep]

It doesn't do it as often in IE 6 as it does in Netscape 7.1.

I just have to click on the commandbutton, then close the popup then click again and close the popup... after 4 or five times, it does it (in IE).

With Netscape, it's evry other time.

I still cannot reproduce the problem.

[massep]

I just did it with IE 6 and it took a while, 8 to 10 times. It did it after I switch from US to Canada. I tried do replicate the problem but the second time it worked fine. Could it have something to do with the fact that you call a javascript method from the onmousedown event?

I really don't know where to start my troubleshooting. I've put some alert() to see if the wrong form was submitted but it looked fine. It must get mixed-up with form and/or object names.

Cheers

It doesn't do it as often in IE 6 as it does in Netscape 7.1.

I just have to click on the commandbutton, then close the popup then click again and close the popup... after 4 or five times, it does it (in IE).

With Netscape, it's evry other time.

I still cannot reproduce the problem.

[massep]

I found an easy way to test this, I reduced the size of my main IE window so I can see both the main and the popup at the same time... I keep clicking until it does it. I noticed that if I leave a second between the clicks, it does it every second time but if I click more rapidly, it doesn't do it.

I just did it with IE 6 and it took a while, 8 to 10 times. It did it after I switch from US to Canada. I tried do replicate the problem but the second time it worked fine. Could it have something to do with the fact that you call a javascript method from the onmousedown event?

I really don't know where to start my troubleshooting. I've put some alert() to see if the wrong form was submitted but it looked fine. It must get mixed-up with form and/or object names.

Cheers

It doesn't do it as often in IE 6 as it does in Netscape 7.1.

I just have to click on the commandbutton, then close the popup then click again and close the popup... after 4 or five times, it does it (in IE).

With Netscape, it's evry other time.

I still cannot reproduce the problem.

[massep]

I implemented a phase listener and when the popup renders fine the listener returns:
BEFORE RESTORE_VIEW 1
AFTER RESTORE_VIEW 1
BEFORE APPLY_REQUEST_VALUES 2
AFTER APPLY_REQUEST_VALUES 2
BEFORE PROCESS_VALIDATIONS 3
AFTER PROCESS_VALIDATIONS 3
BEFORE UPDATE_MODEL_VALUES 4
AFTER UPDATE_MODEL_VALUES 4
BEFORE INVOKE_APPLICATION 5
AFTER INVOKE_APPLICATION 5
BEFORE RENDER_RESPONSE 6
AFTER RENDER_RESPONSE 6

when it doesn't, it returns this:
BEFORE RESTORE_VIEW 1
AFTER RESTORE_VIEW 1
BEFORE RENDER_RESPONSE 6
AFTER RENDER_RESPONSE 6

That would to it! And it's constant...

I found an easy way to test this, I reduced the size of my main IE window so I can see both the main and the popup at the same time... I keep clicking until it does it. I noticed that if I leave a second between the clicks, it does it every second time but if I click more rapidly, it doesn't do it.

I just did it with IE 6 and it took a while, 8 to 10 times. It did it after I switch from US to Canada. I tried do replicate the problem but the second time it worked fine. Could it have something to do with the fact that you call a javascript method from the onmousedown event?

I really don't know where to start my troubleshooting. I've put some alert() to see if the wrong form was submitted but it looked fine. It must get mixed-up with form and/or object names.

Cheers

It doesn't do it as often in IE 6 as it does in Netscape 7.1.

I just have to click on the commandbutton, then close the popup then click again and close the popup... after 4 or five times, it does it (in IE).

With Netscape, it's evry other time.

I still cannot reproduce the problem.

[Sergey Smirnov]

when it doesn't, it returns this:
BEFORE RESTORE_VIEW 1
AFTER RESTORE_VIEW 1
BEFORE RENDER_RESPONSE 6
AFTER RENDER_RESPONSE 6

That would to it! And it's constant...

It means the JSF context is lost

[massep]

Could you elaborate... what should I be looking for ?


Thx

It means the JSF context is lost