Using a multi-select table in RichFaces and WebFlow

The idea was to construct a multi-select table with a selectbox for each row. At the same time it had to be possible to select just one row to search for the record and display it on a different detail page.

In RichFaces version 3.3.0 GA and later versions, we have a working object called org.springframework.faces.model.ManySelectionTrackingListDataModel. Inside WebFlow we declare for instance a resultlist of some service to the multiselect object like

<evaluate expression="exampleService.getResultList()" result="viewScope.exampleList" result-type="org.springframework.faces.model.ManySelectionTrackingListDataModel"/>

In the xhtml page we can construct a multiselect table in RichFaces inside a form like

<rich:dataTable id="exampleTable" value="#{exampleList}" var="exampleRow" rowKeyVar="rowKey"
onRowMouseOver="this.style.backgroundColor='#F1F1F1'"
onRowMouseOut="this.style.backgroundColor='#{a4jSkin.tableBackgroundColor}'"
width = "80%"
height = "100"
rowClasses="cur"
cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" rendered="#{exampleList.rowCount > 0}">
<f:facet name="caption"><h:outputText value="Results for this Multiselect table" /></f:facet>
<rich:column sortBy="#{exampleRow.someValue}">
<f:facet name="header">Some value</f:facet>
</rich:column>
<rich:column>
<f:facet name="header">Multi Select</f:facet>
<h:selectBooleanCheckbox id="objectSelection" name="objectSelection" value="#{exampleList.currentRowSelected}" />
</rich:column>
<rich:column>
<f:facet name="header">Action</f:facet>
<sf:commandLink id="editRecord" action="editRecord" value="Edit">
<f:param name="exampleRowIndex" value="#{exampleList.rowIndex}"/>
</sf:commandLink>
</rich:column>
</rich:dataTable>

Inside the table we have multiselect boxes that calls the currentRowSelected() method each time the user selects a row with the help of a selectBooleanCheckbox. Also inside the commandLink tag I defined a “exampleRowIndex” parameter, where the row number is filled. The row number is defined inside the RowKeyVar attribute inside the dataTable tag.

We can use all this inside WebFlow the following way. For getting all selected rows in one selection list we do
<transition on="doMultiSelections">
<evaluate expression="exampleService.setSelectedList(exampleList.selections)" />
</transition>


For selecting one row from out the request parameter we do
<transition on="editRecord" to="...">
<set name="viewScope.exampleRowIndex" value="requestParameters.exampleRowIndex" type="int"/>
*** more code ***
</transition>
with the help of the WebFlow predefined requestParameters.exampleRowIndex.