Question

I have a JSF data table that is displaying data based off a search successfully. However, I’m not sure how to selectively bold certain text data in a particular column.

So, for instance, I would like this text…

Here is some text that would be inside the h:column

to show up like this on the page…

Here is some text that would be inside the h:column

Here’s what my data table looks like

Results:

<h:dataTable var="results"
             value="#{logSearcherBean.results}"
             border="1">
    <h:column>#{results.logName}</h:column>
    <h:column>#{results.matchLine}</h:column>
</h:dataTable>

Answer 1

You could either homebrew an EL function which manipulates the column value and returns the desired HTML,

<h:outputText value="#{my:highlight(results.logName, logSearcherBean.query)}" escape="false" />

(note that this is due to escape="false", which is mandatory to present HTML literally, also sensitive to XSS attacks if the logName is a value which is fully controlled by the enduser)

Or grab JavaScript/jQuery which manipulates the returned HTML, see also this related question: Highlight a word with jQuery.