Question

I have a Seam application originally generated by seam-gen with a view Search.xhtml.

Search.xhtml has a number of input fields, half of which are bound to the Office entity and half to the Devices entity.

For example, if you enter a hostname, it is bound to a field in Devices, if you enter a City, it is bound to a field in Office.

The destination page is going to be OfficeResult.xhtml by default, or, if a “Devices” property has been entered, to the DeviceResult.xhtml.

My question has 2 parts:

1. What component should I use in Search.xhtml for the submit button? I assume h:commandButton, but then what do I use for the action? If I use a destination view, will that be overridden by the navigation rule in page.xml file?

2. How to set up my Search.page.xml file? How do I condition the navigation on the parameter?

Here is Search.xhtml (pseudo code):

<h:inputText value="#{devicesList.devices.devSerialNum}" />
<h:inputText id="state" value="#{officeList.office.state}" />

<h:commandButton id="search" action="/OfficeResult.xhtml" value="Search"  />

Search.page.xml (pseudo code):

<navigation>
  <rule if devSerNum is set >
<redirect view-id="/DeviceResult.xhtml"/>
  </rule>
  <rule if state is set >
    <redirect view-id="/OfficeResult.xhtml"/>
  </rule>
</navigation>

Answer 1

If I’m understanding your question correctly, and based on your current design, I believe you could do something similar to this:

Your Search.xhtml file:

<h:inputText value="#{devicesList.devices.devSerialNum}" />
<h:inputText id="state" value="#{officeList.office.state}" />

<h:commandButton id="search" action="#{devicesList.isDeviceSearch()}" value="Search"  />

Add a new method to your DevicesList.java file

@Name("devicesList")
public class DevicesListImpl implements DevicesList {

    ...other properties and methods...

    public boolean isDeviceSearch() {

        boolean result;

        ...logic to determine if the search value exists...

        return result;

    }
}

And then in your Search.page.xml file:

<navigation from-action="#{devicesList.isDeviceSearch()}">
    <rule if-outcome="true">
        <redirect view-id="/DeviceResult.xhtml" />
    </rule>

    <redirect view-id="/OfficeResult.xhtml" />
</navigation>