Using the defaultLabel attribute of the Rich Faces Calendar component correctly displays the reminder text for the date format like I would like it to. However, when this reminder text is on an optional field, then a conversion error occurs as if it was trying to convert the reminder text into a date.
<rich:calendar enableManualInput="true" value="#{participantSummaryManagedBean.dob}"
id="dob" locale="US" popup="true" datePattern="MMddyyyy" defaultLabel="MMDDYYYY"
showApplyButton="false" converterMessage="Use MMDDYYYY format">
</rich:calendar>
Confirmed in RichFaces versions 4.2.2.Final, 4.2.3.Final, and 4.3.0.20121024-M2
Is there a way to prevent or get around this?
This is a defect in Richfaces (https://issues.jboss.org/browse/RF-12594).
However, from 4.3 on (specifically 4.3.0.20121214-M3 on), defaultLabel is deprecated and replaced by the tag
rich:placeholder. For example: