f:param does not pass parameter or the parameter does not get set

Question

I use h:link with includeViewParams=true to navigate between my list and view pages and make the view page URLs bookmarkable but it doesn't work. Below is related portion of my code:

in layout.xhtml (my template):

<f:view locale="#{localeBean.lang}">
    <ui:insert name="metadata"/>

in Articles.xhtml (my list page):

<h:form>
    <p:datagrid var="item" value="articleController.items">
        <p:column>
            <h:link outcome="View_Articles?faces-redirect=true&amp;includeViewParams=true" styleClass="view-details">
               <h:outputText value="#{item.title}"/>     
               <f:param name="id" value="#{item.articleId}"/>
            </h:link>
        </p:column>
    </p:datagrid>
</h:form>

in View_Article.xhtml (my view details page):

<ui:composition template="./WEB-INF/templates/layout.xhtml"> 
     <ui:define name="metadata">
         <f:metadata>
             <f:viewParam name="id" value="#{articleController.id}" />
             <f:viewParam name="id" value="#{articleLclController.id}"/>
         </f:metadata>
</ui:define>

Further information: I use JSF 2.2, ocpsoft rewrite filter, primefaces library, and ArticleController.java is session scoped.

I have tried the following:

1- I used h:commandLink; with this, the navigation worked but the URL didn't include view-params

Articles.xhtml:

<h:commandLink id="viewArticleDetails" action="#{articleController.viewArticleByID()}" styleClass="view-details">
    <h:outputText value="View Details"/>
    <f:setPropertyActionListener target="#{articleController.id}" value="#{item.articleId}"/>
    <f:setPropertyActionListener target="#{articleLclController.id}" value="#{item.articleId}"/>
</h:commandLink>

ArticleController.java: ...

private Long id;

public Long getId() {
    return id;
}

public void setId(Long id) {
    this.id = id;
    current = ejbFacade.find(id);
}

public String viewArticleByID(){                      
    return "View_Article?faces-redirect=true&includeViewParams=true";
}

...

I expected the URL to be http://localhost:8080/testApp/en/View_Article?id=1 but it was like `http://localhost:8080/testApp/en/View_Article

2- I inserted http://localhost:8080/testApp/en/View_Article?id=1 and it worked in both cases.

Answer 1

The includeViewParams parameter works only for view parameters which are already in the given view (in your case, Articles.xhtml, where you haven't got any of them). Just pass them as f:param. As you want to perform a plain GET request, your best is to go with h:link:

<h:link outcome="View_Articles" styleClass="view-details">
   <h:outputText value="#{item.title}"/>     
   <f:param name="id" value="#{item.id}" />
</h:link>

That way you'll obtain item's id at your destination page, but is not enough to have the url changed in the address bar. To achieve that add ?faces-redirect=true to your outcome to force a redirection.

See also:

• Passing parameters to a view scoped bean in JSF
• faces-redirect=true in JSF