Ajax listener method to composite component javax.faces.FacesException: Unable to find attribute in top level component in consuming page

Question

I am trying to add an Ajax listener to a composite component, but i am getting the following exception:

09:40:54,161 ERROR [[Faces Servlet]] Servlet.service() for servlet Faces Servlet threw exception
javax.faces.FacesException: : Unable to find attribute with name "myListener" in top level component in consuming page,  or with default value in composite component.  Page author or composite component author error.
    at com.sun.faces.application.view.FaceletViewHandlingStrategy.retargetMethodExpressions(FaceletViewHandlingStrategy.java:718)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.tag.jsf.CompositeComponentTagHandler.applyNextHandler(CompositeComponentTagHandler.java:200)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.tag.jsf.ComponentTagHandlerDelegateImpl.apply(ComponentTagHandlerDelegateImpl.java:187)
    at javax.faces.view.facelets.DelegatingMetaTagHandler.apply(DelegatingMetaTagHandler.java:120)
    at javax.faces.view.facelets.CompositeFaceletHandler.apply(CompositeFaceletHandler.java:95)
    at javax.faces.view.facelets.DelegatingMetaTagHandler.applyNextHandler(DelegatingMetaTagHandler.java:137)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.tag.jsf.ComponentTagHandlerDelegateImpl.apply(ComponentTagHandlerDelegateImpl.java:187)
    at javax.faces.view.facelets.DelegatingMetaTagHandler.apply(DelegatingMetaTagHandler.java:120)
    at javax.faces.view.facelets.CompositeFaceletHandler.apply(CompositeFaceletHandler.java:95)
    at javax.faces.view.facelets.DelegatingMetaTagHandler.applyNextHandler(DelegatingMetaTagHandler.java:137)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.tag.jsf.ComponentTagHandlerDelegateImpl.apply(ComponentTagHandlerDelegateImpl.java:187)
    at javax.faces.view.facelets.DelegatingMetaTagHandler.apply(DelegatingMetaTagHandler.java:120)
    at javax.faces.view.facelets.CompositeFaceletHandler.apply(CompositeFaceletHandler.java:95)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.tag.ui.DefineHandler.applyDefinition(DefineHandler.java:106)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.tag.ui.CompositionHandler.apply(CompositionHandler.java:178)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.impl.DefaultFaceletContext$TemplateManager.apply(DefaultFaceletContext.java:395)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.impl.DefaultFaceletContext.includeDefinition(DefaultFaceletContext.java:366)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.tag.ui.InsertHandler.apply(InsertHandler.java:111)
    at javax.faces.view.facelets.DelegatingMetaTagHandler.applyNextHandler(DelegatingMetaTagHandler.java:137)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.tag.jsf.ComponentTagHandlerDelegateImpl.apply(ComponentTagHandlerDelegateImpl.java:187)
    at javax.faces.view.facelets.DelegatingMetaTagHandler.apply(DelegatingMetaTagHandler.java:120)
    at javax.faces.view.facelets.CompositeFaceletHandler.apply(CompositeFaceletHandler.java:95)
    at javax.faces.view.facelets.DelegatingMetaTagHandler.applyNextHandler(DelegatingMetaTagHandler.java:137)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.tag.jsf.ComponentTagHandlerDelegateImpl.apply(ComponentTagHandlerDelegateImpl.java:187)
    at javax.faces.view.facelets.DelegatingMetaTagHandler.apply(DelegatingMetaTagHandler.java:120)
    at javax.faces.view.facelets.CompositeFaceletHandler.apply(CompositeFaceletHandler.java:95)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.compiler.NamespaceHandler.apply(NamespaceHandler.java:93)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.compiler.EncodingHandler.apply(EncodingHandler.java:87)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.impl.DefaultFacelet.include(DefaultFacelet.java:320)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.impl.DefaultFacelet.include(DefaultFacelet.java:379)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.impl.DefaultFacelet.include(DefaultFacelet.java:358)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.impl.DefaultFaceletContext.includeFacelet(DefaultFaceletContext.java:199)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.tag.ui.CompositionHandler.apply(CompositionHandler.java:155)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.compiler.NamespaceHandler.apply(NamespaceHandler.java:93)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.compiler.EncodingHandler.apply(EncodingHandler.java:87)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.impl.DefaultFacelet.apply(DefaultFacelet.java:164)
    at com.sun.faces.application.view.FaceletViewHandlingStrategy.buildView(FaceletViewHandlingStrategy.java:914)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RenderResponsePhase.execute(RenderResponsePhase.java:99)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.Phase.doPhase(Phase.java:101)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.render(LifecycleImpl.java:139)
    at javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:594)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at dk.jyskebank.jee.servlet.filter.LogCorrelationIdFilter.doFilter(LogCorrelationIdFilter.java:28)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.filters.ReplyHeaderFilter.doFilter(ReplyHeaderFilter.java:96)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:235)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.__invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.SecurityAssociationValve.invoke(SecurityAssociationValve.java:183)
    at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:534)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.JaccContextValve.invoke(JaccContextValve.java:95)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.SecurityContextEstablishmentValve.process(SecurityContextEstablishmentValve.java:126)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.SecurityContextEstablishmentValve.invoke(SecurityContextEstablishmentValve.java:70)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:127)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.jca.CachedConnectionValve.invoke(CachedConnectionValve.java:158)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.sso.ClusteredSingleSignOn.invoke(ClusteredSingleSignOn.java:731)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.request.ActiveRequestResponseCacheValve.internalProcess(ActiveRequestResponseCacheValve.java:74)
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.request.ActiveRequestResponseCacheValve.invoke(ActiveRequestResponseCacheValve.java:47)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:330)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11AprProcessor.process(Http11AprProcessor.java:905)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11AprProtocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11AprProtocol.java:613)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.AprEndpoint$Worker.run(AprEndpoint.java:2036)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

My composite component:

<cc:interface>
    <cc:attribute name="text" required="true" />
    <cc:attribute name="renderAsLink" required="true" />
    <cc:attribute name="year" required="true" />
    <cc:attribute name="month" required="true" />
    <cc:attribute name="fravaersoplysningCode" required="true" />
    <cc:attribute name="noteDialog" required="true" />
    <cc:attribute name="myListener"  method-signature="void listener()" required="true" />
</cc:interface>

<cc:implementation> 
    <p:commandLink rendered="#{cc.attrs.renderAsLink}">
        <p:ajax oncomplete="#{cc.attrs.noteDialog}.show()" listener="#{cc.attrs.myListener}"/>

    </p:commandLink>
</cc:implementation>

My controller method:

public void testListener(){
    logger.debug("testListener : {}", String.format("Im working"));
}

My xhtml site:

            <p:column headerText="#{monthEnumBundle[fravaersoplysningerView.fravaerOversigt.months.get(12)]}">
                <component:fravaersoversigtLink 
                    text="#{fravaersoplysning.fravaerMonth.get(12).amount}"
                    renderAsLink="#{fravaersoplysning.fravaerMonth.get(12).content}" 
                    year="#{fravaersoplysning.fravaerMonth.get(12).year}"
                    month="#{fravaersoplysning.fravaerMonth.get(12).month}"
                    fravaersoplysningCode="#{fravaersoplysning.fravaersoplysningCode}"
                    noteDialog="detailDialog"
                    myListener="#{fravaersoplysningerController.testListener()}"/>

            </p:column>

It seems that the binding of myListener (myListener="#{fravaersoplysningerController.testListener() ) is resolved to null. If i try to remove the " method-signature="void listener()" " i dont get the exception anymore, but ofcourse i lose the desired functionality.

If i try to bind the #{fravaersoplysningerController.testListener() method to lets say a button on my xhtml site the method gets called with no problems.

Any ideas whats wrong?

I am running on : JSF 2.1.26, JBOSS 5.1, Primefaces 4.0.4, EL 2.0.2

Answer 1

Ok the solution to this problem was actually very simple. I made a test case and everything was of course working fine, which this case even more frustrating.

The first thing i noticed that setting the required attribute to true, resulted in everything working fine.

After a few hours of testing my mate noticed that we were also using the composite component in another place on the xhtml site (somewhere in a deep dark place :P). But we didn't assign the listener attribute there. So of course since the attribute was required and was NOT set, the exception would appear.

Answer 2

Have you tried to remove the brackets on the listener call?

before:

myListener="#{fravaersoplysningerController.testListener()}"

after:

myListener="#{fravaersoplysningerController.testListener}"

Also, wondering that ´f:ajax´ brings ´oncomplete´ as an attribute, would have expected something like

<f:ajax 
    onevent="function(data){if (data=="complete) { #{cc.attrs.noteDialog}.show();}" 
/>

or like @BalusC says, an primefaces ajax instead...

Edit: Just hacked your example in the IDE, downsized a bit:

xhtml:

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
    xmlns:io="http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite/inout"
    ...
/>
...
<h:body>

<h:dataTable var="item" value="#{scPaymentLevelValues}">
    <h:column>
        <io:testSomething
            text="myText"
            renderAsLink="myRenderAsLink"
            year="2012"
            month="12"
            fravaersoplysningCode="womething"
            noteDialog="yeah"
            myListener="#{testBean.testListener}" />
    </h:column>
</h:dataTable>
</h:body>
</html>

component:

<ui:composition xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
    xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets"
    xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
    xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
    xmlns:cc="http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite">

    <cc:interface>
    <cc:attribute name="text" required="true" />
        <cc:attribute name="renderAsLink" required="true" />
        <cc:attribute name="year" required="true" />
        <cc:attribute name="month" required="true" />
        <cc:attribute name="fravaersoplysningCode" required="true" />
        <cc:attribute name="noteDialog" required="true" />
        <cc:attribute name="myListener" 
                      method-signature="void listener()" required="true" />          
    </cc:interface>

    <!-- IMPLEMENTATION -->
    <cc:implementation> 
     <h:commandButton 
                 value="hhii"
                 rendered="true">
                 <f:ajax 
                     oncomplete="alert('hi');" 
                     listener="#{cc.attrs.myListener}" />
             </h:commandButton> 
    </cc:implementation>
</ui:composition>

Bean:

import java.io.Serializable;
import org.jboss.seam.ScopeType;
import org.jboss.seam.annotations.Name;
import org.jboss.seam.annotations.Scope;

@Name("testBean")
@Scope(ScopeType.CONVERSATION)
public class TestBean implements Serializable {

    public void testListener(){
        System.out.println("testListener : {}"+ String.format("Im working"));
    }
}

Am getting the desired output testListener : {}Im working. Using Mojarra 2.1.7, Seam 2.3.1.CR1. Can you maybe try downgrading to h:dataTables and h:commandButton, check if it's working there... and if so upgrading to primefaces until it stops working - and then decide how to go on?.

Hope, that helps... if so, please vote. :-)