How to use an Enum in p:selectOneMenu

Question

In my JSF/PrimeFaces mini web project I want to use a drop down list to select Enum items, then add them to a database when I fill in the 'create' form.
I used Netbeans to create an Entity class from a database, and then used to the wizard 'JSF pages from Entity classes', with PrimeFaces as the template. This creates Create / Edit / List / View xhtml pages automatically. At the moment I've got:

Enum class:

    public enum InterestsEnum {
    FOOTBALL,
    SKIING,
    CYCLING,
    MUSIC;

}

Entity class:

    @Entity
public class Person implements Serializable {

    @Column(name="ID")
    @Id
    @NotNull
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.AUTO)
    private Long personId;

    @Column(name="FIRSTNAME")
    @Basic(optional=false)
    @NotNull
    @Size(min=1,max=45)
    private String firstName;

    @Column(name="SURNAME")
    @Basic(optional=false)
    @NotNull
    @Size(min=1,max=45)
    private String surname;

    @ElementCollection(fetch = FetchType.EAGER, targetClass = InterestsEnum.class)
    @JoinTable(name = "Person_INTERESTS", joinColumns = @JoinColumn(name = "PERSON_ID"))
    @Column(name = "INTERESTS", nullable = false)
    @Enumerated(EnumType.STRING)
    Collection<InterestsEnum> interests;

    //Getters and Setters:

Managed Bean:

@ManagedBean
@ApplicationScoped
public class Data {

    public InterestsEnum[] getInterests() {
        return InterestsEnum.values();
    }
}

PrimeFaces Create page extract:

<p:selectOneMenu value="#{person.interests}" >
    <f:selectItems value="#{InterestsEnum}" />
</p:selectOneMenu>

PrimeFaces List page extract:

                        <p:column>
                        <f:facet name="header">
                            <h:outputText value="#{bundle.ListPersonTitle_interests}"/>
                        </f:facet>
                        <h:outputText value="#{item.interests}"/>
                    </p:column>

When I run the project there are no errors until I open 'List', when the following happens:

    Severe:   Error Rendering View[/person/List.xhtml]
javax.faces.FacesException: Cannot find component with expression "interests" referenced from "PersonCreateForm:j_idt34".
    at org.primefaces.expression.SearchExpressionFacade.resolveComponentInternal(SearchExpressionFacade.java:422)
    at org.primefaces.expression.SearchExpressionFacade.resolveComponent(SearchExpressionFacade.java:266)
    at org.primefaces.expression.SearchExpressionFacade.resolveComponent(SearchExpressionFacade.java:228)
    at org.primefaces.component.outputlabel.OutputLabelRenderer.encodeEnd(OutputLabelRenderer.java:47)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.encodeEnd(UIComponentBase.java:920)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1863)
    at org.primefaces.component.panelgrid.PanelGridRenderer.encodeDynamicBody(PanelGridRenderer.java:89)
    at org.primefaces.component.panelgrid.PanelGridRenderer.encodeBody(PanelGridRenderer.java:60)
    at org.primefaces.component.panelgrid.PanelGridRenderer.encodeEnd(PanelGridRenderer.java:49)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.encodeEnd(UIComponentBase.java:920)
    at com.sun.faces.renderkit.html_basic.HtmlBasicRenderer.encodeRecursive(HtmlBasicRenderer.java:312)
    at com.sun.faces.renderkit.html_basic.GroupRenderer.encodeChildren(GroupRenderer.java:114)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.encodeChildren(UIComponentBase.java:890)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1856)
    at javax.faces.render.Renderer.encodeChildren(Renderer.java:176)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.encodeChildren(UIComponentBase.java:890)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1856)
    at com.sun.faces.context.PartialViewContextImpl$PhaseAwareVisitCallback.visit(PartialViewContextImpl.java:582)
    at com.sun.faces.component.visit.PartialVisitContext.invokeVisitCallback(PartialVisitContext.java:183)
    at javax.faces.component.UIForm.visitTree(UIForm.java:381)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.visitTree(UIComponent.java:1700)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.visitTree(UIComponent.java:1700)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.visitTree(UIComponent.java:1700)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.visitTree(UIComponent.java:1700)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.visitTree(UIComponent.java:1700)
    at com.sun.faces.context.PartialViewContextImpl.processComponents(PartialViewContextImpl.java:403)
    at com.sun.faces.context.PartialViewContextImpl.processPartial(PartialViewContextImpl.java:322)
    at org.primefaces.context.PrimePartialViewContext.processPartial(PrimePartialViewContext.java:60)
    at javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.encodeChildren(UIViewRoot.java:1004)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1856)
    at com.sun.faces.application.view.FaceletViewHandlingStrategy.renderView(FaceletViewHandlingStrategy.java:432)
    at com.sun.faces.application.view.MultiViewHandler.renderView(MultiViewHandler.java:134)
    at javax.faces.application.ViewHandlerWrapper.renderView(ViewHandlerWrapper.java:337)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RenderResponsePhase.execute(RenderResponsePhase.java:120)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.Phase.doPhase(Phase.java:101)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.render(LifecycleImpl.java:219)
    at javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:659)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.service(StandardWrapper.java:1682)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:318)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:160)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.doInvoke(StandardPipeline.java:734)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:673)
    at com.sun.enterprise.web.WebPipeline.invoke(WebPipeline.java:99)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:174)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.doService(CoyoteAdapter.java:416)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:283)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ContainerMapper$HttpHandlerCallable.call(ContainerMapper.java:459)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ContainerMapper.service(ContainerMapper.java:167)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.HttpHandler.runService(HttpHandler.java:206)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.HttpHandler.doHandle(HttpHandler.java:180)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.HttpServerFilter.handleRead(HttpServerFilter.java:235)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.ExecutorResolver$9.execute(ExecutorResolver.java:119)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.DefaultFilterChain.executeFilter(DefaultFilterChain.java:283)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.DefaultFilterChain.executeChainPart(DefaultFilterChain.java:200)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.DefaultFilterChain.execute(DefaultFilterChain.java:132)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.DefaultFilterChain.process(DefaultFilterChain.java:111)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.ProcessorExecutor.execute(ProcessorExecutor.java:77)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.nio.transport.TCPNIOTransport.fireIOEvent(TCPNIOTransport.java:536)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.strategies.AbstractIOStrategy.fireIOEvent(AbstractIOStrategy.java:112)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.strategies.WorkerThreadIOStrategy.run0(WorkerThreadIOStrategy.java:117)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.strategies.WorkerThreadIOStrategy.access$100(WorkerThreadIOStrategy.java:56)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.strategies.WorkerThreadIOStrategy$WorkerThreadRunnable.run(WorkerThreadIOStrategy.java:137)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.threadpool.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.doWork(AbstractThreadPool.java:591)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.threadpool.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.run(AbstractThreadPool.java:571)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)

If I submit the 'create' form I get the following error:

Severe:   javax.faces.component.UpdateModelException: javax.el.PropertyNotFoundException: /person/Create.xhtml @24,71 value="#{Person.interests}": Target Unreachable, identifier 'Person' resolved to null

There is no drop down list to select Enum choices from (see screenshot). Also 'List' shows all the Enum members, not just one.

Answer 1

After simplifying my project and using one table instead of two and updating my Entity class to:

@Column(name = "INTERESTS")
@Enumerated(EnumType.STRING)
private InterestsEnum interests;

I now have a working project which allows a user to choose Enum members when creating or updating entries.

<h:selectOneMenu value="#{personController.selected.interests}" >
                        <f:selectItems value="#{data.interests}" />
                    </h:selectOneMenu>

This can be seen below: