Hello Richard, thanks for answering. Now I have a clue about what I should do ..
The code below works like a charm, except that I don't know how to declare a item as selected. I looked up javax.faces.component.UISelectItem.class and found private String _itemDescription = null; private Boolean _itemDisabled = null; private String _itemLabel = null; private Object _itemValue = null; private Object _value = null; (no private Object _selected) Besides I still do not have a solution for component type javax.faces.SelectItem_s_ But I think with Items in singular I have more control, right? Regards Mike // HTMLSelectOneMenu ElementBean selectElement = new ElementBean(); selectElement.setComponentType("javax.faces.HtmlSelectOneMenu"); selectElement.setJsfid("securitycheck"); selectElement.setId("securitycheck"); ElementBean itemElement = new ElementBean(); itemElement.setComponentType("javax.faces.SelectItem"); itemElement.setJsfid("selectItem"); itemElement.setRenderId(generateId()); AttributeBean attr = new AttributeBean(); attr.setName("itemValue"); attr.setValue("value1"); itemElement.addAttribute(attr); attr = new AttributeBean(); attr.setName("itemLabel"); attr.setValue("Label"); itemElement.addAttribute(attr); selectElement.addChild(itemElement); ElementBean itemElement2 = new ElementBean(); itemElement2.setComponentType("javax.faces.SelectItem"); itemElement2.setJsfid("selectItem2"); itemElement2.setRenderId(generateId()); attr = new AttributeBean(); attr.setName("itemValue"); attr.setValue("value2"); itemElement2.addAttribute(attr); attr = new AttributeBean(); attr.setName("disabled"); attr.setValue("true"); itemElement2.addAttribute(attr); attr = new AttributeBean(); attr.setName("selected"); // fixme attr.setValue("true"); itemElement2.addAttribute(attr); selectElement.addChild(itemElement2); root.addChild(selectElement);