On Dec 1, 2004, at 8:40 PM, David Geary wrote:
Le Dec 1, 2004, � 7:33 PM, Matt Raible a �crit :
Hello all,
I've been doing a bit of MyFaces development this week and enjoying it for the most part.
Glad to hear it Matt! 8-)
I have a couple questions about <h:outputLabel>:
1. Is there anyway to modify h:outputLabel to add an asterisk for required fields?
You can do that without modifying h:outputLabel, for example:
<h:loadBundle basename="messages" var="msgs"/> ... <h:outputLabel for="name" value="#{msgs.requiredNamePrompt}"/>
In your resource bundle:
requiredNamePrompt=*Name
Of course with that solution you're assuming the required state of the field in the view. That's probably better left to business logic, so you could do this instead:
<h:outputLabel for="name" value="#{backingBean.namePrompt}"/>
And BackingBean.getNamePrompt() would return the proper localized string, with an asterik if the property is required, and without an asterik otherwise.
Or, you could do this:
<h:panelGroup> <h:outputText value="*" rendered="#{backingBean.nameRequired}"/> <h:outputLabel value="#{msgs.namePrompt}"/> </h:panelGroup>
And have backingBean implement a boolean method named isNameRequired that returns the required status of the property in question. The h:outputText will only render if its rendered attribute is true.
Hmmm, sounds like I have to have a getter method for each form field on my managed bean? What a pain? Isn't there a way to look up if the field is required and just add a * - a solution that's generic for all outputLabel's? I'm willing to hack source code or create components if I need to - I just need to know 2 things:
1. Yes/No - if I have to hack the source to make the dynamic lookup possible?
2. Where do I hack the source? I'm guessing there's some way to lookup the validation metadata for the inputs and use that data in the labels.
Thanks,
Matt
Do I have to subclass the existing JSP Tag to do this?
You hardly ever want to subclass an existing component tag, because tags are really just thin veneers for component/renderer pairs. You could, however, implement your own Label renderer and plug it into h:outputLabel. But I would opt for one of the easier solutions above.
2. Is it possible to auto-add a colon? I'm able to do this pretty easily with a custom taglib and Commons Validator, but it seems difficult with MyFaces? With Tapestry, I can subclass the existing component and add my own suffix (including a space before the colon for the French locale).
The same techniques for prepending an asterik will work for appending a colon. Again, you could implement your own Label renderer that does anything you want.
david
Thanks,
Matt
