I have a couple of panel groups, one with "register" and "log in" links, and the other with "log out". When I log in only the "log in" link disappears, the "register" stays rendered, and the "log out" never gets rendered. The #{user.loggedIn}" returns true when the user is logged in. And when refreshing the screen in debug mode I can see that method is being run. Any suggestions for how to get this to work correctly. The code should be explanatory, please let me know if it isn't.
<h:panelGroup rendered="#{!user.loggedIn}">
<li>
<h:outputLink id="loginLink" value="javascript:void(0)" onclick="dlg.show()" title="login" styleClass="loginpanelclass">Log In</h:outputLink>
</li>
<li>
<h:link value="Register" outcome="/registration/register.xhtml" />
</li>
</h:panelGroup>
<h:panelGroup rendered="#{user.loggedIn}">
<li>
<h:commandLink action="#{user.logout()}">Logout</h:commandLink>
</li>
</h:panelGroup>
The elements you want to reference have to be in a naming container if they are not in the same naming container you are referencing them from. For me I launch a login dialog using primefaces when the first link in my question is clicked. Inside the dialog is a form. When that form completes it tells the panels in my question above to render or not by using the p:dialog update attribute. I had to put the panels in my question inside a naming container and then was able to successfully reference them using the ':' notation through the hierarchy.
If anyone is having trouble look for articles on component hierarchies and naming containers in JSF. With the hints given by Daniel in his comments above and the stuff I found looking at hierarchies and naming containers I figured this one out good enough for now. Still a few uncertainties but my code does what I want it to do for now. :) I'm marking the answer Daniel gave in his linked question up by one.