[SOLVED] How to invoke a JSF managed bean on a HTML DOM event using native JavaScript?

How to invoke a JSF managed bean on a HTML DOM event using native JavaScript?

I need to execute a JSF managed bean action method using ajax during HTML DOM load event, similar to jQuery's $(document).ready(function() { $.ajax(...) }). I can only use the JavaScript generated by JSF in this project. Is there a way to do it in native JSF? Which event can I use or which JSF ajax function can I use?

I'm using JSF 2.0, Facelets and PrimeFaces.

Solution

Several ways.

Use <h:commandScript>. Note that this is only available since JSF 2.3.

 <h:form>
     <h:commandScript name="commandName" action="#{bean.action}" render=":results" />
 </h:form>
 <h:panelGroup id="results">
     ...
 </h:panelGroup>

You can invoke it in JS as below:

 commandName();

The parameters can be passed as below:

 commandName({ name1: "value1", name2: "value2" });

And obtained as below:

 String name1 = externalContext.getRequestParameterMap().get("name1"); // value1
 String name2 = externalContext.getRequestParameterMap().get("name2"); // value2

To invoke it during load event, set autorun="true".

 <h:commandScript ... autorun="true" />

If you're using PrimeFaces, use its <p:remoteCommand>.

 <h:form>
     <p:remoteCommand name="commandName" action="#{bean.action}" update=":results" />
 </h:form>
 <h:panelGroup id="results">
     ...
 </h:panelGroup>

You can invoke it in JS as below:

 commandName();

This however doesn't use JSF native jsf.ajax.request(), instead it uses PrimeFaces native jQuery (you know, PrimeFaces is a JSF component library on top of jQuery/UI).

The parameters can be passed as below:

 commandName([{ name: "name1", value: "value1" }, { name: "name2", value: "value2" }]);

And obtained as below:

 String name1 = externalContext.getRequestParameterMap().get("name1"); // value1
 String name2 = externalContext.getRequestParameterMap().get("name2"); // value2

To invoke it during load event, set autoRun="true".

 <p:remoteCommand ... autoRun="true" />

If you're using OmniFaces, use its <o:commandScript>. The usage is exactly the same as with <h:commandScript> but then available for older JSF 2.x versions.

Simply replace h: by o: in the first example. Historical note: the <h:commandScript> is entirely based off <o:commandScript>.
Use the "hidden form" trick (actually, "hack" is given the ugliness a better wording).
```
 <h:form id="form" style="display:none;">
     <h:commandButton id="button" action="#{bean.action}">
         <f:ajax render=":results" />
     </h:commandButton>
 </h:form>
 <h:panelGroup id="results">
     ...
 </h:panelGroup>
```
You can invoke it in JS as below:
```
 document.getElementById("form:button").onclick();
```
Note the importance of triggering onclick() instead of click(). The onclick() immediately invokes the generated onclick function, while the click() basically only simulates the "click" action on the element, as if a mouse is used, which is not supported in IE, and in some browsers also require the element being actually interactable (i.e. display:none can't be used then).

You can pass parameters via <h:inputHidden> in same form which you fill by JS beforehand. This is demonstrated in How to pass JavaScript variables as parameters to JSF action method?

To invoke it during load event, consider putting it in <h:outputScript target="body">. The target="body" automatically puts the <script> in end of <body>, thus a $(document).ready() wrapper is unnecessary.
```
 <h:outputScript target="body">
     document.getElementById("form:button").onclick();
 </h:outputScript>
```
Or, create a custom UIComponent which extends UICommand and generates the necessary JSF native jsf.ajax.request() call. As an example you could look at source code of OmniFaces <o:commandScript>.