[MYFACES-2667] var values cause problems with ui:debug when creating the debug component tree

• Type: Bug
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Fixed
• Affects Version/s: 2.0.1-SNAPSHOT
• Fix Version/s: 2.0.1
• Assignee: Jakob Korherr
• Reporter: Jakob Korherr
• Created: 21/Apr/10 15:07
• Updated: 11/Jun/10 04:26
• Resolved: 21/Apr/10 15:27

Description

When using <ui:debug /> on a page, it creates a String version of the current component tree to show it in the debug output window (opens by hitting ctrl + shift + D in the browser).

While creating this component tree, ui:debug wants to display every property of every component in the tree using the class' PropertyDescriptors. However there are some problems with this solution related to components that publish values in the RequestMap while the real tree is processed (rendered) like e.g. ui:repeat or h:dataTable (mostly those with a "var" attribute). Every child component of such a component, which refers to this value, will cause EL operations with invalid parameters (null or empty String) when its getters are called. See the related thread on the mailing list to this problem: http://www.mail-archive.com/[e-mail]/msg55485.html

In addition, properties with values of Collection, Map or Iterator are not included in the debug output, only those with "real" values (like true, false, 1234) are included. Also I don't think that it makes much sence to include all real values in the debug component tree, because what should we display for components that render their children a couple of times like h:dataTable? ...and depend on values of their parent which are published somewhere else?

To visualize the problem a bit more, see the following facelet page:

<ui:repeat var="master" value="#

{myBean.masterList}">
<h:dataTable var="detail" value="#{myBean.getDetailList(master)}">
<h:column>
<h:outputText value="#{detail}" />
</h:column>
</h:dataTable>
</ui:repeat>

The debug output for this one looks something like this:

<UIRepeat id="j_id2114509110_7e08d943" inView="true" offset="0" rendered="true" size="-1" step="1" transient="false" var="master">

<HtmlDataTable border="-2147483648" first="0" id="j_id2114509110_7e08d9b9" inView="true" rendered="true" rowIndex="-1" rows="0" transient="false" var="detail">

<UIColumn id="j_id2114509110_7e08d99f" inView="true" rendered="true" transient="false">

<HtmlOutputText escape="true" id="j_id2114509110_7e08d9f5" inView="true" rendered="true" transient="false"/>

</UIColumn>

</HtmlDataTable>

</UIRepeat>

I personally think that it would be much better not to evaluate the ValueExpressions, but to include the properties with the expression String in the component tree, like you see here:

<UIRepeat id="j_id2114509110_7e08d943" inView="true" offset="0" rendered="true" size="-1" step="1" transient="false" value="#{myBean.masterList}

" var="master">

<HtmlDataTable border="-2147483648" first="0" id="j_id2114509110_7e08d9b9" inView="true" rendered="true" rowIndex="-1" rows="0" transient="false" value="#

{myBean.getDetailList(master)}

" var="detail">

<UIColumn id="j_id2114509110_7e08d99f" inView="true" rendered="true" transient="false">

<HtmlOutputText escape="true" id="j_id2114509110_7e08d9f5" inView="true" rendered="true" transient="false" value="#

{detail}

"/>

</UIColumn>

</HtmlDataTable>

</UIRepeat>

This will solve the problem the user has experienced and will also create a much better debug output.