Chapter 5. Advanced features

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Chapter 5. Advanced features

5.1. JSF 2 integration

5.2. Error handling

5.2.1. Client-side errors
5.2.2. Server-side errors

5.3. Other functions

Read this chapter for details on some of the advanced features and configuration possibilities for the RichFaces framework.

5.1. JSF 2 integration

JavaServer Faces (JSF) is the Java-based web application framework upon which the RichFaces framework has been built. RichFaces is now integrated with JSF 2, which features several improvements to the framework.

The standard display technology used by JSF 1 was JavaServer Pages (JSP). With JSF 2, the standard display technology has been changed to Facelets, which is a more powerful and more efficient View Declaration Language (VLD) than JSP.

5.2. Error handling

RichFaces allows standard handlers to be defined for processing different application exceptions. Custom JavaScript can be executed when these exceptions occur.

5.2.1. Client-side errors

JSF provides a global onError handler on the client. The handler provides the relevant error code and other associated data. The RichFaces Ajax components provide the error attribute if extra functionality needs to be defined.

Additional processing is available through a number of components, such as the following:

The <a4j:status> component has an additional error state.
The <a4j:queue> component can be used to process errors.

5.2.2. Server-side errors

Use the JSF 2 ExceptionHandler class to handle server-side errors such as session expiration.

5.3. Other functions

RichFaces provides a number of advanced functions, such as managing user roles and identifying elements. Refer to the Functions chapter in the RichFaces Component Reference for further details.