OptimusFaces

Utility library for OmniFaces + PrimeFaces combined.

This project is currently still in development stage!

This project basically combines best of OmniFaces and PrimeFaces with help of OmniPersistence, an utility library for JPA. This project should make it a breeze to create semi-dynamic lazy-loaded, searchable, sortable and filterable <p:dataTable> based on a JPA model and a generic entity service.

Installation

pom.xml

<dependencies>
    <!-- Target Java EE server. -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax</groupId>
        <artifactId>javaee-api</artifactId>
        <version>8.0</version><!-- Minimum supported version is 7.0 -->
        <scope>provided</scope>
    </dependency>

    <!-- Runtime dependencies. -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.omnifaces</groupId>
        <artifactId>omnifaces</artifactId>
        <version>3.0</version><!-- Minimum supported version is 2.2 -->
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.primefaces</groupId>
        <artifactId>primefaces</artifactId>
        <version>6.2</version><!-- Minimum supported version is 5.2 -->
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.omnifaces</groupId>
        <artifactId>optimusfaces</artifactId>
        <version>0.8</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Basic Usage

First create your entity service extending org.omnifaces.omnipersistence.service.BaseEntityService. You don't necessarily need to add new methods, just extending it is sufficient. It's useful for other generic things too.

@Stateless
public class YourEntityService extends BaseEntityService<Long, YourEntity> {

   // ...

}

And make sure YourEntity extends org.omnifaces.omnipersistence.model.BaseEntity or one of its subclasses GeneratedIdEntity, TimestampedEntity or VersionedEntity.

@Entity
public class YourEntity extends BaseEntity<Long> {

    @Id @GeneratedValue(strategy=IDENTITY)
    private Long id;
    private Instant created;
    private String name;
    private Type type;
    private boolean deleted;

    // ...
}

Then create a org.omnifaces.optimusfaces.model.PagedDataModel in your backing bean as below.

@Named
@ViewScoped
public class YourBackingBean implements Serializable {

    private PagedDataModel<YourEntity> model;

    @Inject
    private YourEntityService service;
    
    @PostConstruct
    public void init() {
        model = PagedDataModel.lazy(service).build();
    }

    public PagedDataModel<YourEntity> getModel() {
        return model;
    }

}

Finally use <op:dataTable> to have a semi-dynamic lazy-loaded, pageable, sortable and filterable <p:dataTable> without much hassle.

<... xmlns:op="http://omnifaces.org/optimusfaces">

<h:form id="yourEntitiesForm">
    <op:dataTable id="yourEntitiesTable" value="#{yourBackingBean.model}">
        <op:column field="id" />
        <op:column field="created" />
        <op:column field="name" />
        <op:column field="type" />
        <op:column field="deleted" />
    </op:dataTable>
</h:form>

The field attribute of <op:column> represents the entity property path. This will in turn be used in id, field, headerText and filterBy attributes of <p:column>.

Here's how it looks like with default PrimeFaces UI and all. This example uses exactly the above Java and XHTML code with a Person entity with Long id, String email, Gender gender and LocalDate dateOfBirth fields.

Advanced Usage

Check PagedDataModel javadoc.

Known Issues

• EclipseLink refuses to perform a JOIN with Criteria API when setFirstResult/setMaxResults is used. This returns a cartesian product. This has been workarounded, but this removes the ability to perform sorting on a column referenced by a join (@OneToMany and @ElementCollection). You should set such columns as <op:column ... sortable="false">. Another consequence is that you cannot search with a multi-valued criteria in a field referenced by a @OneToMany relationship. You should consider using a DTO instead.
• OpenJPA adds internally a second JOIN when sorting a column referenced by a join (@OneToMany and @ElementCollection). This has as consequence that the sorting is performed on a different join than the one referenced in GROUP BY and will thus be off from what's presented. You should for now set such columns as <op:column ... sortable="false"> or consider using a DTO instead.
• OpenJPA bugs on setting a criteria parameter in a nested subquery. This has as consequence that you cannot search with a multi-valued criteria in a field referenced by a @OneToMany relationship. You should consider using a DTO instead.
• OpenJPA does not correctly apply setFirstResult/setMaxResults when an @OneToMany relationship is involved in the query. It will basically apply it on the results of the @OneToMany relationship instead of on the query root, causing the page to contain fewer records than expected. There is no clear solution/workaround for that yet.
• OpenJPA ignores any AttributeConverter when setting a criteria parameter. This has as consequence that e.g. a LocalDate/LocalDateTime criteria parameter won't work until OpenJPA itself natively supports java.time API. You should for now declare such columns as java.util.Date/java.util.Calendar.

The integration tests currently run on following environments:

• WildFly 12.0.0 with Mojarra 2.3.3 and Hibernate 5.1.10
• WildFly 12.0.0 with Mojarra 2.3.3 and EclipseLink 2.7.1
• Payara 5.Beta2 with Mojarra 2.3.3 and Hibernate 5.3.0
• Payara 5.Beta2 with Mojarra 2.3.3 and EclipseLink 2.7.0
• TomEE 7.0.4 with MyFaces 2.2.12 and OpenJPA 2.4.2

Each environment will run the IT on following databases:

• H2 1.4.193 on WildFly and H2 1.4.196 on Payara and TomEE (embedded database)
• MySQL 5.6.33 (provided by Travis) with JDBC driver 5.1.45
• PostgreSQL 9.6.6 (provided by Travis) with JDBC driver 42.2.1

Effectively, there are thus 15 full test runs of each 26 test cases on 16 XHTML files.