How to display my application's errors in JSF?

Question

In my JSF/Facelets app, here\'s a simplified version of part of my form:

Answer 1

FacesContext.addMessage(String, FacesMessage) requires the component's clientId, not it's id. If you're wondering why, think about having a control as a child of a dataTable, stamping out different values with the same control for each row - it would be possible to have a different message printed for each row. The id is always the same; the clientId is unique per row.

So "myform:mybutton" is the correct value, but hard-coding this is ill-advised. A lookup would create less coupling between the view and the business logic and would be an approach that works in more restrictive environments like portlets.

Managed bean logic:

/** Must be request scope for binding */
public class ShowMessageAction {

    private UIComponent mybutton;

    private boolean isOK = false;

    public String validatePassword() {
        if (isOK) {
            return "ok";
        }
        else {
            // invalid
            FacesMessage message = new FacesMessage("Invalid password length");
            FacesContext context = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
            context.addMessage(mybutton.getClientId(context), message);
        }
        return null;
    }

    public void setMybutton(UIComponent mybutton) {
        this.mybutton = mybutton;
    }

    public UIComponent getMybutton() {
        return mybutton;
    }
}