I\'ve been playing around with JSF 2.0 composite components but I\'m a bit confused as to what the require attribute in the composite:attribute tag is meant to
We have simular issues with required="true" in combination with @ViewScoped bean.
I our case the bean no longer behaves like a @ViewScoped bean (new constructor call every time).
Your problem might be that because the bean looses its scope the variabels are null again?
Either case the only awnser I can give you is to not use required="true" or use a @SessionScoped bean.
(Possibly this relates to the problem of Mojarra not being able to handle bindings to properties in @ViewScoped beans)