AJAX call clears values in unrelated controls

Question

I'm using RichFaces' a4j:support to toggle the visibility of some controls on the page. However, when the h:selectOneRadio button rdoRequestType is changed, it clears the values of the txtLibraryServerNumber and other controls in the a4j:outputPanel with ID "media". Why would one AJAX call on a page interfere with a different AJAX panel?

I've tried using the "process" attribute on the a4j:support tag on the selectOneRadio so it writes the values of the text boxes in the other panel to the Seam bean, but that has no effect. What the heck am I doing wrong? Help! I'm losing my mind!!

<h:selectOneRadio value="#{webencode.requestType}"
  id="rdoRequestType" styleClass="radio" style="width:295px" layout="pageDirection" >
  <f:selectItem itemValue="program" itemLabel="Series or Individual Program"/>
  <f:selectItem itemValue="promo" itemLabel="Promo" />
  <f:selectItem itemValue="specific" itemLabel="Specific Format Encoding Request"/>
  <a4j:support ajaxSingle="true" event="onclick" reRender="program" process="txtLibraryServerNumber,txtDigitalMediaFileName"/>
</h:selectOneRadio>

<a4j:outputPanel id="program" ajaxRendered="true">
  <s:span rendered="#{('program' == webencode.requestType || 'promo' == webencode.requestType) ? true : false}">
    <h:selectOneMenu value="#{webencode.seriesId}" id="lstSeriesName">
      <f:selectItems value="#{webencode.programItems}"/>
    </h:selectOneMenu>
  </s:span>
  <s:span rendered="#{'specific' == webencode.requestType ? true : false}">
    <h:selectOneMenu value="#{webencode.arrVideoEncodings.get(0).videoEncoding}"
      id="lstSpecificVideoEncoding1" style="width:295px;">
      <f:selectItems value="#{webencode.videoEncodingItems}"/>
    </h:selectOneMenu>
  </s:span>
</a4j:outputPanel>             

<h:selectOneMenu value="#{webencode.inputMediaType}"
  id="lstInputMediaType">
  <f:selectItems value="#{webencode.inputMediaTypeItems}"/>
  <a4j:support ajaxSingle="true" event="onchange" reRender="media" process="lstSeriesName,lstSpecificVideoEncoding1"/>
</h:selectOneMenu>

<a4j:outputPanel id="media" ajaxRendered="true">
  <s:span rendered="#{'Tape Library # or Server ID #' == webencode.inputMediaType ? true : false}">
    <h:inputText id="txtLibraryServerNumber"
      value="#{webencode.libraryServerNumber}" maxlength="50" />
  </s:span>  
  <s:span rendered="#{'Digital Media File Name' == webencode.inputMediaType ? true : false}">
    <h:inputText id="txtDigitalMediaFileName"
      value="#{webencode.digitalMediaFileName}" maxlength="195" /><br />
  </s:span>  
</a4j:outputPanel>

Answer 1

If you have the UpdateMode property of the panel set to "always" it will update with any postback occurs. If you set it to "conditional" it will only update when one of it's own triggers causes a postback.

I don't know if this would clear your controls, but it is a possible answer to why one panel is effecting another.

Answer 2

What is the scope of your Webencode bean? It will have to be Page or longer or your values will be lost with each call. Remember that if you don't specify a scope it defaults to Request and each Ajax call is a Request.

Your media panel is always being refreshed as you've specified it with the ajaxRendered attribute which is like saying "even if I'm not asked to be reRendered, reRender me always anyway." Unless you have a good reason to use ajaxRendered (eg. something that is always rendered like status messages), then you are better off starting with explicity specifying what to reRender.

The process attribute isn't necessary here - get rid of it.

Cheers,

D

Answer 3

Found the solution: Very strange, but on the server, which is running Apache with JBoss, it needs to have the limitToList attribute set to true:

<a4j:support ajaxSingle="true" event="onchange" reRender="media" 
     limitToList="true"/>

This ensures only the control indicated (in this case "media") is re-rendered. Still don't know why it's required on the server but not on the localhost. Gotta be something with Apache and how it communicates with JBoss, but not sure.