JSF 2 panelGrid example

In JSF , “h:panelGrid” tag is used to generate HTML table tags to place JSF components in rows and columns layout, from left to right, top to bottom.

For example, you used to group JSF components with HTML table tags like this :

HTML

<table>

<tbody>

<tr>

	<td>

		Enter a number :

	</td>

	<td>

		<h:inputText id="number" value="#{dummy.number}"

			size="20" required="true"

			label="Number" >

			<f:convertNumber />

		</h:inputText>

	</td>

	<td>

		<h:message for="number" style="color:red" />

	</td>

</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

With “h:panelGrid” tag, you can get the same table layout above, without typing any of the HTML table tags :

h:panelGrid

<h:panelGrid columns="3">

	Enter a number : 

	<h:inputText id="number" value="#{dummy.number}"

		size="20" required="true"

		label="Number" >

		<f:convertNumber />

	</h:inputText>

	<h:message for="number" style="color:red" />

</h:panelGrid>

Note

The “column” attribute is optional, which define the number of columns are required to lay out the JSF component, defaults to 1.

h:panelGrid example

A JSF 2.0 example to show you how to use the “h:panelGrid” tag to lay out the components properly.

1. Managed Bean

A dummy bean for demo.

package com.mkyong;

import java.io.Serializable;

import javax.faces.bean.ManagedBean;

import javax.faces.bean.SessionScoped;

@ManagedBean(name="dummy")

@SessionScoped

public class DummyBean implements Serializable{

	int number;

	public int getNumber() {

		return number;

	}

	public void setNumber(int number) {

		this.number = number;

	}

}

2. JSF Page

A JSF XHTML page to use “h:panelGrid” tag to places JSF components in 3 columns layout.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"

"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"

      xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"

      xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"

      xmlns:c="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core"

      >

    <h:body>

    	<h1>JSF 2 panelGrid example</h1>

	<h:form>

		<h:panelGrid columns="3">

			Enter a number : 

			<h:inputText id="number" value="#{dummy.number}"

				size="20" required="true"

				label="Number" >

				<f:convertNumber />

			</h:inputText>

			<h:message for="number" style="color:red" />

		</h:panelGrid>

		<h:commandButton value="Submit" action="result" />

	</h:form>

    </h:body>

</html>

Output following HTML result :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"

"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<body>

    <h1>JSF 2 panelGrid example</h1>

	<form id="j_idt6" name="j_idt6" method="post"

		action="/JavaServerFaces/faces/default.xhtml"

                enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded">

	<input type="hidden" name="j_idt6" value="j_idt6" />

	<table>

	<tbody>

	<tr>

		<td>

			Enter a number :

		</td>

		<td>

			<input id="j_idt6:number" type="text"

                              name="j_idt6:number" value="0" size="20" />

		</td>

		<td></td>

	</tr>

	</tbody>

	</table>

	<input type="submit" name="j_idt6:j_idt10" value="Submit" />

        <input type="hidden" .... />

	</form>

</body>

</html>

Demo

Screen shot of this example.