JSF - Get managed bean by name revisited

JSF - Get managed bean by name revisited

I have been using the following bit of code in a servlet to locate a
session backing bean (as suggested by BalusC) without problems until
recently. Now it only works on Internet Explorer. Chrome and Firefox
appear to be getting a totally new backing bean rather than the original
backing bean. When calling functions in the backing bean, it falls over
with null pointer errors for objects in the backing bean that were
definitely initialized in the original.
FacesContext facesContext = FacesUtil.getFacesContext(req, res);
ProductSelection productSelection = (ProductSelection)
facesContext.getApplication().evaluateExpressionGet(facesContext,
"#{productSelection}", ProductSelection.class);
if(productSelection.getProductType() == null)
{
System.out.println("Sevlet: product type is NULL; did not get the
original backing bean");
}
else
{
System.out.println("Sevlet: product type is: " +
productSelection.getProductType().getProductTypeName());
}
It is a while since I tested this code and there have been several updates
to Java but I'm not sure if these are the cause; I have changed something
in my configuration or Chrome and Firefox have changed something in their
code (unlikely). Is anyone else having similar problems? I am at a loss as
to where to go from here, as there does not appear to be any errors
associated with not finding the backing bean and my debugging skills for
the java lib code are not that great (they don't comment their code very
well and it is hard to follow); any suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.
I am using Netbeans 7.01, JSF 2.0, Glassfish 3.1, and a Derby database. I
tested it on my tower and laptop and it is doing it on both (Win XP and
Win 7). The JRE is 7 update 40 build 1.7.0_40-b43. JDK is 1.6.0_04. Chrome
version is 29.0.1547.76 m. Firefox is 23.0.1. Internet Explorer is
8.0.6001.18702.
The FacesUtil is slightly different to BalusC's code (but it was working
fine):
package searchselection;
import javax.faces.FactoryFinder;
import javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot;
import javax.faces.context.FacesContext;
import javax.faces.context.FacesContextFactory;
import javax.faces.lifecycle.Lifecycle;
import javax.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleFactory;
import javax.servlet.ServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.ServletResponse;
// By BalusC http://balusc.blogspot.com
// Utility to get the FacesContext.
// Used by the CriteriaServlet to get the backing bean when the user
submits a customised
// search criteria object.
public class FacesUtil
{
// Getters
-----------------------------------------------------------------
//
public static FacesContext getFacesContext(ServletRequest request,
ServletResponse response)
{
// Get current FacesContext.
FacesContext facesContext = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
// Check current FacesContext.
if (facesContext == null)
{
// Create new Lifecycle.
LifecycleFactory lifecycleFactory = (LifecycleFactory)
FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.LIFECYCLE_FACTORY);
Lifecycle lifecycle =
lifecycleFactory.getLifecycle(LifecycleFactory.DEFAULT_LIFECYCLE);
// Create new FacesContext.
FacesContextFactory contextFactory = (FacesContextFactory)
FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.FACES_CONTEXT_FACTORY);
facesContext = contextFactory.getFacesContext(
request.getServletContext(), request, response,
lifecycle);
// Create new View.
UIViewRoot view =
facesContext.getApplication().getViewHandler().createView(
facesContext, "");
facesContext.setViewRoot(view);
// Set current FacesContext.
FacesContextWrapper.setCurrentInstance(facesContext);
}
return facesContext;
}
// Helpers
-----------------------------------------------------------------
// Wrap the protected FacesContext.setCurrentInstance() in a inner class.
private static abstract class FacesContextWrapper extends FacesContext
{
protected static void setCurrentInstance(FacesContext facesContext)
{
FacesContext.setCurrentInstance(facesContext);
}
}
}
Kind thanks in advance...