Rendering a Text Field with the h:inputText Tag

The h:inputText tag is used to display a text field. A similar tag, the h:outputText tag, displays a read-only, single-line string. This section shows you how to use the h:inputText tag. The h:outputText tag is written in a similar way.

Here is an example of an h:inputText tag:

<h:inputText id="name" label="Customer Name" size="50"
    value="#{cashier.name}"
    required="true"
    requiredMessage="#{customMessages.CustomerName}">
    <f:valueChangeListener
        type="com.sun.bookstore6.listeners.NameChanged" />
 </h:inputText>

The label attribute specifies a user-friendly name that will be used in the substitution parameters of error messages displayed for this component.

The value attribute refers to the name property of a backing bean named CashierBean. This property holds the data for the name component. After the user submits the form, the value of the name property in CashierBean will be set to the text entered in the field corresponding to this tag.

The required attribute causes the page to reload, displaying errors, if the user does not enter a value in the name text field. The JavaServer Faces implementation checks whether the value of the component is null or is an empty string.

If your component must have a non-null value or a String value at least one character in length, you should add a required attribute to your tag and set its value to true. If your tag has a required attribute that is set to true and the value is null or a zero-length string, no other validators that are registered on the tag are called. If your tag does not have a required attribute set to true, other validators that are registered on the tag are called, but those validators must handle the possibility of a null or zero-length string. See Validating Null and Empty Strings for more information.