Using Ajax Functionality with JavaServer Faces Technology

Ajax functionality can be added to a JavaServer Faces application in one of the following ways:

• Adding the required JavaScript code to an application

• Using the built-in Ajax resource library

In earlier releases of the Java EE platform, JavaServer Faces applications provided Ajax functionality by adding the necessary JavaScript to the web page. In the Java EE 6 platform, standard Ajax support is provided by a built-in JavaScript resource library.

With the support of this JavaScript resource library, JavaServer Faces standard UI components, such as buttons, labels, or text fields, can be enabled for Ajax functionality. You can also load this resource library and use its methods directly from within the managed bean code. The next sections of the tutorial describe the use of the built-in Ajax resource library.

In addition, because the JavaServer Faces technology component model can be extended, custom components can be created with Ajax functionality.

An Ajax version of the guessnumber application, ajaxguessnumber, is available in the example repository. See The ajaxguessnumber Example Application for more information.

The Ajax specific f:ajax tag and its attributes are explained in the next sections.