Oracle Fusion Middleware Tag Reference for Oracle ADF Faces
12c (12.2.1.3)

E80089-01

<af:spacer>

af:spacer spacer spacer

UIComponent class: oracle.adf.view.rich.component.rich.output.RichSpacer
Component type: oracle.adf.RichSpacer

The spacer occupies a fixed amount of space in a layout, specified by its width and height attributes.

A spacer that is defined with a width, or both a width and a height, is implemented via an underlying non-visible HTML IMG. When specified this way, then, irrespective of the specified value of height, it will not be shorter than the applicable line-height when strict HTML standards are enforced on the page (which is the default).

If the width is not specified, and only a height is specified, then a block level HTML element is rendered and the height is created via a margin. The block level element also introduces a new line effect. In this case, exact small height (less than line-height) settings can be achieved.

Geometry Management

Screen Shot(s)


spacer screenshot

Code Example(s)

<af:panelGroupLayout layout="horizontal" id="pgl2">
    <af:outputText value="here is some text followed by a spacer"
                   id="ot2"/>
    <af:spacer width="20" binding="#{editor.component}" id="s2"/>
    <af:outputText value="and some more text" id="ot3"/>
 </af:panelGroupLayout>
   

Events

Type Phases Description
org.apache.myfaces.trinidad.event.AttributeChangeEvent Invoke Application,
Apply Request Values
Event delivered to describe an attribute change. Attribute change events are not delivered for any programmatic change to a property. They are only delivered when a renderer changes a property without the application's specific request. An example of an attribute change event might include the width of a column that supported client-side resizing.

Attributes

Name Type Supports EL? Description
attributeChangeListener javax.el.MethodExpression Only EL a method reference to an attribute change listener. Attribute change events are not delivered for any programmatic change to a property. They are only delivered when a renderer changes a property without the application's specific request. An example of an attribute change events might include the width of a column that supported client-side resizing.
binding oracle.adf.view.rich.component.rich.output.RichSpacer Only EL an EL reference that will store the component instance on a bean. This can be used to give programmatic access to a component from a backing bean, or to move creation of the component to a backing bean.
clientComponent boolean Yes Default Value: false

whether a client-side component will be generated. A component may be generated whether or not this flag is set, but if client Javascript requires the component object, this must be set to true to guarantee the component's presence. Client component objects that are generated today by default may not be present in the future; setting this flag is the only way to guarantee a component's presence, and clients cannot rely on implicit behavior. However, there is a performance cost to setting this flag, so clients should avoid turning on client components unless absolutely necessary. For the components outputText and outputFormatted, setting the clientComponent to true will render id attribute for the html DOM. This ID attribute can alternatively be generated by setting oracle.adf.view.rich.SUPPRESS_IDS to "auto" in web.xml.
customizationId String Yes This attribute is deprecated. The 'id' attribute should be used when applying persistent customizations. This attribute will be removed in the next release.
height String Yes the height value assigned to the spacer. If both height and width are specified, then the value entered is directly applied to an underlying HTML IMG tag's height attribute. The value can be a pixel or percentage value. Note that when specified this way (having both height and width values set), then, irrespective of the specified value of height, it will not be shorter than the applicable line-height when strict HTML standards are enforced on the page (which is the default). If only height is set, then a block level HTML element is rendered and the height is created via a margin. The block level element will introduce a new line effect. In this case (having only height value set), exact small height (less than line-height) settings can be achieved. A percentage value should be entered as a number followed by the "%" symbol. A number will be interpreted as a pixel value (as will a number followed by the text "px").
id String No the identifier for the component. Every component may be named by a component identifier that must conform to the following rules:
  • They must start with a letter (as defined by the Character.isLetter() method) or underscore ( _ ).
  • Subsequent characters must be letters (as defined by the Character.isLetter() method), digits as defined by the Character.isDigit() method, dashes ( - ), or underscores ( _ ). To minimize the size of responses generated by JavaServer Faces, it is recommended that component identifiers be as short as possible. If a component has been given an identifier, it must be unique in the namespace of the closest ancestor to that component that is a NamingContainer (if any).
inlineStyle String Yes the CSS styles to use for this component. This is intended for basic style changes. The inlineStyle is a set of CSS styles that are applied to the root DOM element of the component. Be aware that because of browser CSS precedence rules, CSS rendered on a DOM element takes precedence over external stylesheets like the skin file. Therefore skins will not be able to override what you set on this attribute. If the inlineStyle's CSS properties do not affect the DOM element you want affected, then you will have to create a skin and use the skinning keys which are meant to target particular DOM elements, like ::label or ::icon-style.
partialTriggers String[] Yes the IDs of the components that should trigger a partial update. This component will listen on the trigger components. If one of the trigger components receives an event that will cause it to update in some way, this component will request to be updated too. Identifiers are relative to the source component (this component), and must account for NamingContainers. If your component is already inside of a naming container, you can use a single colon to start the search from the root of the page, or multiple colons to move up through the NamingContainers - "::" will pop out of the component's naming container (or itself if the component is a naming container) and begin the search from there, ":::" will pop out of two naming containers (including itself if the component is a naming container) and begin the search from there, etc.
rendered boolean Yes Default Value: true

whether the component is rendered. When set to false, no output will be delivered for this component (the component will not in any way be rendered, and cannot be made visible on the client). If you want to change a component's rendered attribute from false to true using PPR, set the partialTrigger attribute of its parent component so the parent refreshes and in turn will render this component.
shortDesc String Yes the short description of the component. The shortDesc text may be used in two different ways, depending on the component.

For components with images, the shortDesc is often used to render an HTML alt attribute for the image. Please see the accessibility guidelines section for correct alt text usage of the shortDesc attribute.

shortDesc is also commonly used to render an HTML title attribute, which is used by user agents to display tooltip help text. In this case the behavior for the tooltip is controlled by the user agent, e.g. Firefox 2 truncates long tooltips. For form components, the shortDesc is displayed in a note window. For components that support the helpTopicId attribute and are not using the shortDesc as image alt text, it is recommended that helpTopicId is used instead of shortDesc as it is more flexible and provides more accessible descriptive text than the use of the title attribute.

styleClass String Yes a CSS style class to use for this component. The style class can be defined in your jspx page or in a skinning CSS file, for example, or you can use one of our public style classes, like 'AFInstructionText'.
unsecure java.util.Set Yes A whitespace separated list of attributes whose values ordinarily can be set only on the server, but need to be settable on the client. Currently, this is supported only for the "disabled" attribute. Note that when you are able to set a property on the client, you will be allowed to by using the the .setProperty('attribute', newValue) method, but not the .setXXXAttribute(newValue) method. For example, if you have unsecure="disabled", then on the client you can use the method .setProperty('disabled', false), while the method .setDisabled(false) will not work and will provide a javascript error that setDisabled is not a function.
visible boolean Yes Default Value: true

the visibility of the component. If it is "false", the component will be hidden on the client. Unlike "rendered", this does not affect the lifecycle on the server - the component may have its bindings executed, etc. - and the visibility of the component can be toggled on and off on the client, or toggled with PPR. When "rendered" is false, the component will not in any way be rendered, and cannot be made visible on the client. In most cases, use the "rendered" property instead of the "visible" property.
Not supported on the following renderkits: org.apache.myfaces.trinidad.core
width String Yes the width value assigned to the spacer. The value entered is directly applied to an underlying HTML IMG tag's width attribute. The value can be a pixel or percentage value. A percentage value should be entered as a number followed by the "%" symbol. A number will be interpreted as a pixel value (as will a number followed by the text "px").