How to populate options of h:selectOneMenu from database?

I am creating a web application, where you have to read a list of objects / entities from a DB and populate it in a JSF <h:selectOneMenu>. I am unable to code this. Can someone show me how to do it?

I know how to get a List<User> from the DB. What I need to know is, how to populate this list in a <h:selectOneMenu>.

<h:selectOneMenu value="#{bean.name}">
    ...?
</h:selectOneMenu>

Based on your question history, you're using JSF 2.x. So, here's a JSF 2.x targeted answer. In JSF 1.x you would be forced to wrap item values/labels in ugly SelectItem instances. This is fortunately not needed anymore in JSF 2.x.

---

Basic example

To answer your question directly, just use <f:selectItems> whose value points to a List<T> property which you preserve from the DB during bean's (post)construction. Here's a basic kickoff example assuming that T actually represents a String.

<h:selectOneMenu value="#{bean.name}">
    <f:selectItems value="#{bean.names}" />
</h:selectOneMenu>

with

@ManagedBean
@RequestScoped
public class Bean {

    private String name;
    private List<String> names; 

    @EJB
    private NameService nameService;

    @PostConstruct
    public void init() {
        names = nameService.list();
    }

    // ... (getters, setters, etc)
}

Simple as that. Actually, the T's toString() will be used to represent both the dropdown item label and value. So, when you're instead of List<String> using a list of complex objects like List<SomeEntity> and you haven't overridden the class' toString() method, then you would see com.example.SomeEntity@hashcode as item values. See next section how to solve it properly.

Also note that the bean for <f:selectItems> value does not necessarily need to be the same bean as the bean for <h:selectOneMenu> value. This is useful whenever the values are actually applicationwide constants which you just have to load only once during application's startup. You could then just make it a property of an application scoped bean.

<h:selectOneMenu value="#{bean.name}">
    <f:selectItems value="#{data.names}" />
</h:selectOneMenu>

---

Complex objects as available items

Whenever T concerns a complex object (a javabean), such as User which has a String property of name, then you could use the var attribute to get hold of the iteration variable which you in turn can use in itemValue and/or itemLabel attribtues (if you omit the itemLabel, then the label becomes the same as the value).

Example #1:

<h:selectOneMenu value="#{bean.userName}">
    <f:selectItems value="#{bean.users}" var="user" itemValue="#{user.name}" />
</h:selectOneMenu>

with

private String userName;
private List<User> users;

@EJB
private UserService userService;

@PostConstruct
public void init() {
    users = userService.list();
}

// ... (getters, setters, etc)

Or when it has a Long property id which you would rather like to set as item value:

Example #2:

<h:selectOneMenu value="#{bean.userId}">
    <f:selectItems value="#{bean.users}" var="user" itemValue="#{user.id}" itemLabel="#{user.name}" />
</h:selectOneMenu>

with

private Long userId;
private List<User> users;

// ... (the same as in previous bean example)

---

Complex object as selected item

Whenever you would like to set it to a T property in the bean as well and T represents an User, then you would need to bake a custom Converter which converts between User and an unique string representation (which can be the id property). Do note that the itemValue must represent the complex object itself, exactly the type which needs to be set as selection component's value.

<h:selectOneMenu value="#{bean.user}" converter="#{userConverter}">
    <f:selectItems value="#{bean.users}" var="user" itemValue="#{user}" itemLabel="#{user.name}" />
</h:selectOneMenu>

with

private User user;
private List<User> users;

// ... (the same as in previous bean example)

and

@ManagedBean
@RequestScoped
public class UserConverter implements Converter {

    @EJB
    private UserService userService;

    @Override
    public Object getAsObject(FacesContext context, UIComponent component, String submittedValue) {
        if (submittedValue == null || submittedValue.isEmpty()) {
            return null;
        }

        try {
            return userService.find(Long.valueOf(submittedValue));
        } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
            throw new ConverterException(new FacesMessage(String.format("%s is not a valid User ID", submittedValue)), e);
        }
    }

    @Override
    public String getAsString(FacesContext context, UIComponent component, Object modelValue) {
        if (modelValue == null) {
            return "";
        }

        if (modelValue instanceof User) {
            return String.valueOf(((User) modelValue).getId());
        } else {
            throw new ConverterException(new FacesMessage(String.format("%s is not a valid User", modelValue)), e);
        }
    }

}

(please note that the Converter is a bit hacky in order to be able to inject an @EJB in a JSF converter; normally one would have annotated it as @FacesConverter(forClass=User.class), but that unfortunately doesn't allow @EJB injections)

Don't forget to make sure that the complex object class has equals() and hashCode() properly implemented, otherwise JSF will during render fail to show preselected item(s), and you'll on submit face https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9069379/validation-error-value-is-not-valid/9069660#9069660.

public class User {

    private Long id;

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object other) {
        return (other != null && getClass() == other.getClass() && id != null)
            ? id.equals(((User) other).id)
            : (other == this);
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        return (id != null) 
            ? (getClass().hashCode() + id.hashCode())
            : super.hashCode();
    }

}

---

Complex objects with a generic converter

Head to this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17343032/implement-converters-for-entities-with-java-generics/17343582#17343582.

---

Complex objects without a custom converter

The JSF utility library OmniFaces offers a special converter out the box which allows you to use complex objects in <h:selectOneMenu> without the need to create a custom converter. The SelectItemsConverter will simply do the conversion based on readily available items in <f:selectItem(s)>.

<h:selectOneMenu value="#{bean.user}" converter="omnifaces.SelectItemsConverter">
    <f:selectItems value="#{bean.users}" var="user" itemValue="#{user}" itemLabel="#{user.name}" />
</h:selectOneMenu>

---

See also:

• Our <h:selectOneMenu> wiki page

View-Page

<h:selectOneMenu id="selectOneCB" value="#{page.selectedName}">
     <f:selectItems value="#{page.names}"/>
</h:selectOneMenu>

Backing-Bean

   List<SelectItem> names = new ArrayList<SelectItem>();
   
   //-- Populate list from database
  
   names.add(new SelectItem(valueObject,"label"));
   
   //-- setter/getter accessor methods for list

To display particular selected record, it must be one of the values in the list.

Roll-your-own generic converter for complex objects as selected item

The Balusc gives a very useful overview answer on this subject. But there is one alternative he does not present: The Roll-your-own generic converter that handles complex objects as the selected item. This is very complex to do if you want to handle all cases, but pretty simple for simple cases.

The code below contains an example of such a converter. It works in the same spirit as the OmniFaces SelectItemsConverter as it looks through the children of a component for UISelectItem(s) containing objects. The difference is that it only handles bindings to either simple collections of entity objects, or to strings. It does not handle item groups, collections of SelectItems, arrays and probably a lot of other things.

The entities that the component binds to must implement the IdObject interface. (This could be solved in other way, such as using toString.)

Note that the entities must implement equals in such a way that two entities with the same ID compares equal.

The only thing that you need to do to use it is to specify it as converter on the select component, bind to an entity property and a list of possible entities:

<h:selectOneMenu value="#{bean.user}" converter="selectListConverter">
  <f:selectItem itemValue="unselected" itemLabel="Select user..."/>
  <f:selectItem itemValue="empty" itemLabel="No user"/>
  <f:selectItems value="#{bean.users}" var="user" itemValue="#{user}" itemLabel="#{user.name}" />
</h:selectOneMenu>

Converter:

/**
 * A converter for select components (those that have select items as children).
 * 
 * It convertes the selected value string into one of its element entities, thus allowing
 * binding to complex objects.
 * 
 * It only handles simple uses of select components, in which the value is a simple list of
 * entities. No ItemGroups, arrays or other kinds of values.
 * 
 * Items it binds to can be strings or implementations of the {@link IdObject} interface.
 */
@FacesConverter("selectListConverter")
public class SelectListConverter implements Converter {
  
  public static interface IdObject {
    public String getDisplayId();
  }
  
  @Override
  public Object getAsObject(FacesContext context, UIComponent component, String value) {
    if (value == null || value.isEmpty()) {
      return null;
    }
    
    return component.getChildren().stream()
      .flatMap(child -> getEntriesOfItem(child))
      .filter(o -> value.equals(o instanceof IdObject ? ((IdObject) o).getDisplayId() : o))
      .findAny().orElse(null);
  }
  
  /**
   * Gets the values stored in a {@link UISelectItem} or a {@link UISelectItems}.
   * For other components returns an empty stream.
   */
  private Stream<?> getEntriesOfItem(UIComponent child) {
    if (child instanceof UISelectItem) {
      UISelectItem item = (UISelectItem) child;
      if (!item.isNoSelectionOption()) {
        return Stream.of(item.getValue());
      }
      
    } else if (child instanceof UISelectItems) {
      Object value = ((UISelectItems) child).getValue();
      
      if (value instanceof Collection) {
        return ((Collection<?>) value).stream();
      } else {
        throw new IllegalStateException("Unsupported value of UISelectItems: " + value);
      }
    }

    return Stream.empty();
  }

  @Override
  public String getAsString(FacesContext context, UIComponent component, Object value) {
    if (value == null) return null;
    if (value instanceof String) return (String) value;
    if (value instanceof IdObject) return ((IdObject) value).getDisplayId();
    
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unexpected value type");
  }
  
}

I'm doing it like this:

1. Models are ViewScoped

2. converter:

    @Named
    @ViewScoped
    public class ViewScopedFacesConverter implements Converter, Serializable
    {
            private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
            private Map<String, Object> converterMap;
    
            @PostConstruct
            void postConstruct(){
                converterMap = new HashMap<>();
            }
   
            @Override
            public String getAsString(FacesContext context, UIComponent component, Object object) {
                String selectItemValue = String.valueOf( object.hashCode() ); 
                converterMap.put( selectItemValue, object );
                return selectItemValue;
            }
    
            @Override
            public Object getAsObject(FacesContext context, UIComponent component, String selectItemValue){
                return converterMap.get(selectItemValue);
            }
    }
   

and bind to component with:

 <f:converter binding="#{viewScopedFacesConverter}" />

If you will use entity id rather than hashCode you can hit a collision- if you have few lists on one page for different entities (classes) with the same id

Call me lazy but coding a Converter seems like a lot of unnecessary work. I'm using Primefaces and, not having used a plain vanilla JSF2 listbox or dropdown menu before, I just assumed (being lazy) that the widget could handle complex objects, i.e. pass the selected object as is to its corresponding getter/setter like so many other widgets do. I was disappointed to find (after hours of head scratching) that this capability does not exist for this widget type without a Converter. In fact if you supply a setter for the complex object rather than for a String, it fails silently (simply doesn't call the setter, no Exception, no JS error), and I spent a ton of time going through BalusC's excellent troubleshooting tool to find the cause, to no avail since none of those suggestions applied. My conclusion: listbox/menu widget needs adapting that other JSF2 widgets do not. This seems misleading and prone to leading the uninformed developer like myself down a rabbit hole.

In the end I resisted coding a Converter and found through trial and error that if you set the widget value to a complex object, e.g.:

<p:selectOneListbox id="adminEvents" value="#{testBean.selectedEvent}">

... when the user selects an item, the widget can call a String setter for that object, e.g. setSelectedThing(String thingString) {...}, and the String passed is a JSON String representing the Thing object. I can parse it to determine which object was selected. This feels a little like a hack, but less of a hack than a Converter.