Datatable does not update after successful ajax call

Question

I have a data table. Each row of the table has a commandButton called 'Remove', which is supposed to remove that row from the model and the view and perform an update in-place. As a footer, I have another commandButton called 'Remove every row'.

The last button works. I click on it, every row is removed from the model (i.e the ArrayList containing the elements becomes empty) and the dataTable and footer facet is re-rendered (or updated) in the view.

On the other hand, when I click a button on one of the rows, to remove it, it partially works. The corresponding element is removed from the model but the view is not updated. That row is still there in the dataTable and the footer facet hasn't changed.

I have the following piece of code in my users.xhtml.

<f:metadata>
    <f:viewParam name="id" value="#{users.id}" />
    <f:event type="preRenderView" listener="#{users.init}" />
</f:metadata>

...

<h:form id="usersForm">
    <p:outputPanel>    
        <p:dataTable id="userTable" value="#{users.user.friendList}" var="friend">
            <p:column>
                <h:outputText value="#{friend.name}" />
            </p:column>
            <p:column>
                <p:commandButton action="#{users.user.removeFriend(friend)}"
                    ajax="true"
                    update="userTable somethingElse" process="@this"
                    onerror="errorDialog.show();"
                    icon="ui-icon-delete"
                    title="delete user">
                </p:commandButton>
            </p:column>

            <f:facet id="somethingElse" name="footer">  
                    aye: ${users.user.xxx}
            </f:facet>
        </p:dataTable>

    </p:outputPanel>

    <p:commandButton action="#{users.user.removeAllFriends()}" ajax="true"
                update="userTable somethingElse"
                process="@this"
                icon="ui-icon-close"
                value="delete all friends?">
    </p:commandButton>


</h:form>

So, what do you think is the problem here?

I'm using JSF 2.0 and Primefaces 3.0

Answer 1

I recognize this problem form one of our current PF 3.0 pages. It will work if you use update="@form" instead. I haven't really had the time to investigate the real cause so that I can report it to the PF guys, because this problem does not manifest in all pages. Even in the same table, a different button works as intented.

Give it a try:

<p:commandButton update="@form" ... />

---

Update: coming to think about it, it's maybe related to the presence of process="@this".

Answer 2

You are probably using Primefaces 2.2.1 as this seems like it is due to a common bug with the Primefaces dataTable component. Essentially what occurs is that ajax postbacks occurring from within elements of a dataTable will not result in a partial page update of elements in the dataTable.

The simplest workaround is to invoke a postback from a button outside of the dataTable where its sole purpose is simply to partial page update the dataTable. This is not the most efficient solution as it results in two postbacks, however it does work.

See my previous answer to this problem Here