Difference between h:link and h:outputLink

Question

I have looked at the API's for both components but am not too sure why you would use one over the other?

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E17802_01/j2ee/javaee/javaserverfaces/2.0/docs/pdldocs/facelets/index.html

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E17802_01/j2ee/javaee/javaserverfaces/2.0/docs/pdldocs/facelets/h/outputLink.html

Could somebody provide an example of why you would choose one over the other?

Thanks

Answer 1

• <h:link> uses its value attribute as the link text and its outcome attribute to generate the linked-to URL via JSF navigation rules. This makes it useful for application-internal links. Also, this component was introduced only on JSF 2.0
• <h:outputLink> uses the value attribute directly as linked-to URL and the content of the tag as link text. This means the component cannot be used with navigation rules, but it can be used for direct and external links. It has been around since JSF 1.1.