How to render a panelGroup with a h:commandLink and f:ajax

Question

I want to render a <h:panelGroup> when the user clicks on a <h:commandLink>.

I can make it work without ajax, but the whole page is refreshed. When I try to use <f:ajax>, then the action is not invoked.

How is this caused and how can I solve it?

Here is the code of my link:

   <a4j:outputPanel>
        <h:commandLink action="#{ObjetEleve.showInfosPersos}" style="text-decoration:none;">
            <a4j:ajax event="click" render=":corps:panelInfos"/>
            <a4j:outputPanel layout="block" styleClass="menu_item_static_header">
                <h:panelGroup layout="block" styleClass="menu_item_static">
                    <h:outputText value="#{(ObjetEleve.displayModifications) ? 'Retour au mur' : 'Modifier mes informations'}" />
                </h:panelGroup>
            </a4j:outputPanel>
        </h:commandLink>
    </a4j:outputPanel>

And here is the code of the panel that I want to be rendered:

 <h:panelGroup id="panelInfos">
    <h:panelGroup id="infoPerso"
        rendered="#{(ObjetEleve.displayModifications) ? true : false}"
        layout="block">
        <a4j:outputPanel id="infosPersos" layout="block">
            <h:panelGrid width="580" columns="2" border="0">
                <h:panelGrid id="panelInscription" columns="2" border="0"
                    cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
                    <a4j:outputPanel>
                        <h:outputText value="Nom" />
                        <h:outputText value="*" style="color:#ff0000;" />
                    </a4j:outputPanel>
                    <a4j:outputPanel>
                        <h:inputText id="nomInscription"
                            value="#{ObjetEleve.nom_eleve}" styleClass="inputbox"
                            required="true" requiredMessage="Nom obligatoire" />
                    </a4j:outputPanel>
                    <h:outputText value="" />
                    <h:outputText value="" />
                    <a4j:outputPanel>
                        <h:outputText value="Prénom" />
                        <h:outputText value="*" style="color:#ff0000;" />
                    </a4j:outputPanel>
                    <a4j:outputPanel>
                        <h:inputText id="pnomInscription"
                            value="#{ObjetEleve.prenom_eleve}" styleClass="inputbox"
                            required="true" requiredMessage="Prénom obligatoire" />
                    </a4j:outputPanel>
                    <h:outputText value="" />
                    <h:outputText value="" />
                    <a4j:outputPanel id="pwd">
                        <h:outputText value="Mot de passe" />
                        <h:outputText value="*" style="color:#ff0000" />
                    </a4j:outputPanel>
                    <a4j:outputPanel>
                        <h:inputSecret id="passwd" value="#{ObjetEleve.pwd_eleve}"
                            redisplay="true" styleClass="inputbox" required="true"
                            requiredMessage="Mot de passe obligatoire" />
                    </a4j:outputPanel>
                    <h:outputText value="" />
                    <h:outputText value="" />
                    <a4j:outputPanel id="classe">
                        <h:outputText value="Classe" />
                        <h:outputText value="*" style="color:#ff0000" />
                    </a4j:outputPanel>
                    <a4j:outputPanel>
                        <rich:select value="#{ObjetEleve.id_classe_eleve}">
                            <f:selectItems value="#{classeBean.classes}" var="classe"
                                itemValue="#{classe.id_classe}"
                                itemLabel="#{classe.nom_classe}" />
                        </rich:select>
                    </a4j:outputPanel>
                    <h:outputText value="" />
                    <h:outputText value="" />
                    <a4j:outputPanel>
                        <h:outputText value="E-Mail" />
                        <h:outputText value="*" style="color:#ff0000" />
                    </a4j:outputPanel>
                    <a4j:outputPanel>
                        <h:inputText id="email" size="30"
                            value="#{ObjetEleve.email_eleve}" styleClass="inputbox"
                            required="true" requiredMessage="Email obligatoire" />
                    </a4j:outputPanel>
                    <h:outputText value="" />
                    <h:outputText value="" />
                    <a4j:outputPanel>
                        <h:outputText value="Date de naissance" />
                        <h:outputText value="*" style="color:#ff0000" />
                    </a4j:outputPanel>
                    <a4j:outputPanel>
                        <rich:calendar value="#{ObjetEleve.date_naissance_eleve}"
                            required="true"
                            requiredMessage="Date de naissance obligatoire" />
                    </a4j:outputPanel>
                    <h:outputText value="" />
                    <h:outputText value="" />
                    <a4j:outputPanel>
                        <h:outputText value="" />
                    </a4j:outputPanel>
                    <a4j:outputPanel>
                        <h:commandButton value="Mettre à jour les informations"
                            styleClass="submitButton" />
                    </a4j:outputPanel>
                    <h:outputText value="" />
                    <h:outputText value="" />
                </h:panelGrid>
            </h:panelGrid>
        </a4j:outputPanel>
    </h:panelGroup>
</h:panelGroup>

Answer 1

You're overridding the default ajax event for action components, which is event="action" by a event="click". This way JSF won't queue the action event to the action method.

So, use event="action"

<a4j:ajax event="action" render=":corps:panelInfos"/>

or just remove it altogether, it's the default event already

<a4j:ajax render=":corps:panelInfos"/>

The same story applies to <f:ajax>.

See also:

• What values can I pass to the event attribute of the f:ajax tag?