Fix UIData state saving model (spec issue 153)
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                 Key: MYFACES-2616
                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/MYFACES-2616
             Project: MyFaces Core
          Issue Type: Task
          Components: JSR-314
    Affects Versions: 2.0.0-beta-2
            Reporter: Leonardo Uribe
            Assignee: Leonardo Uribe


In short, this topic is an attempt to add full state to components inside 
UIData. I'll do a brief resume, so people can understand this one easily.

UIData uses the same component instances to render multiple rows. Suppose this 
example:

<h:dataTable id="cities" var="city" value="#{country.cities}">
    <h:column>
        <h:outputText value="#{city}"  />
    </h:column>
</h:dataTable>

In the component tree it is created this hierarchy:

HtmlDatatable
  UIColumn
    HtmlOutputText
   
If we have 10 cities, the same component is used over and over to render all 10 
cities. The reason to do that in this way is keep state as small as possible.

Now let's suppose something like this:

<h:dataTable id="cities" var="city" value="#{country.cities}">
    <h:column>
        <h:inputText value="#{city}"  />
    </h:column>
</h:dataTable>

It was changed the output component for an input one. If this table is in a 
form and the values are submitted, the same component is used to apply request 
values, validate and apply them to the model (update process). To make this 
possible, UIData class has some code to preserve this values between phases 
(using EditableValueHolder interface), so when each phase is processed, all 
rows are traversed and you get the expected behavior.

Now suppose something more complex: We have a code that use invokeOnComponent 
to change the style of my inputText. In theory, only one row should change. But 
in fact, all rows are rendered with the same color. Why? because we use the 
same component to render all rows, and we don't preserve the children component 
state between rows.

There is a lot of issues, questions, and side effects related to this issue, 
but just to put some of them here:

TOMAHAWK-1062 InputTextArea doesn't work properly inside facet DetailStamp
TOMAHAWK-96 Data table Scroller not working the dataTable which was actually 
contained in other DataTable
https://javaserverfaces-spec-public.dev.java.net/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=153 
Problems with UIData state saving

Also, it is well know that one reason why people uses c:forEach in facelets, is 
because this one create "full" components per each row. It is very easy to find 
articles on internet.

Now, with jsf 2.0 we have partial state saving, so we have a chance to fix this 
one once and for all. I tried fix this one per months (maybe years!), but 
talking with Martin Marinschek on JSFDays, some ideas came out and finally it 
was found a possibility to fix this one using the existing api and with little 
changes on the spec.

The proposal is this:

1. Do not call UIComponent.markInitialState() on ComponentTagHandlerDelegate, 
as ComponentHandler javadoc says, instead call it after PostAddToViewEvent are 
published on vdl.buildView(). We need to call it from root to nodes, so the 
parent component is marked first. I know the place where this call comes is 
from trinidad tag handler, but this call needs to be fixed in a more 
predictable way.
2. Use an attribute on facesContext to identify when the VDL is marking the 
initial state (in myfaces there is already an attribute called 
"org.apache.myfaces.MARK_INITIAL_STATE"). This is necessary to indicate UIData 
instances that it is time to save the full state of all component children,
3. Allow UIData to hold a map where the key are client ids and the value are 
the deltas of all components per row. This map should be saved and restored.
4. Change UIData.setRowIndex() to restore and save the component state.

I'll attach a patch on this issue with the algorithm proposed (because it is 
based on myfaces codebase). It was tested and it works. But note it is 
necessary to fix the javadoc for UIData.markInitialState(), ComponentHandler 
and maybe vdl.buildView(), so the intention is propose this change for jsf 2.0 
rev A. Note this works only with PSS enabled because without it we don't have a 
place to notify UIData instances that it is necessary to get the full state. 
Also, note this patch preserve backward compatibility, because the old way to 
store/save is applied after the full state is restored.

Really, I have the strong temptation to apply some similar code on myfaces 
UIRepeat component (because this class is private), but I prefer first ask to 
EG.

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