The easiest way to start with RichFaces

Now that RichFaces 3.3.3 is out, plus JBoss Tools 3.1 was released in March, let me show you the easiest way to start with RichFaces and Tomcat 6. This doesn’t involve Maven. I’ll write a post about Maven and RichFaces some other time.

The following steps assume you have JBoss Tools 3.0 or 3.1 installed. Just in case you don’t have JBoss Tools installed, skip to section Installing JBoss Tools 3.1 at the end.

Getting RichFaces project

  1. Download RichFaces start project
  2. In Eclipse, select File/Import/General/Existing Project into Workspace
  3. Check Select archive file and click Browse…
  4. Find and select richfaces-start.zip
  5. Click Finish
  6. Once the project is imported, in Servers view, right-click Tomcat server and select Add and Remove…
  7. Move richfaces-start to the right side
  8. Start the server
  9. Right-click richfaces-start project and select Run As/Run nn Server

You should see a page like this:

The project even comes with a very short custom skin (laguna14). Look for the skin file in JavaSource folder. The application also uses a4j:insert tag and a4j implicit object.

Installing JBoss Tools 3.1

  1. Download and install Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers 3.5.2
  2. In Eclipse, go to Help/Install New Software…
  3. Click Add
  4. For name, enter JBoss Tools 3.1
  5. For URL, enter http://download.jboss.org/jbosstools/updates/JBossTools-3.1.0.GA/
  6. Click OK
  7. Select the just added software link
  8. When a list of features appears, select Web and Java EE Development
  9. Click Finish. This will install JBoss Tools
  10. Launch Eclipse
  11. Add Tomcat 6 server (you can do it via Servers view)
  12. Go back to step #1 in Getting RichFaces project section

36 responses to “The easiest way to start with RichFaces”

  1. katick Avatar
    katick

    Hello Max,

    Thanks for your excellent work all time. Can you please give us step by step tutorial to develop custom components using Richfaces. Thank you

    -Katick

    Reply
  2. max Avatar
    max

    @Katick: You welcome. Once RichFaces 4 is out with its new CDK (Component Development Kit) I will start blogging on how to create custom rich components. The CDK in version 4 is going to be a lot simpler to use.

    Reply
  3. Nick Avatar
    Nick

    @Katick: please take a look at this document: http://docs.jboss.org/richfaces/latest_3_3_X/en/cdkguide/html_single/

    Reply
  4. Ray Avatar
    Ray

    Thank you for this pretty headstart. My you please advise me. I have been following yo blog material for 2 weeks now but i would like a training on Seam and Richfaces,EJB,JPA,JSF etc because i would want to know how to develop a complete application using these technologies. I have the books Practical Richfaces and Jboss Richfaces 3.3 but i still believe Training will do because the books seem to skip some elements that i find crucial e.g in Jboss Richfaces 3.3 they dont describe creating the application in Eclipse or Netbeans but rather use Seam gen , my point is wat happens if seam-gen fails like what happened when i tried to create the main example application

    Thanx

    Reply
  5. max Avatar
    max

    Right now we offer on-site JSF, RichFaces and Seam training. You have my email, if you have any questions on training, just email me.

    Reply
  6. Most popular (and useful) RichFaces posts | Maxa Blog

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    Reply
  7. Tiho Avatar
    Tiho

    Thank you for the project!
    Still I would have a question. I try to deploy the example project on JBoss (Community) 5.1 server and there is some deployment error. What should be changed to get it work on JBoss server(s)?

    Reply
  8. max Avatar
    max

    @Tiho: JBoss AS already has JSF libraries, so the first thing you should try is removing JSF libraries from project template.

    Reply
  9. Sampath Avatar
    Sampath

    Can you provide a template project that works for JBoss AS 5.1? (Similar to tomcat 5.5 and 6 templates you have).

    Reply
  10. max Avatar
    max

    @Sampath: I could but you can also just create a new Seam project. It comes with RichFaces. Or you are looking for just plain JSF RichFaces project (no Seam) on JBoss AS?

    Reply
  11. Sampath Avatar
    Sampath

    Yes, I’m looking for plain JSF RichFaces project (no Seam) on JBoss AS.

    Reply
  12. max Avatar
    max

    @Sampath: will probably have time next week. For now, try to remove JSF libraries from Tomcat template and deploy on JBoss AS.

    Reply
  13. Maxa Blog » Plain JSF/RichFaces project on JBoss AS

    […] reader asked me to provide plain JSF and RichFaces template to run on JBoss AS. As JBoss AS already comes […]

    Reply
  14. max Avatar
    max

    @Sampath: http://mkblog.exadel.com/2011/01/plain-jsfrichfaces-project-on-jboss-as/

    Reply
  15. frank Avatar
    frank

    Hi,

    The link http://drop.io/richfaces/asset/richfaces-start-3-3-3-zip is not
    working.

    Frank

    Reply
  16. max Avatar
    max

    @frank: file updated. I think Facebook bought Drop.io last year and they stopped supporting all old uploads.

    Reply
  17. Maxa Blog » Updated: Easiest way to start with RichFaces 3

    […] just updated Easiest way to start with RichFaces post with correct URL to download the sample project (link to drop.io wasn’t working). Keep […]

    Reply
  18. kenji Avatar
    kenji

    what about this post for RF 4? 😉

    Reply
  19. max Avatar
    max

    @kenji: to be honest, Maven RichFaces archetype would be the simplest way to start. You can find instructions here: http://goo.gl/SS9m0 Once you got the project, you can easily import it into Eclipse.

    But, I’ll post something similar when I have more time.

    Reply
  20. Leo K Avatar
    Leo K

    thanks! I will give it a try!

    Reply
  21. akram Avatar
    akram

    Hi,

    I am trying to follow the steps :

    Getting RichFaces project

    1.Download RichFaces start project
    2.In Eclipse, select File/Import/General/Existing Project into Workspace
    3.Check Select archive file and click Browse…
    4.Find and select richfaces-start.zip

    From archive File : C:Majidrichfacesrichfaces-start.zip

    Should I select something in :
    Into Folder ?

    Because Finish button is disabled.

    Thanks

    Reply
  22. max Avatar
    max

    @arkam: just point to the zip file.

    Reply
  23. akram Avatar
    akram

    Hi Max,

    I pointed to the zip file but the Finish button is disabled, here is a picture on how it looks like :

    http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/268/eclipseg.jpg/

    Thanks

    Your help is appreciated.

    Akram

    Reply
  24. max Avatar
    max

    @arkam: I think you selected General/Archive File. You need to select General/Existing Projects into Workspace

    Reply
  25. akram Avatar
    akram

    Thank you Max, (and sorry for General/Archive File instead of General/Existing ),

    Now it’s working, I got :

    Hello, looks like it’s working

    Now, do you think shoud I continue in your book : Practical RichFaces or there is another book or tutorial to do so (I am a newbie ignorant in JSF and RichFaces).

    Thanks .

    Akram

    Reply
  26. max Avatar
    max

    @akram: if you have the book, then continue reading. There are also many RichFaces resources on the internet.

    Reply
  27. Andres Avatar
    Andres

    Hey, thanks!!!

    Reply
  28. Madhu Avatar
    Madhu

    Hi,
    Thanks for the example. I am trying to modify this to add a Managed Bean. But when I add the bean to faces-config.xml, I get
    com.sun.faces.mgbean.ManagedBeanCreationException: Unable to create managed bean fBAccess. The following problems were found:
    – Bean or property class model.FBAccess for managed bean fBAccess cannot be found.

    Could you help me with this?
    start.xhtml now has :

    FBAccess.java

    package model;

    public class FBAccess {
    public FBAccess() {

    }

    private String firstString = “Hello”;

    public String getFirstString() {
    return firstString;
    }

    public void setFirstString(String firstString) {
    this.firstString = firstString;
    }
    }

    faces-config.xml:

    fBAccess
    model.FBAccess
    request

    What am I missing here?

    Reply
  29. Madhu Avatar
    Madhu

    Full Exception:
    SEVERE: Error Rendering View[/Page1.jsp]
    com.sun.faces.mgbean.ManagedBeanCreationException: Unable to create managed bean fBAccess. The following problems were found:
    – Bean or property class model.FBAccess for managed bean fBAccess cannot be found.
    at com.sun.faces.mgbean.BeanManager.create(BeanManager.java:204)
    at com.sun.faces.el.ManagedBeanELResolver.getValue(ManagedBeanELResolver.java:86)
    at javax.el.CompositeELResolver.getValue(CompositeELResolver.java:67)
    at com.sun.faces.el.FacesCompositeELResolver.getValue(FacesCompositeELResolver.java:72)
    at org.apache.el.parser.AstIdentifier.getValue(AstIdentifier.java:71)
    at org.apache.el.parser.AstValue.getValue(AstValue.java:147)
    at org.apache.el.ValueExpressionImpl.getValue(ValueExpressionImpl.java:189)
    at com.sun.facelets.el.TagValueExpression.getValue(TagValueExpression.java:71)
    at javax.faces.component.UIOutput.getValue(UIOutput.java:184)
    at com.sun.faces.renderkit.html_basic.HtmlBasicInputRenderer.getValue(HtmlBasicInputRenderer.java:201)
    at com.sun.faces.renderkit.html_basic.HtmlBasicRenderer.getCurrentValue(HtmlBasicRenderer.java:284)
    at com.sun.faces.renderkit.html_basic.HtmlBasicRenderer.encodeEnd(HtmlBasicRenderer.java:154)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.encodeEnd(UIComponentBase.java:861)
    at org.ajax4jsf.renderkit.RendererBase.renderChild(RendererBase.java:281)
    at org.ajax4jsf.renderkit.RendererBase.renderChildren(RendererBase.java:258)

    Reply
  30. Madhu Avatar
    Madhu

    Sorry, the tags are messed up, please ignore the syntax
    h:outputText value=”#{fBAccess.firstString}”

    faces-config.xml:
    managed-bean
    managed-bean-name>fBAccess managed-bean-name
    managed-bean-class>model.FBAccess managed-bean-class
    managed-bean-scope>request managed-bean-scope
    managed-bean

    Reply
  31. max Avatar
    max

    @Madhu: check that the compiled class ends up in the deployment. Sometimes Eclipse doesn’t copy the class for some reason. The project is deployed here: workspace/.metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.wst.server.core/tmp0/wtpwebapps

    Reply
  32. Dani Avatar
    Dani

    Thank you.

    It was very helpfull for me. I’ve been looking for a working “helloworld” for two days.

    Thanks again.

    Reply
  33. Nithin kongadan Avatar
    Nithin kongadan

    thank you it very easy to deploy on tomact 7.0

    Reply
  34. Nagarjun Avatar
    Nagarjun

    Hi i am trying to add a above link in repository. after adding the link its gives an error that “DUPLICATE LOCATIN”.i choose a new workspace also and getting same error.

    Reply
    1. max Avatar
      max

      This project template is almost four years old. I’d go to RichFaces project page and get the latest project template.

      Reply
  35. Mwass Mwas Avatar
    Mwass Mwas

    Hi guys ,am trying to set up richfaces 3.3 on neatbeans 8.1 but i can’t seem to figure it out, kindly help.

    Reply

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