JSF 2 radio buttons example

In JSF, “h:selectOneRadio” tag is used to render a set of HTML input element of type “radio“, and format it with HTML table and label tag.

//JSF...
<h:selectOneRadio value="#{user.favColor1}">
   	<f:selectItem itemValue="Red" itemLabel="Color1 - Red" />
   	<f:selectItem itemValue="Green" itemLabel="Color1 - Green" />
   	<f:selectItem itemValue="Blue" itemLabel="Color1 - Blue" />
</h:selectOneRadio>

//HTML output...
<table>
<tr>
  <td>
	<input type="radio" name="j_idt6:j_idt8" id="j_idt6:j_idt8:0" value="Red" />
	<label for="j_idt6:j_idt8:0"> Color1 - Red</label></td>
  <td>
	<input type="radio" name="j_idt6:j_idt8" id="j_idt6:j_idt8:1" value="Green" />
	<label for="j_idt6:j_idt8:1"> Color1 - Green</label></td>
  <td>
	<input type="radio" name="j_idt6:j_idt8" id="j_idt6:j_idt8:2" value="Blue" />
	<label for="j_idt6:j_idt8:2"> Color1 - Blue</label>
  </td>
</tr>
</table>

JSF 2.0 “h:selectOneRadio” example

A JSF 2.0 example to show the use of “h:selectOneRadio” tag to render radio buttons, and populate the data in 3 different ways :

Hardcoded values in “f:selectItem” tag.
Generate values with a Map and put it into “f:selectItems” tag.
Generate values with an Object array and put it into “f:selectItems” tag, then represent the value with a “var” attribute.

1. Backing Bean

A backing bean to hold the submitted data.

package com.mkyong;

import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
import java.util.Map;
import javax.faces.bean.ManagedBean;
import javax.faces.bean.SessionScoped;
 
@ManagedBean(name="user")
@SessionScoped
public class UserBean{

	public String favColor1;
	public String favColor2;
	public String favColor3;
	
	//getter and setter methods 

	//Generated by Map
	private static Map<String,Object> color2Value;
	static{
		color2Value = new LinkedHashMap<String,Object>();
		color2Value.put("Color2 - Red", "Red"); //label, value
		color2Value.put("Color2 - Green", "Green");
		color2Value.put("Color3 - Blue", "Blue");
	}
	
	public Map<String,Object> getFavColor2Value() {
		return color2Value;
	}
	
	//Generated by Object array
	public static class Color{
		public String colorLabel;
		public String colorValue;
		
		public Color(String colorLabel, String colorValue){
			this.colorLabel = colorLabel;
			this.colorValue = colorValue;
		}
		
		public String getColorLabel(){
			return colorLabel;
		}
		
		public String getColorValue(){
			return colorValue;
		}
		
	}
	
	public Color[] color3List;
	
	public Color[] getFavColor3Value() {
		
		color3List = new Color[3];
		color3List[0] = new Color("Color3 - Red", "Red");
		color3List[1] = new Color("Color3 - Green", "Green");
		color3List[2] = new Color("Color3 - Blue", "Blue");
		
		return color3List;
	}
	
}

2. JSF Page

A JSF page to demonstrate the use “h:selectOneRadio” tag.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" 
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"   
      xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
      xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
      >
    <h:body>
    	
    	<h1>JSF 2 radio button example</h1>
    	<h:form>
    	
	        1. Hard-coded with "f:selectItem" : 
   		<h:selectOneRadio value="#{user.favColor1}">
   			<f:selectItem itemValue="Red" itemLabel="Color1 - Red" />
   			<f:selectItem itemValue="Green" itemLabel="Color1 - Green" />
   			<f:selectItem itemValue="Blue" itemLabel="Color1 - Blue" />
   		</h:selectOneRadio>
		
   		<br />
	    
	        2. Generated by Map :
   		<h:selectOneRadio value="#{user.favColor2}">
   			<f:selectItems value="#{user.favColor2Value}" />
   		</h:selectOneRadio>
   		
	        <br />
	    
	         3. Generated by Object array and iterate with var :
   		<h:selectOneRadio value="#{user.favColor3}">
   			<f:selectItems value="#{user.favColor3Value}" var="c"
   			itemLabel="#{c.colorLabel}" itemValue="#{c.colorValue}" />
   		</h:selectOneRadio>
   		
	        <br />
	    
    	        <h:commandButton value="Submit" action="result" />
		<h:commandButton value="Reset" type="reset" />

    	</h:form>
    </h:body>
</html>

result.xhtml…

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" 
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"   
      xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
      >
    <h:body>
    	
    	<h1>JSF 2 radio button example</h1>
    	
    	<h2>result.xhtml</h2>
    	
    	<ol>
    		<li>user.favColor1 : #{user.favColor1}</li>
    		<li>user.favColor2 : #{user.favColor2}</li>
    		<li>user.favColor3 : #{user.favColor3}</li>
    	</ol>
    </h:body>
</html>

3. Demo

jsf2-radio-button-example-1

When “submit” button is clicked, link to “result.xhtml” and display the submitted radio button values.
jsf2-radio-button-example-2

How to select radio button value by default?

In JSF, the radio button values of “f:selectItems” tag is selected if it matched to the “value” of “h:selectOneRadio” tag. In above example, if you set favColor2 to “Red” :

@ManagedBean(name="user")
@SessionScoped
public class UserBean{

	public String[] favColor = "Red";

	//...

The “favColor2″ radio button, “Red” option is selected by default.