The Java EE 7 Tutorial

10.3 Using Core Tags

The tags included in the JavaServer Faces core tag library are used to perform core actions that are not performed by HTML tags.

Table 10-8 lists the event-handling core tags.

Table 10-8 Event-Handling Core Tags

Tag	Function
`f:actionListener`	Adds an action listener to a parent component
`f:phaseListener`	Adds a `PhaseListener` to a page
`f:setPropertyActionListener`	Registers a special action listener whose sole purpose is to push a value into a managed bean when a form is submitted
`f:valueChangeListener`	Adds a value-change listener to a parent component

Table 10-9 lists the data-conversion core tags.

Table 10-9 Data-Conversion Core Tags

Tag	Function
`f:converter`	Adds an arbitrary converter to the parent component
`f:convertDateTime`	Adds a `DateTimeConverter` instance to the parent component
`f:convertNumber`	Adds a `NumberConverter` instance to the parent component

Table 10-10 lists the facet core tags.

Table 10-10 Facet Core Tags

Tag	Function
`f:facet`	Adds a nested component that has a special relationship to its enclosing tag
`f:metadata`	Registers a `facet` on a parent component

Table 10-11 lists the core tags that represent items in a list.

Table 10-11 Core Tags That Represent Items in a List

Tag	Function
`f:selectItem`	Represents one item in a list of items
`f:selectItems`	Represents a set of items

Table 10-12 lists the validator core tags.

Table 10-12 Validator Core Tags

Tag	Function
`f:validateDoubleRange`	Adds a `DoubleRangeValidator` to a component
`f:validateLength`	Adds a `LengthValidator` to a component
`f:validateLongRange`	Adds a `LongRangeValidator` to a component
`f:validator`	Adds a custom validator to a component
`f:validateRegEx`	Adds a `RegExValidator` to a component
`f:validateBean`	Delegates the validation of a local value to a `BeanValidator`
`f:validateRequired`	Enforces the presence of a value in a component

Table 10-13 lists the core tags that fall into other categories.

Table 10-13 Miscellaneous Core Tags

Tag Category	Tag	Function
Attribute configuration	`f:attribute`	Adds configurable attributes to a parent component
Localization	`f:loadBundle`	Specifies a `ResourceBundle` that is exposed as a `Map`
Parameter substitution	`f:param`	Substitutes parameters into a `MessageFormat` instance and adds query string name-value pairs to a URL
Ajax	`f:ajax`	Associates an Ajax action with a single component or a group of components based on placement
Event	`f:event`	Allows installing a `ComponentSystemEventListener` on a component

These tags, which are used in conjunction with component tags, are explained in other sections of this tutorial.

Table 10-14 lists the sections that explain how to use specific core tags.

Table 10-14 Where the Core Tags Are Explained

Tags	Where Explained
Event-handling tags	Registering Listeners on Components
Data-conversion tags	Using the Standard Converters
`f:facet`	Using Data-Bound Table Components and Laying Out Components with the h:panelGrid and h:panelGroup Tags
`f:loadBundle`	Setting the Resource Bundle
`f:metadata`	Using View Parameters to Configure Bookmarkable URLs
`f:param`	Displaying a Formatted Message with the h:outputFormat Tag
`f:selectItem` and `f:selectItems`	Using the f:selectItem and f:selectItems Tags
Validator tags	Using the Standard Validators
`f:ajax`	Chapter 13, "Using Ajax with JavaServer Faces Technology"