JSF2 composite components: are #{cc.childCount} and mutually exclusive?

Question

I just dont get it: If I want my composite component to insert children, I use but #{cc.childCount}

Answer 1

From the cc:insertChildren documentation:

Any child components or template text within the composite component tag in the using page will be re-parented into the composite component at the point indicated by this tag's placement within the section.

So by using you actually move the children from the #{cc} component to the component in which you specified , effectively making them (great)* grandchildren of #{cc}. To get easy access to these relocated children, I use a as a parent:

Now you can use #{childContainer.childCount} to get to count the children you specified for your composite component. This solution is a bit fragile though: you can only use your composite component once per view, because of the binding. This problem can of course be solved by binding a FacesComponent bean to your composite component. First the bean:

package com.stackoverflow.jsfinsertchildrenandcountexample;

import javax.faces.component.FacesComponent;
import javax.faces.component.UIComponent;
import javax.faces.component.UINamingContainer;

@FacesComponent(value = "myCompositeComponent")
public class MyCompositeComponent extends UINamingContainer {

    private UIComponent childContainer;

    public UIComponent getChildContainer() {
        return childContainer;
    }

    public void setChildContainer(UIComponent childContainer) {
        this.childContainer = childContainer;
    }
}

And now you can bind this class to your composite component:

    
    

    
        I have #{cc.childContainer.childCount} children.
        
            
        
    

Now you have a composite component with and direct access to these children.

EDIT: incorporated BalusC comment.