Unable to understand behaviour

Question

I have a template composition Button.xhtml which contains a :

Answer 1

The <h:head> will auto-include all necessary JavaScript files for ajax behavior and CSS files for layout. When you remove it, then CSS will not be auto-included and ajax behavior will not be enabled. The <p:commandLink> would then act like as a plain vanilla link.

The <h:head> is absolutely necessary for proper functioning of JSF and PrimeFaces components and applying of the PrimeFaces look'n'feel. So you should not remove or replace it.

Let's concentrate on the problem of the failing <p:commandLink>. There are relatively a lot of possible causes, which are all mentioned in this answer: commandButton/commandLink/ajax action/listener method not invoked or input value not updated

You didn't show a fullworthy SSCCE, so it's impossible to copy'n'paste'n'run your code to see the problem ourselves (work on that as well in your future questions). So, I'll just mention the most probable cause for this problem based on the symptoms: you're nesting <h:form> components in each other. Placing the <h:form> in the master template is also a design smell. You should rather place it in the template client. Als note that the <p:dialog> should have its own form but that the <p:dialog> should by itself not be nested in another form.

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Update: based on the comments, you're trying to return a whole PDF file as a response to an ajax request. This will indeed not work. The ajax engine expects a XML response with information about changes in the HTML DOM tree. A PDF file isn't valid information. Also, JavaScript has for obvious security reasons no facilities to programmatically trigger a Save As dialogue whereby possibly arbitrary content is provided.

You can't download files by ajax. You have to turn off ajax. In case of <p:commandLink> there are basically 2 solutions:

1. Use ajax="false".

   <p:commandLink ... ajax="false" />
   

2. Just use <h:commandLink> instead.

   <h:commandLink ... />
   

Answer 2

In Button.xhtml where you placed

<h:commandLink value="View" action="#{printClass.printPdf}"/> 

You need to disable the ajax.So your new code should be like

<h:commandLink value="View" action="#{printClass.printPdf}">
<f:ajax disabled="true"></f:ajax>
</h:commandLink>