Content Assist for JSF2 + CDI (weld) beans + Eclipse Helios

Question

Im trying JSF2 CDI (weld) beans in eclipse helios instead of ManagedBeans, but can't do the auto completion inside the expression language for my Named beans (the #{myNamedBean.Ctrl+Space} thingy)

But OTOH with ManagedBeans, the content assist works well .. Is the content assist for CDI beans supported yet in Eclipse Helios?

Anybody got experiences in this ?

Answer 1

1. Install JBoss tools. Then by adding <nature>org.jboss.tools.jsf.jsfnature</nature> to the natures section of the .project file, the support improved in my Eclipse J2EE Helios edition. (This step is probably equal to Configure->Add JSF Capabilities in the project settings.) The context completion then works for cc.attrs.<ctrl-space> when building component compositions, but sadly still not for any @ManagedBeans.

2. Switch from ManagedBeans to CDI: I changed all @ManagedBeans to @javax.inject.Named and the scopes to @javax.enterprise.context.*Scoped etc. I also enable CDI Support in the project settings. Then I get context completion on beans in .xhtml!

First limitation: It only works when the EL is part of an attribute value. It does not work if you just use #{EL} somewhere else on the .xhtml page.

Second limitation: If you define the name of your bean via a constant, it is not recognized for context competion: Does not work: @Named(value = MyBean.BEANNAME). You have to set the name as a String, like: @Named(value = "myBean")

Third limitation: If you use parameterised method calls (e.g. with Tomcat7 or Glassfish), this is not supported by autocomplete. The autocomplete only shows get/set/is properties of the bean.

Note: It works out of the box in Netbeans 7.

Answer 2

If there is any support, it would be from JBoss Tools.

Answer 3

Before you install JBossTools, please note that for EL auto complete support and managed bean mapping all you need is these 2 components from the JBoss Tool set.

1. JBoss Tools JSF
2. JBoss Tools Visual Page Editor

If you do not select these specific tools then all the 20+ tools will get installed.

Also, note that sometimes your default file *.xhtml association will not change after tool installation. You may have to manually change file association preference. File>Preference>File Associations. Select *.xhtml and set "JBoss Tools Visual Page Editor" as the default editor.