Invoke aciton method with input value as parameter - ajax

Question

I have this view:
<h:form id="carlin">
<h:outputText id="carlinInput" value="#{userBean.model.varAjax}"/>
<a class="btn" data-toggle="modal" href="#myModal" >Launch Modal</a>
</h:form>
And I have a modal dialog that shows another form:
<h:form>
<h:inputText value="#{userBean.model.varAjax}"/>
<h:commandLink action="#{userBean.processPage1()}" value="Ok">
<f:ajax render=":carlin:carlinInput" />
</h:commandLink>
</h:form>
I need to set the value typed on the <h:inputText> and pass it as a parameter to my <h:commandLink action="#{userBean.processPage1()}" value="OK">`
Here is my processPage1() method:
public void processPage1(String zip) {
this.model.varAjax = zip;
}
I have tried this:
<h:commandLink action="#{userBean.processPage1(userBean.model.varAjax)}" value="OK">
But it doesn't work. If I pass a hardcoded value, it works:
<h:commandLink action="#{userBean.processPage1('teste')}" value="OK">
But I need to pass what the user typed on that inputText to my action method. How can I achieve this?

Answer 1

This is not the right approach. You need to specify the client IDs of the input components which you need to process/execute by the execute attribute of <f:ajax>.
<h:form>
<h:inputText id="varAjax" value="#{userBean.model.varAjax}"/>
<h:commandLink action="#{userBean.processPage1}" value="Ok">
<f:ajax execute="varAjax" render=":carlin:carlinInput" />
</h:commandLink>
</h:form>
This way JSF will set the model value with the submitted value.
public void processPage1() {
System.out.println(model.getVarAjax()); // Look, JSF has already set it.
}
An alternative is to use execute="#form" which will process the entire form and this is what you usually need in standard ajaxified buttons.
<f:ajax execute="#form" render=":carlin:carlinInput" />
Note that componenent libraries like PrimeFaces and RichFaces have already made the #form the default execute attribute, so you don't need to explicitly specify it in their command components. In standard <f:ajax> it namely defaults to #this in command components which is indeed unintuitive.