Sunday, January 29, 2017

Contextual Event API Improvements in ADF 12.2.1.x

ADF 12.2.1.x brings improved API support for Contextual Event implementation - this should simplify Contextual Event usage. Now Contextual Events can be produced without referencing ActionEvent or SelectionEvent, also there is no need to define Data Control to implement Contextual Event handler. Read more in ADF 12.2.1.x documentation - 46.4 Creating Contextual Events Using Managed Beans. I will provide example and explanation how to use these improvements.

Download sample application - ContextualEventApp.zip. This sample is based on two isolated ADF regions - table and chart. When row is changed in the table, through table selection listener method I generate Contextual Event with Job Id payload and send it over, event is consumed in chart region and it allows to refresh chart by key:


Row is changed in the table - new Contextual Event is produced and consumed - chart is refreshed:


We should check in the log - it prints what happens from event initialization to consumption. This gives useful info to debug Contextual Event flow:


Let's jump into code of event producer - method for table row selection (JSFUtils helper method allows to execute table row selection event programmatically, just before producing Contextual Event, this allows to access information about current row). Event is constructed without any event definition in the bindings, directly using method action and event dispatcher API - we can pass payload information directly - no need to describe it in the definition (this is advantage, as sometimes payload definition expression could execute too late and payload could be empty):


Method action definition doesn't represent any real method, it contains event name and acts as helper for event producer:


Consumer region contains Contextual Event handler mapping - it specifies event name and handler info (this is same as before). There is no need to define handler through data control anymore. Method action points directly to the bean method, through instance name. Payload value is sent through using paramVal name and ${data.payLoad} expression:


Consumer receives payload and re-executes VO:

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