XPages: Execute Events with HTTP Get

To execute an event on the server, you normally have to send a POST request, because actions will be executed in the Invoke Application phase of the JSF lifecycle. A GET request will only process the Restore View and the Render Response phase, that why you can not execute an event with a GET request.

But with the help of a PhaseListener, the execution can be done earlier in the Restore View phase:

package ch.hasselba.xpages.util;

import javax.faces.event.PhaseEvent;
import javax.faces.event.PhaseId;
import javax.faces.event.PhaseListener;
import com.ibm.xsp.component.xp.XspEventHandler;
import javax.faces.context.ExternalContext;
import javax.faces.context.FacesContext;
import com.ibm.xsp.util.FacesUtil;

public class ExecuteOnServerPhaseListener implements PhaseListener {

    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    public void beforePhase(PhaseEvent event) {}

    public PhaseId getPhaseId() {
        return PhaseId.RESTORE_VIEW;
    }

    public void afterPhase(PhaseEvent event) {
        
        FacesContextExImpl = FacesContextExImpl.getCurrentInstance();
        ExternalContext ec = fc.getExternalContext();
        String url = ec.getRequestPathInfo();
        String[] pathes = url.split( "/" );
        
        try{
            if( pathes.length > 2 ){
                if( "executeOnServer".equals( pathes[pathes.length -2 ] ) ){
                    String[] fullId = pathes[ pathes.length - 1 ].split(":");
                    String actionId = fullId[ fullId.length - 1 ];
                    XspEventHandler eventHandler = (XspEventHandler)
                        FacesUtil.findComponentWithFullId( fc.getViewRoot(), actionId );
                    if( eventHandler != null ){
                        eventHandler.getAction().invoke( fc, null );
                        fc.responseComplete();
                    }
                }
            }
        }catch(Exception e){
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        
    }

}

To activate the PhaseListener, it has to be enabled in the faces-config.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<faces-config>
   <lifecycle>
      <phase-listener>ch.hasselba.xpages.util.ExecuteOnServerPhaseListener</phase-listener>
   </lifecycle>
</faces-config>

The following Javascript snippet extends the XSP object and adds the new function executeOnServerGet to it. The parameter is the if of the event to invoke.

XSP.executeOnServerGet = function( eventId ){
    var viewId = dojo.query('[name="$$viewid"]')[0].value;
    var url = document.forms[0].action;
    url += "/executeOnServer/" + eventId;
    url += "?$$viewid=" + viewId;
    url += "&$$ajaxid=@none";
    dojo.xhrGet({url: url});
}

When calling the function, it sends a GET request and adds the current view id to the request. With the parameter $$ajaxId set to @none, the XPages Engine is forced to send no HTML code back to the client.

And here is an example XPage:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xp:view xmlns:xp="http://www.ibm.com/xsp/core">

    <xp:eventHandler id="helloworld" event="helloworld" submit="false">
        <xp:this.action>
            <![CDATA[#{javascript:
               print("hello world " + java.lang.System.currentTimeMillis() );
            }]]>
        </xp:this.action>
    </xp:eventHandler>


    <xp:scriptBlock id="scriptBlock1">
        <xp:this.value><![CDATA[
            dojo.addOnLoad( function(){
                XSP.executeOnServerGet = function( eventId ){
                      var viewId = dojo.query('[name="$$viewid"]')[0].value;
                    var url = document.forms[0].action;
                    url += "/executeOnServer/" + eventId;
                    url += "?$$viewid=" + viewId;
                    url += "&$$ajaxid=@none";
                    dojo.xhrGet({url: url});
                  }
            });
        ]]></xp:this.value>
    </xp:scriptBlock>
    
    <xp:button value="Execute" id="button1">
        <xp:eventHandler event="onclick" submit="false">
            <xp:this.script>
                <![CDATA[XSP.executeOnServerGet( "#{id:helloworld}" );]]>
            </xp:this.script>
        </xp:eventHandler>
    </xp:button>
</xp:view>

When clicking the button, the following URL is opened in the background:

http://example.com/db.nsf/EventGet.xsp/executeOnServer/view:_id1:helloworld?$$viewid=!dwjldz64w0!&$$ajaxid=@none

A GET request was sent to the server:If you look on the server console, you will see that the Action was invoked: