Selecting rows in dataTable

There are several ways to select a row or multiple rows, such as line selection and selection with radio buttons and checkboxes, from the dataTable component. We will cover all the possibilities in this recipe.

How to do it…

To make a single selection possible with a command component, such as commandLink or commandButton, f:setPropertyActionListener can be used to set the selected row as a parameter to the server side:

<p:dataTable id="withCommand" var="car"
  value="#{dataTableBean.cars}"
  selection="#{dataTableBean.selectedCar}">
  <p:column>
    <p:commandButton value="Select" update=":mainForm:display"
      oncomplete="carDialog.show()">
      <f:setPropertyActionListener value="#{car}"
        target="#{dataTableBean.selectedCar}" />
    </p:commandButton>
  </p:column>
  ...
</p:dataTable>

The selection attribute needs to be bound to an instance of the Car reference in order to get the selected data.

Instead of using...