javax.faces.application.ViewExpiredException and error page not working

Question

I set up my web app as follows:

 <error-page>
        <exception-type>javax.faces.application.ViewExpiredException</exception-type>
        <location>/WEB-INF/include/viewExpired.html</location>
</error-page>

so that the above error page be displayed when the viewExpiredException is thrown.

However, when I restart the server and submit an ajax request on an "left-open" page, the exception is thrown in the console and my error page is not displayed.

Here is that stack trace from the console:

javax.faces.application.ViewExpiredException: viewId:/contact.jsf - La vue /contact.jsf na pas pu être restaurée.
        at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RestoreViewPhase.execute(RestoreViewPhase.java:200)
        at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.Phase.doPhase(Phase.java:101)
        at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RestoreViewPhase.doPhase(RestoreViewPhase.java:111)
        at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.execute(LifecycleImpl.java:118)
        at javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:312)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
        at com.ocpsoft.pretty.PrettyFilter.doFilter(PrettyFilter.java:118)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.invoke(ApplicationDispatcher.java:630)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.processRequest(ApplicationDispatcher.java:436)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.doForward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:374)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.forward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:302)
        at com.ocpsoft.pretty.PrettyFilter.doFilter(PrettyFilter.java:110)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
        at org.springframework.orm.jpa.support.OpenEntityManagerInViewFilter.doFilterInternal(OpenEntityManagerInViewFilter.java:113)
        at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:76)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
        at com.jeanbaptistemartin.util.DisableUrlSessionFilter.doFilter(DisableUrlSessionFilter.java:70)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:233)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191)
        at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:525)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:128)
        at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
        at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:286)
        at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:845)
        at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:583)
        at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$Worker.run(JIoEndpoint.java:447)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)

anyone has got any clue please?

Thanks in advance, J.

Answer 1

So you want to handle Ajax errors on the standard JSF 2.0 implementation? The standard JSF implementation doesn't provide a ready-to-use component for this. In PrimeFaces for example, you could use <p:ajaxStatus> component for this. The JSF 2.0 specification however outlines the following in chapter 13.3.6.2:

13.3.6.2 Handling Errors For All Ajax Requests

The JavaScript API provides the jsf.ajax.addOnError function that can be used to register a JavaScript function that will be notified when an error occurs for any Ajax request/response. Refer to Section 14.4 “Registering Callback Functions” for more details. The jsf.ajax.addOnError function accepts a JavaScript function argument that will be notified when errors occur during any Ajax request/response cycle. [P1-start-event] The implementation must ensure the JavaScript function that is registered must be called in accordance with the errors outlined in Section TABLE 14-5 “Errors”

You can find here a blog of one of the Mojarra developers which contains basic examples how to show the ajax status. Here's an extract of relevance:

<h3> Status:</h3>
<textarea id="statusArea" cols="40" rows="10" readonly="readonly" />

A simple textarea, not even hooked into the backend server data model.

Then in our javascript (for the demo, in a separately loaded file, though it could just as easily be in page) we have:

var statusUpdate = function statusUpdate(data) {
    var statusArea = document.getElementById("statusArea");
    var text = statusArea.value;
    text = text + "Name: "+data.source.id;
    if (data.type === "event") {
        text = text +" Event: "+data.name+"\n";
    } else {  // otherwise, it's an error
        text = text + " Error: "+data.name+"\n";
    }
    statusArea.value = text;
};

// Setup the statusUpdate function to hear all events on the page
jsf.ajax.addOnEvent(statusUpdate);
jsf.ajax.addOnError(statusUpdate);

You could it as well to redirect to an error page using JS.

window.location = '/errors/500.xhtml';