Working with the Bindings View

The Bindings view provides a logical representation of the data available in the object open in the current editor session. In the Bindings view, you can bind data or methods to the user interface (UI) controls enabling the controls to display data or perform some action. The Bindings view facilitates defining data bindings for data elements. The Bindings view is active when a view in the design canvas or another editor contains a control that needs data. When you select a node in the Bindings view, properties for that node are displayed in the Properties view.

The Bindings view contains several types of managed beans and other assets used by the portlet.

The Bindings view filters data to the portlet page visible in the design canvas. You should leave this filter in place to avoid using data from a different portlet. You need to create binding expressions to data associated with the current portlet.

The Bindings view has automatic user interface generation. If you drag an object from the Bindings view to the design canvas, the canvas is populated with controls appropriate to the object. For some objects, such as Web service connectors, there are multiple sets of controls. You can choose among available input controls. Also in the case of complex objects such as Web connectors, you can choose which elements of the object to include. For a simple example of this, see Wiring Portlets with Preferences.

Binding expressions connect data to a property or method to a control. Binding expressions take the following form:

#{name_of managed_bean.property_it_is_getting}

You create bindings expressions in Composite Application Framework using a combination of the Bindings view, Properties view, and the design canvas. The Bindings view has automatic user interface generation. If you drag an object from the Bindings view to the design canvas, the canvas is populated with controls appropriate to the object.

You can use the following to help you create binding expressions:

In the Bindings view, you can access the portlet application project’s managed beans and other assets such as the:

Portlet Application Bean exposes resource bundles, resources, and user attributes. Each portlet application has one application bean.

Portlet Bean exposes preferences and security roles. There is one portlet bean for each portlet in a portlet application.

Page Bean exposes the UI Component Model that is generated when Controls are dropped onto the page. This is the primary Bean that you interact with when creating User Interfaces. There is one Page Bean for each page in a portlet.

The Bindings view displays data only for the portlet that contains the view visible in the design canvas. You should leave this filter in place to avoid using data from a different portlet. You need to create binding expressions to data associated with the current portlet.