java.io.NotSerializableException - org.omnifaces.taghandler.Converter

Question

I have an application using Primefaces 3.5 with Omnifaces 1.5 on Jboss 6, using myfaces 2.1.5

on trying to use the o:converter I am getting the follow error.

org.omnifaces.taghandler.Converter

viewId=/xhtml/propelModules/initiatePropel.xhtml
location=C:\jboss-6.1.0.Final\server\default\deploy\PropelEAR.ear\PropelWeb.war\xhtml\propelModules\initiatePropel.xhtml
phaseId=RENDER_RESPONSE(6)

Caused by:
java.io.NotSerializableException - org.omnifaces.taghandler.Converter
at java.io.ObjectOutputStream.writeObject0(Unknown Source)

The code concerned is ...

<p:selectManyCheckbox value="#{initiatePropelManagedBean.currentWon.selectedEmployeeList}" 
  layout="pageDirection">
<o:converter converterId="omnifaces.ListIndexConverter" 
      list="#{initiatePropelManagedBean.currentWon.employeeList}" />
     <f:selectItems value="#{initiatePropelManagedBean.currentWon.employeeList}"
       var="emp" itemLabel="#{emp}" itemValue="#{emp}" />
     <p:ajax process="@this" update="employeeCount"></p:ajax>
</p:selectManyCheckbox>

Answer 1

I can reproduce your problem. This is a bug in MyFaces 2.1.5. I can't find the associated bug report and the fix version, but I can at least tell that this construct works just fine for me with the current latest MyFaces 2.1.12. So, upgrading MyFaces should do it for you as well.

---

Unrelated to the concrete problem, the conversion strategy is here somewhat strange. Just using the omnifaces.SelectItemsConverter or omnifaces.SelectItemsIndexConverter (if you don't have a good equals() on the Employee entity) should be sufficient.

<p:selectManyCheckbox ... converter="omnifaces.SelectItemsIndexConverter">
    <f:selectItems value="#{initiatePropelManagedBean.currentWon.employeeList}" />
</p:selectManyCheckbox>

The SelectItems(Index)Converter doesn't strictly require a List<SelectItem> as model, it only requires a <f:selectItem(s)> in the view. The List(Index)Converter is intented for components which do not use <f:selectItem(s)>, such as <p:autoComplete>, <p:picklist>, etc.

This would be the alternate solution if you can't upgrade MyFaces for some reason.