Session lost in Google App Engine using JSF

Question

I have configured JSF 2.1 in my Google App Engine application following the indications at:

https://sites.google.com/a/wildstartech.com/adventures-in-java/Java-Platform-Enterprise-Edition/JavaServer-Faces/javaserver-faces-21/configuring-javaserver-faces-21-to-run-on-the-google-app-engine-using-eclipse

The application works perfectly when running locally, but the session is lost when deployed at Google App Engine, e.g.: the component values are lost when updating any other component in the page, and the SessionScope backing bean fields are also lost.

My web.xml file is:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<web-app
    xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
    xmlns:web="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    version="2.5"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd">
    <display-name>JavaServerFaces</display-name>    

    <context-param>
        <param-name>javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD</param-name>
        <param-value>client</param-value>
    </context-param>
    <context-param>
        <param-name>javax.faces.DEFAULT_SUFFIX</param-name>
        <param-value>.xhtml</param-value>
    </context-param>
    <context-param>  
        <param-name>com.sun.faces.expressionFactory</param-name>  
        <param-value>org.jboss.el.ExpressionFactoryImpl</param-value>
    </context-param>
    <context-param>
        <param-name>com.sun.faces.enableThreading</param-name>
        <param-value>false</param-value>
    </context-param>    
    <context-param>
        <param-name>javax.faces.PROJECT_STAGE</param-name>
        <param-value>Production</param-value>
    </context-param>
    <context-param>
        <param-name>javax.faces.FACELETS_SKIP_COMMENTS</param-name>
        <param-value>true</param-value>
    </context-param>
    <context-param>
        <param-name>primefaces.UPLOADER</param-name>
        <param-value>commons</param-value>
    </context-param>
    <context-param>  
        <param-name>primefaces.THEME</param-name>  
        <param-value>home</param-value>  
    </context-param>

    <!-- ***** Specify session timeout of thirty (30) minutes. ***** -->
   <session-config>
      <session-timeout>30</session-timeout>
   </session-config>

    <!-- Welcome page -->
    <welcome-file-list>
        <welcome-file>faces/home.xhtml</welcome-file>
    </welcome-file-list>

    <!-- JSF mapping -->
    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet</servlet-class>
        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>
    <servlet-mapping>
      <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
      <url-pattern>/faces/*</url-pattern>
      <url-pattern>*.jsf</url-pattern>
      <url-pattern>*.xhtml</url-pattern>
   </servlet-mapping>

    <!-- Primefaces -->
    <filter>
        <filter-name>PrimeFaces FileUpload Filter</filter-name>
        <filter-class>org.primefaces.webapp.filter.FileUploadFilter</filter-class>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>thresholdSize</param-name>
            <param-value>2147483647</param-value>
        </init-param>       
    </filter>
    <filter-mapping>
        <filter-name>PrimeFaces FileUpload Filter</filter-name>
        <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
    </filter-mapping> 

    <error-page>
        <exception-type>javax.faces.application.ViewExpiredException</exception-type>
        <location>/faces/home.xhtml</location>
    </error-page>

    <!-- System -->
    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>SystemServiceServlet</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>com.google.api.server.spi.SystemServiceServlet</servlet-class>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>services</param-name>
            <param-value/>
        </init-param>
    </servlet>  
    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>SystemServiceServlet</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/_ah/spi/*</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>
</web-app>

And the appengine-web.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE project>
<appengine-web-app xmlns="http://appengine.google.com/ns/1.0">
    <application>id</application>
    <version>1</version>

    <!-- Allows App Engine to send multiple requests to one instance in parallel: -->
    <threadsafe>true</threadsafe>

    <!-- Configure java.util.logging -->
    <system-properties>
        <property name="java.util.logging.config.file" value="WEB-INF/logging.properties" />
    </system-properties>

    <sessions-enabled>true</sessions-enabled>
    <async-session-persistence enabled="false" />
</appengine-web-app>

Does JSF session really work in Google App Engine? Have I missconfigured something?

Thank you in advance

Answer 1

This is a common problem. What you need to do is force session serialization. This can be done by doing the following:

• Create a Phase Listener
• At the end of each phase, store a random attribute on to the session map
  • e.g. sessionMap.put("CURRENT_TIME", System.currentTimeMillis())
• This will cause the modified data to be serialized to the datastore

The reason you need to do something like this is because, when the view tree was constructed, it was added to the session ... and then your business logic made changes to the components in the view tree, but unfortunately the changes made to these variable do not raise any events that inform GAE to serialize again. Which is why you would see ViewExpiredExceptions or data not being stored, etc.

This concept is similar in nature to the markDirty() concept that you might have come across with other view technologies.

Answer 2

Based on my understanding of Harsha's answer, I post the solution I have used in case of interest for anybody else.

In GaeSession.java:

public class GaeSession implements PhaseListener {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    @Override
    public void afterPhase(PhaseEvent arg0) {
        FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getExternalContext().getSessionMap().put("CURRENT_TIME", System.currentTimeMillis());
    }

    @Override
    public void beforePhase(PhaseEvent arg0) {
    }

    @Override
    public PhaseId getPhaseId() {
        return PhaseId.ANY_PHASE;
    }

}

And in faces-config.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<faces-config
    xmlns="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee/web-facesconfig_2_2.xsd"
    version="2.2">

    <lifecycle>
        <phase-listener>package.GaeSession</phase-listener>
    </lifecycle>

</faces-config>