Final solution of the problem for getting the converter, equals and JSF code to work.
The Player is a Player bean with a few properties. The service access the Player and writes player info to the database (besides the point :)
<h:selectOneListbox size="1" value="#{player}"
converter="playerConverter" id="playerList">
<f:selectItems value="#{servicePlayer.allPlayers}"
var="n"
itemValue="#{n}"
itemLabel="#{n.combinedName}"
itemLabelEscaped="true"/>
</h:selectOneListbox>
In ServicePlayer
public List<Player> getAllPlayers() {
if (factory == null) {
factory = Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory(PERSISTENCE_UNIT_NAME);
}
EntityManager em = factory.createEntityManager();
Query q = em.createQuery("select t from Player t");
List<Player> players = q.getResultList();
....
@FacesConverter(value = "playerConverter")
public class PlayerConverter implements Converter {
@Override
public Object getAsObject(FacesContext context, UIComponent component, String value) {
if (value == null) {
return null;
}
long idValue;
try {
idValue = Long.parseLong(value);
}
catch (NumberFormatException ex)
{
return null;
}
ServicePlayer servicePlayer = context.getApplication()
.evaluateExpressionGet(context, "#{servicePlayer}",
ServicePlayer.class);
Player player = servicePlayer.getPlayerByID(idValue);
return player;
}
@Override
public String getAsString(FacesContext context,
UIComponent component, Object value) {
if (value == null || value.equals("")) {
return "";
} else {
return String.valueOf(((Player)value).getStringID());
}
}
}
In Player
@Override
public boolean equals(Object other) {
return (id != null && other != null && getClass() == other.getClass())
? id.equals(((Player) other).getId())
: (other == this);
}
@Override
public int hashCode() {
return (id != null)
? (getClass().hashCode() + id.hashCode())
: super.hashCode();
}