First, the bean that does the work:

@ManagedBean
@RequestScoped
public class RedirectBean {

    public String redirect() {

        FacesContext ctx = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();

        ExternalContext extContext = ctx.getExternalContext();
        String url = extContext.encodeActionURL(ctx.getApplication().getViewHandler().getActionURL(ctx, "/ajax/redirecttarget.xhtml"));
        try {

            extContext.redirect(url);
        } catch (IOException ioe) {
            throw new FacesException(ioe);

        }
        return null;
 
    }

Hopefully, I don't have to explain what this is doing - it's sending a redirect request - regardless of whether it's an Ajax request or not.

Next, the code that's calling it:

<h:head>
    <title>Ajax Redirect</title>
</h:head>
<h:body>
    <h:form id="form">
        <h:commandButton id="redirect" value="Redirect" action="#{redirectBean.redirect}">
             <f:ajax execute="@this" render="@none"/>
        </h:commandButton>
    </h:form>
</h:body>

So, what's happening here? Well, once the bean sends the redirect, the ajax client receives a message from the server telling the client to redirect to a new page - all invisibly to the user. In case you're curious, here's what's going back to the client along the wire:

"<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<partial-response>
  <redirect url="/contextpath/faces/ajax/redirecttarget.xhtml">
  </redirect>
</partial-response>"

So, a simple ajax request can redirect you to a new page. Like most of the new JSF 2 stuff, we've tried to make things "just work" as much as possible.

A little more edgecase than some of my previous blogs perhaps, but probably a useful trick to keep in mind. The code was originally written by Ryan Lubke, BTW, just to make sure that credit lands where it's due.

Now that our big push for JavaOne is wrapping up, I'm hoping to have more time to blog in the immediate future. Stay tuned.