How to get HttpServletRequest Object in JSF

Background

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So you’re using JSF and Spring. You thought your application is modern but then you hit a showstopper bug from either library that you could not retrieve the request parameters. Time to use some old-school Servlet/JSP API. This article demonstrates how to retrieve HttpServletRequest object in JSF.

Software Environment

Windows 7 Professional SP1
Eclipse – Kepler Release
Java 1.7 (1.7.0_67 – Windows x86)
JSF 2.1.26
Spring 3.2.8

The Codes

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public class AppointmentController extends AbstractController 

    /* Usage: this.getHttpParameters().get('your_visual_control_id_in_html');
     * 
     * Note: Please this method inside your @ManagedBean class and do not 
     *       name your items with '_input' string in your facelets (*.xhtml).
     */
    private Map getHttpParameters() {
        ExternalContext context = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getExternalContext();
        Object requestObj = context.getRequest();

        if(requestObj instanceof HttpServletRequest) {
            HttpServletRequest httpRequest = (HttpServletRequest)requestObj;
        ....   
        }
        return params; // Map object
    }
}