JSF 2.3 with group attribute
As per JSF spec issue 329 I have added a new group attribute to <h:selectOneRadio> which should make this all much less tedious. All radio button components having the same group value within a parent UIForm will be grouped with each other. Also they won't render any markup besides the radio button itself and the optional label if the select item has a non-null label. If any, the label appears directly after the radio button.
<!-- Just markup them the way you want! -->
<ul>
<ui:repeat id="items" value="#{bean.items}" var="item">
<li>
<h:selectOneRadio group="foo" value="#{bean.selectedItem}">
<f:selectItem itemValue="#{item}" />
</h:selectOneRadio>
</li>
</ui:repeat>
</ul>
Following scenarios are also possible. When there are multiple components with same group, and the value attribute and/or UISelectItem child is absent, then it will reference those of the first component of the group.
<h:selectOneRadio group="foo" value="#{bean.selectedItem}">
<f:selectItems value="#{bean.availableItems}" />
</h:selectOneRadio>
<h:selectOneRadio group="foo" />
<h:selectOneRadio group="foo" />
<h:selectOneRadio group="foo" value="#{bean.selectedItem}">
<f:selectItem itemValue="one" />
<f:selectItem itemValue="two" />
<f:selectItem itemValue="three" />
</h:selectOneRadio>
<h:selectOneRadio group="foo" />
<h:selectOneRadio group="foo" />
<h:selectOneRadio group="foo" value="#{bean.selectedItem}">
<f:selectItem itemValue="one" />
</h:selectOneRadio>
<h:selectOneRadio group="foo">
<f:selectItem itemValue="two" />
</h:selectOneRadio>
<h:selectOneRadio group="foo">
<f:selectItem itemValue="three" />
</h:selectOneRadio>
<h:selectOneRadio group="foo" value="#{bean.selectedItem}">
<f:selectItem itemValue="one" />
</h:selectOneRadio>
<h:selectOneRadio group="foo" value="#{otherBean.selectedItem}">
<f:selectItem itemValue="two" />
</h:selectOneRadio>
<h:selectOneRadio group="foo" value="#{lastBean.selectedItem}">
<f:selectItem itemValue="three" />
</h:selectOneRadio>
It will be available in Mojarra as per 2.3.0-m07.
JSF 2.2 with passthrough elements
If you're on JSF 2.2 already, make use of its new passthrough elements/attribtues feature whereby you explicitly set the name attribute as a passthrough attribute. In order to set the submitted value in the model, you only need an additional <h:inputHidden>.
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
xmlns:jsf="http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf"
xmlns:ui="http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/facelets"
xmlns:a="http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/passthrough">
...
<!-- Just markup them the way you want! -->
<ul>
<ui:repeat id="items" value="#{bean.items}" var="item">
<li>
<input type="radio" jsf:id="item" a:name="#{hiddenItem.clientId}"
value="#{item}" a:checked="#{item eq bean.selectedItem ? 'checked' : null}" />
<h:outputLabel for="item" value="#{item}" />
</li>
</ui:repeat>
</ul>
<!-- This one won't display anything. -->
<h:inputHidden id="selectedItem" binding="#{hiddenItem}" value="#{bean.selectedItem}"
rendered="#{facesContext.currentPhaseId.ordinal ne 6}" />
In depth technical explanation can be found in this blog: Custom layout with h:selectOneRadio in JSF 2.2.
PrimeFaces (JSF 2.x)
If you happen to use PrimeFaces, then you can also use <p:selectOneRadio layout="custom"> with <p:radioButton>.
<html ... xmlns:p="http://primefaces.org/ui">
<!-- This one won't display anything. -->
<p:selectOneRadio id="foo" value="#{bean.selectedFoo}" layout="custom">
<f:selectItems value="#{bean.availableFoos}" />
</p:selectOneRadio>
<!-- Just markup them the way you want! -->
<ul>
<li><p:radioButton for="foo" itemIndex="0" /></li>
<li><p:radioButton for="foo" itemIndex="1" /></li>
<li><p:radioButton for="foo" itemIndex="2" /></li>
</ul>
You can also loop over the available items, you only need to do it during view build time:
<ul>
<c:forEach items="#{bean.availableFoos}" varStatus="loop">
<li><p:radioButton for="foo" itemIndex="#{loop.index}" /></li>
</c:forEach>
</ul>
Tomahawk (JSF 1.x or 2.x)
If you're not on JSF 2.2 yet or if you don't like PrimeFaces UI, grab Tomahawk's <t:selectOneRadio> which renders the same plain HTML output as <h:selectOneRadio>, but supports a layout="spread" attribute so that you can position the items by <t:radio> the way you want.
E.g.
<html ... xmlns:t="http://myfaces.apache.org/tomahawk">
<!-- This one won't display anything. -->
<t:selectOneRadio id="foo" value="#{bean.selectedFoo}" layout="spread">
<f:selectItems value="#{bean.availableFoos}" />
</t:selectOneRadio>
<!-- Just markup them the way you want! -->
<ul>
<li><t:radio for="foo" index="0" /></li>
<li><t:radio for="foo" index="1" /></li>
<li><t:radio for="foo" index="2" /></li>
</ul>
Custom Renderer
Supply a custom Renderer. It's only a bit of work. Start at the first "See also" link shown below:
See also:
