Richfaces a4j:loadScript clears jQuery plugins on ajax calls

Question

I'm loading jQuery embedded into RichFaces with:

<a4j:loadScript src="resource://jquery.js"/>

Next, I'm loading the FancyBox jQuery plugin with:

<script type="text/javascript" src="/App/fancybox/jquery.fancybox-1.3.4.pack.js"/>

The plugin works ok when the page is first loaded, however after executing an ajax call with

<a4j:jsFunction name="myMethod" data="#{myController.jsonDataToReturn}" action="#{myController.doSomething()}" oncomplete="populateData(data);">     
  <a4j:actionparam name="selectedTag" assignTo="#{myController.selectedTag}"/>
</a4j:jsFunction>

the plugin stops working. Tests show that the a4j:loadScript tag is reloaded on every ajax call, thereby reloading the jQuery variable which loses the attached plugin.

The current workaround is to load jQuery by putting a <rich:jQuery query="fn" /> tag somewhere in the page. It does nothing besides forcing jQuery to load, but because it doesn't use a4j, jQuery isn't reloaded on ajax calls.

Still, is there a clean solution for this? I'm using RichFaces 3.3.3 which includes jQuery 1.3.2.

Update :

FancyBox is loaded with:

jQuery(document).ready( function(){
    jQuery('.fancyboxLink').live('click',aclick);
});

function aclick(){
    jQuery.fancybox({
        href: '#{facesContext.externalContext.requestContextPath}/webpage.xhtml',
            type:'iframe',
            width:710,
            height:510,
            padding:0,
            margin:0,
            hideOnOverlayClick:false,
            overlayColor:'#000'
    });
    return false;
}

After the first ajax call, jQuery no longer contains fancybox.

Answer 1

First thing you need is loading the script on each ajax request, use a4j:loadScript for that.

<a4j:loadScript src="/App/fancybox/jquery.fancybox-1.3.4.pack.js"/>

Second: execute that fancybox script when component is being rerendered (ajax call which rerenders part of dom tree containing element with fancybox). I would do that by writing a custom facelets component, like this.

fancyInput.xhtml:

<ui:component xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
                xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
                xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
                xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets"
                xmlns:a4j="http://richfaces.org/a4j"
                xmlns:rich="http://richfaces.org/rich"
                xmlns:c="http://java.sun.com/jstl/core">

    <a4j:loadScript src="resource:///App/fancybox/jquery.fancybox-1.3.4.pack.js"/>

    <!-- id is passed by component's client as facelet param. -->
    <h:commandButton id="#{id}" otherParameters="....."/>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        jQuery(function() {
            // Attaching fancybox to rendered component.
            jQuery($('#{rich:clientId(id)}')).live('click',aclick);
        });
    </script>
</ui:component>

Your page:

<ui:include src="fancyInput.xhtml">
    <ui:param name="id" value="anId"/>
    <ui:param name="otherParams" value="..."/>
</ui:include>