Create model instance: DynaFormModel model = new DynaFormModel();
Add row to regular grid: DynaFormRow row = model.createRegularRow();
Add label: DynaFormLabel label = row.addLabel(value, colspan, rowspan);
Add editable control: DynaFormControl control = row.addControl(data, type, colspan, rowspan);
Set relationship between label and control (optional): label.setForControl(control);

Repeat four last steps as many times as needed. What is could look like from UI point of view? A screenshot after a failed form validation:

The main tag is pe:dynaForm. Child tag pe:dynaFormControl matches created in Java controls by ” type” attribute. This is usually a “one to many” relation. XHTML / Java (controller bean and model) code to the dynamic form above is listed below.

<h:panelGroup id="dynaFormGroup">
 <p:messages id="messages" showSummary="true"/>

 <pe:dynaForm id="dynaForm" value="#{dynaFormController.model}" var="data">
 <pe:dynaFormControl type="input" for="txt">
 <p:inputText id="txt" value="#{data.value}" required="#{data.required}"/>
 </pe:dynaFormControl>
 <pe:dynaFormControl type="calendar" for="cal" styleClass="calendar">
 <p:calendar id="cal" value="#{data.value}" required="#{data.required}" showOn="button"/>
 </pe:dynaFormControl>
 <pe:dynaFormControl type="select" for="sel" styleClass="select">
 <p:selectOneMenu id="sel" value="#{data.value}" required="#{data.required}">
 <f:selectItems value="#{dynaFormController.languages}"/>
 </p:selectOneMenu>
 </pe:dynaFormControl>
 <pe:dynaFormControl type="textarea" for="tarea">
 <p:inputTextarea id="tarea" value="#{data.value}" required="#{data.required}" autoResize="false"/>
 </pe:dynaFormControl>
 <pe:dynaFormControl type="rating" for="rat">
 <p:rating id="rat" value="#{data.value}" required="#{data.required}"/>
 </pe:dynaFormControl>

 <f:facet name="buttonBar">
 <p:commandButton value="Submit" action="#{dynaFormController.submitForm}"
 process="dynaForm" update="_mainForm_dynaFormGroup"/>
 <p:commandButton type="reset" value="Reset" style="margin-left: 5px;"/>
 </f:facet>
 </pe:dynaForm>
</h:panelGroup>

@ManagedBean
@ViewScoped
public class DynaFormController implements Serializable {

 private DynaFormModel model;

 private static List<SelectItem> LANGUAGES = new ArrayList<SelectItem>();

 public DynaFormController() {
 model = new DynaFormModel();

 // add rows, labels and editable controls
 // set relationship between label and editable controls to support outputLabel with "for" attribute

 // 1. row
 DynaFormRow row = model.createRegularRow();

 DynaFormLabel label11 = row.addLabel("Author", 1, 1);
 DynaFormControl control12 = row.addControl(new BookProperty("Author", true), "input", 1, 1);
 label11.setForControl(control12);

 DynaFormLabel label13 = row.addLabel("ISBN", 1, 1);
 DynaFormControl control14 = row.addControl(new BookProperty("ISBN", true), "input", 1, 1);
 label13.setForControl(control14);

 // 2. row
 row = model.createRegularRow();

 DynaFormLabel label21 = row.addLabel("Title", 1, 1);
 DynaFormControl control22 = row.addControl(new BookProperty("Title", false), "input", 3, 1);
 label21.setForControl(control22);

 // 3. row
 row = model.createRegularRow();

 DynaFormLabel label31 = row.addLabel("Publisher", 1, 1);
 DynaFormControl control32 = row.addControl(new BookProperty("Publisher", false), "input", 1, 1);
 label31.setForControl(control32);

 DynaFormLabel label33 = row.addLabel("Published on", 1, 1);
 DynaFormControl control34 = row.addControl(new BookProperty("Published on", false), "calendar", 1, 1);
 label33.setForControl(control34);

 // 4. row
 row = model.createRegularRow();

 DynaFormLabel label41 = row.addLabel("Language", 1, 1);
 DynaFormControl control42 = row.addControl(new BookProperty("Language", false), "select", 1, 1);
 label41.setForControl(control42);

 DynaFormLabel label43 = row.addLabel("Description", 1, 2);
 DynaFormControl control44 = row.addControl(new BookProperty("Description", false), "textarea", 1, 2);
 label43.setForControl(control44);

 // 5. row
 row = model.createRegularRow();

 DynaFormLabel label51 = row.addLabel("Rating", 1, 1);
 DynaFormControl control52 = row.addControl(new BookProperty("Rating", 3, true), "rating", 1, 1);
 label51.setForControl(control52);
 }

 public DynaFormModel getModel() {
 return model;
 }

 public String submitForm() {
 ... // do something
 }

 public List<SelectItem> getLanguages() {
 if (LANGUAGES.isEmpty()) {
 LANGUAGES.add(new SelectItem("en", "English"));
 LANGUAGES.add(new SelectItem("de", "German"));
 LANGUAGES.add(new SelectItem("ru", "Russian"));
 LANGUAGES.add(new SelectItem("tr", "Turkish"));
 }

 return LANGUAGES;
 }
}

public class BookProperty implements Serializable {

 private String name;
 private Object value;
 private boolean required;

 public BookProperty(String name, boolean required) {
 this.name = name;
 this.required = required;
 }

 public BookProperty(String name, Object value, boolean required) {
 this.name = name;
 this.value = value;
 this.required = required;
 }

 // getter // setter
}

Explore the corresponding code in the use case Yet another forms.

Reference: Dynamic forms, JSF world was long waiting for from our JCG partner Oleg Varaksin at the Thoughts on software development blog.