We have developed this recipe with NetBeans 6.8, JSF 2.0, and GlassFish v3. The JSF 2.0 classes were obtained from the NetBeans JSF 2.0 bundled library. In addition, we have used PrimeFaces 2.0, which provide support for JSF 2.0. You can download this distribution from http://www.primefaces.org/. The PrimeFaces libraries (including necessary dependencies) are in the book bundle code, under the /JSF_libs/PrimeFaces JSF 2.0 folder.

Our recipe will look very simple, thanks to PrimeFaces. Practically, all we do is to pick up the PrimeFaces fruits. The following code retrieves a blob from a JDBC ResultSet and provides its InputStream as a StreamedContent (the backing bean is listed next):

public class PictureBean {
private StreamedContent myImage;
public PictureBean() {
InputStream inputStream = //InputStream of a blob
myImage = new DefaultStreamedContent(inputStream, "image/png");
}
public StreamedContent getMyImage(){
return myImage;
}
public void setMyImage(StreamedContent myImage){
this.myImage = myImage;
}
}

And the p:graphicImage tag can display any binary image, as shown next:

<p:graphicImage value="#{pictureBean.myImage}" />

The entire solution is mapped in PrimeFaces; therefore you will need to go deeply into this framework to understand its secrets. Apparently, everything we have done relates to a simple JSF application with a simple conversational state between a JSF page and a backing bean.

You also may want to check:

PrimeFaces tag documentation: http://primefaces.prime.com.tr/docs/tag/

PrimeFaces home page: http://www.primefaces.org/

PrimeFaces ShowCase: http://www.primefaces.org:8080/prime-showcase/ui/imageCropperExternal.jsf