There are several ways to select a row or multiple rows, such as line selection or selection with radio buttons or checkboxes, from the dataTable component. We will cover all the possibilities in this recipe.
To make a single selection possible with a command component, such as commandLink or commandButton, f:setPropertyActionListener can be used to set the selected row as a parameter to the server side.
<p:dataTable id="withCommand" var="car" value="#{dataTableController.cars}" rowKey="#{car.name}"selection="#{dataTableController.selectedCar}">
<p:column>
<p:commandButton value="Select" update=":mainForm:display" oncomplete="carDialog.show()">
<f:setPropertyActionListener value="#{car}"target="#{dataTableController.selectedCar}" />
</p:commandButton>
</p:column>
...
</p:dataTable>The selection attribute needs to be bound to a Car reference in order to get the selected data.