How can I pass an array to a Visualforce component, then use it in a repeat?

Question

I have code much like the following:

<apex:component>
    <apex:attribute name="fields" type="String[]" />
    <apex:repeat value="{!fields}" var="field">
        console.log('{!field}');
    </apex:repeat>
</apex:component>

When this is placed in a page like this:

<c:MyCustomComponent fields="A,B,C">

The output is just A,B,C (a single value). Enclosing the field names with square brackets does not help, nor does using single quotes. Is there a way to pass an array into a component so that apex:repeat will work on it? (I am aware that this could be done through the controller; I am hoping for a solution that preserves the component interface).

Answer 1

I've never seen any notation for parameter literal values in VisualForce that can convert to anything but a String, Number, Boolean, or (in this case) a 1-element array. I'd be very (pleasantly) surprised if you could do what you want. You'll need to populate the component attribute using a controller field reference.

Answer 2

You could use a controller for the component itself.

You can pass the array in as a string, as you're doing and use the assingTo attribute on the component's parameter to pass the value to a property on the controller.

Then just have another method on the controller which returns the list:

public String theValueFromSomewhere {get; set;}

public List<String> GetBits()
{
  return theValueFromSomewhere.split(',');
}

You can then use <apex:repeat value="{!Bits}" var="v"> in your component body as you're after.