Think of "a" as a local variable. The action happens in another scope where "a" has no meaning. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=3998629#3998629 Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&p=3998629