The problem of changing db / entity metadata requiring a second change in the ui is not new and has been around for ever and predates java. However to make life easier just make a utility f(x) that will grab the entity and check for the field and see if it has a Hibernate annotation or your own custom annotation and get the appropriate metadata (length / precision etc ) you need and then use it. Maxlength and size both support EL. So you can do a size="#{fieldMetadata.sizeCalc('foo.class', 'field'}" instead of a " size="2". You can use custom facelets to do the same thing. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4051697#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...