title: Required field issue when javax.faces.INTERPRET_EMPTY_STRING_SUBMITTED_VALUES_AS_NULL set to TRUE
body: <p>In both MyFaces and Mojarra 2.1, there exists a defect where when <code>javax.faces.INTERPRET_EMPTY_STRING_SUBMITTED_VALUES_AS_NULL</code> is set to <code>true</code>, any fields that are marked as required and pre-populated in the model, when blanked-out and submitted are re-shown with their original non-blanked-out values instead of being left blank. </p>
  
  <p>Scenario is:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>User loads page with a single required field that is populated with existing data from the model</li>
  <li>User clears out the field on the page and submits the form</li>
  <li>Validation fails, as expected, and the user is shown an error message that they must fill in the
      required field.</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>The issue is that the field, which should show what the user submitted -- which is that they submitted a blank value for the field -- is instead populated with the original value from the model. The only workaround is to set <code>javax.faces.INTERPRET_EMPTY_STRING_SUBMITTED_VALUES_AS_NULL</code> to <code>false</code>. Setting to <code>false</code> delivers the desired behavior that the field remains blanked out when the page is redisplayed with the required field error message. </p>
  
  <p>A defect was logged with Mojarra (http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES-2375) and MyFaces (https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/MYFACES-3525) but no progress has been made in 6 weeks.</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Note that it appears Mojarra had a similar issue reported over 6 mos
    ago yet no progress has been made.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>Does anyone know of a workaround for this where we can keep <code>javax.faces.INTERPRET_EMPTY_STRING_SUBMITTED_VALUES_AS_NULL</code> set to true instead of false and yet not encounter this required field usability issue? </p>