How to replace @ManagedBean / @ViewScope by CDI in JSF 2.0/2.1

If you can upgrade to JSF 2.2, immediately do it. It offers a native @ViewScoped annotation for CDI.

import javax.faces.view.ViewScoped;
import javax.inject.Named;

@Named
@ViewScoped
public class Bean implements Serializable {
    // ...
}

Alternatively, install OmniFaces which brings its own CDI compatible @ViewScoped, including a working @PreDestroy (which is broken on JSF @ViewScoped).

import javax.inject.Named;
import org.omnifaces.cdi.ViewScoped;

@Named
@ViewScoped
public class Bean implements Serializable {
    // ...
}

Another alternative is to install MyFaces CODI which transparently bridges JSF 2.0/2.1 @ViewScoped to CDI. This only adds an autogenerated request parameter to the URL (like @ConversationScoped would do).

import javax.faces.bean.ViewScoped;
import javax.inject.Named;

@Named
@ViewScoped
public class Bean implements Serializable {
    // ...
}

If you really need to use @ConversationScoped, then you indeed need to manually begin and end it. You need to @Inject a Conversation and invoke begin() in the @PostConstruct and end() in the latest step of the conversation, usually an action method which redirects to a new view.

import javax.enterprise.context.Conversation;
import javax.enterprise.context.ConversationScoped;
import javax.inject.Named;

@Named
@ConversationScoped
public class Bean implements Serializable {

    @Inject
    private Conversation conversation;

    // ...

    @PostConstruct
    public void init() {
        conversation.begin();
    }

    public String submit() {
        // ...

        conversation.end();
        return "some.xhtml?faces-redirect=true";
    }

}

See also:

• How to choose the right bean scope?

I think you can benefit from CDI extension to create your own scope so you can implement the context and use the @NormalScope.

• CDI fires an event AfterBeanDiscovery after each bean call
• You can use CDI extension to @Observes this event and add your context implementation
• In your scope implementation you can :
  1. Use Contextual to get your bean by its name from FacesContext ViewRoot Map and return it after each ajax call back
  2. Use CreationalContext if the bean name from first step is not found to create it in the FacesContext ViewRoot Map

For a more in-depth explanation, I recommend this link : http://www.verborgh.be/articles/2010/01/06/porting-the-viewscoped-jsf-annotation-to-cdi/