How to call bean method from javascript function using a4j:ajax or a4j:actionListener?

You can use <a4j:jsFunction> , which allows you to perform Ajax requests to invoke the bean method directly from JavaScript code , and the response can be returned in a JSON format to use in a client JavaScript calls.

Please note that <a4j:jsFunction> is required to be inside a <h:form> . For example, you define the a4j:jsFunction likes this :

<h:form> 
    <a4j:jsFunction name="myJsFunction"  action="#{bean.someAction}" reRender="xxxxx"/>
 </h:form>

A javascript function which name called myJsFunction() is created and it will invoke someAction() on the bean when being called.

For example , in your javascript function :

<script type="text/javascript">
function yourJavaScriptFuntion() {
    ..............;
    myJsFunction();  //bean.someAction() will invoke here
    ..............;
}