Java EE (Java Enterprise Edition) General Discussion

Hi all,
this is probably simple to explain but I can't work it out. I'm trying to navigate through directories but I just can't keep the current directory.
In my jsp I show a datatable of File objects, basically just showing the names of the files as a commandlink:

    <h:form>
        <h:outputText id="subdir" value="#{publicDownload.currentSubdir}"/>
        <t:dataTable value="#{publicDownload.files}" var="file">
          <t:column>
            <h:commandLink action="#{publicDownload.download}">
              <h:outputText value="#{file.name}"/>
            </h:commandLink>
          </t:column>
        </t:dataTable>
    </h:form>

The action is as follows:

  public String download() throws IOException
  {
    File download = 
      (File)FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getExternalContext().getRequestMap().get("file");

    if (download != null)
    {
      if (download.isFile()) {
        // A file was clicked to be downloaded
        // Keep track of the downloads
        getLog().debug("Logging download of file " + download.getPath());
  
        File log = new File(download.getPath() + ".dltrack");
        if (!log.exists())
        {
          log.createNewFile();
        }
  
        String username = 
          ((WebSession)getBean("webSession")).getUser().getName();
        HttpServletRequest request = (HttpServletRequest)
          FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getExternalContext().getRequest();
        String date = new SimpleDateFormat(DATE_FORMAT).format(Calendar.getInstance().getTime());
  
        FileWriter fw = new FileWriter(log);
        PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(fw);
        out.println(download.getPath() + download.getName() + ";" + username.trim() + 
                    ";" + request.getRemoteAddr() + ";" + date);
        out.close();
        fw.close();

        String downloadpath = download.getPath();
        downloadpath = downloadpath.replace(SiteConfig.getCurrentInstance().get("file.dir.base").replace("\\\\","\\"), "");
        
        getLog().debug("Downloading of http://" + downloadpath);
        //FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getExternalContext().redirect("http://" + downloadpath);
      }
      else
      {
        // A directory was clicked, so move to the underlying folder
        currentSubdir = download.getPath();
        currentSubdir = currentSubdir.replace(downloadPath.replace("\\\\","\\"), "");
        getLog().debug("Moving to directory");
        getLog().debug("currentSubdir: " + currentSubdir);
        getLog().debug("downloadPath: " + downloadPath);
      }
    }
    return "";
  }

Unfortunately, currentSubdir gets lost. It works for going 1 directory deep, but further down or downloading a file from any subdir fails. Instead it presents me a file from the main directory. For example, when clicking a file from subdir, the logs show:

12:15:22,500 - [com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl] : DEBUG : execute(com.sun.faces.context.FacesContextImpl@64881d)
1,com.sun.faces.context.FacesContextImpl@64881d)
12:15:22,500 - [com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl] : DEBUG : phase(RESTORE_VIEW 1,com.sun.faces.context.FacesContextImpl@64881d)
12:15:22,500 - [com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RestoreViewPhase] : DEBUG : Entering RestoreViewPhase
12:15:22,500 - [com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RestoreViewPhase] : DEBUG : Postback: Restored view for /dynamic/files/public.jsf
12:15:22,500 - [com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RestoreViewPhase] : DEBUG : Exiting RestoreViewPhase
2,com.sun.faces.context.FacesContextImpl@64881d)
12:15:22,500 - [com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl] : DEBUG : phase(APPLY_REQUEST_VALUES 2,com.sun.faces.context.FacesContextImpl@64881d)
12:15:22,500 - [com.sun.faces.lifecycle.ApplyRequestValuesPhase] : DEBUG : Entering ApplyRequestValuesPhase
12:15:22,500 - [be.sofico.extranet.dynamic.files.PublicDownload] : DEBUG : Instantiating PublicDownload class
12:15:22,500 - [be.sofico.extranet.dynamic.files.PublicDownload] : DEBUG : Instantiating PublicDownload class
12:15:22,500 - [be.sofico.framework.SiteConfig] : DEBUG : getConfig(file.dir.base) = C:\test\
12:15:22,500 - [be.sofico.extranet.dynamic.files.PublicDownload] : DEBUG : List files from directory C:\test\download

Would anyone know why the currentSubdir variable gets lost?
I get no errors at all so I suspect it's me somewhat misunderstanding the JSF lifecycle :(