See attached test case. When using a converter that returns an object, ace autoCompleteEntry assumes everything to be submitted is already a string (and does not seek to use a supplied converter if it is not).
ct 15, 2014 8:50:11 AM org.icefaces.impl.context.DOMPartialRenderCallback visit
SEVERE: Subtree rendering failed for class javax.faces.component.html.HtmlForm form2
java.lang.ClassCastException: com.icesoft.support.Item cannot be cast to java.lang.String
at org.icefaces.ace.component.autocompleteentry.AutoCompleteEntryRenderer.encodeScript(AutoCompleteEntryRenderer.java:294)
at org.icefaces.ace.component.autocompleteentry.AutoCompleteEntryRenderer.encodeBegin(AutoCompleteEntryRenderer.java:215)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.encodeBegin(UIComponentBase.java:822)
at org.icefaces.ace.renderkit.CoreRenderer.renderChild(CoreRenderer.java:79)
at org.icefaces.ace.renderkit.CoreRenderer.renderChildren(CoreRenderer.java:70)
at org.icefaces.ace.component.panel.PanelRenderer.encodeContent(PanelRenderer.java:236)
at org.icefaces.ace.component.panel.PanelRenderer.encodeMarkup(PanelRenderer.java:135)
at org.icefaces.ace.component.panel.PanelRenderer.encodeEnd(PanelRenderer.java:73)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.encodeEnd(UIComponentBase.java:877)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1826)
at javax.faces.render.Renderer.encodeChildren(Renderer.java:168)
at org.icefaces.impl.renderkit.RendererWrapper.encodeChildren(RendererWrapper.java:49)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.encodeChildren(UIComponentBase.java:847)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1819)
at org.icefaces.impl.context.DOMPartialRenderCallback.visit(DOMPartialViewContext.java:821)
at com.sun.faces.component.visit.PartialVisitContext.invokeVisitCallback(PartialVisitContext.java:183)
at javax.faces.component.UIForm.visitTree(UIForm.java:381)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.visitTree(UIComponent.java:1663)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.visitTree(UIComponent.java:1663)
at org.icefaces.impl.context.DOMPartialViewContext.renderSubtrees(DOMPartialViewContext.java:459)
at org.icefaces.impl.context.DOMPartialViewContext.processPartial(DOMPartialViewContext.java:170)
at javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.encodeChildren(UIViewRoot.java:973)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1819)
at com.sun.faces.application.view.FaceletViewHandlingStrategy.renderView(FaceletViewHandlingStrategy.java:421)
at com.sun.faces.application.view.MultiViewHandler.renderView(MultiViewHandler.java:125)
at javax.faces.application.ViewHandlerWrapper.renderView(ViewHandlerWrapper.java:286)
at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RenderResponsePhase.execute(RenderResponsePhase.java:120)
at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.Phase.doPhase(Phase.java:101)
at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.render(LifecycleImpl.java:139)
at javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:594)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:303)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:208)
at org.apache.tomcat.websocket.server.WsFilter.doFilter(WsFilter.java:52)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:241)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:208)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:220)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:122)
at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:501)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:171)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve.invoke(AccessLogValve.java:950)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:116)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:408)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Processor.process(AbstractHttp11Processor.java:1040)
at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$AbstractConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:607)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(JIoEndpoint.java:316)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1145)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:615)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)

Oct 15, 2014 8:50:11 AM org.icefaces.impl.context.DOMResponseWriter logUnclosedNode
WARNING: Missing end-element for: #document (path: #document)