Attached test case that shows the issue.

Steps:

• load intro.jsf
• Click the Welcome button (redirect used to show the backspace key issue).
• In the second column filter input enter in '111'. No data is shown.
• Using the backspace key, remove a single character so it shows '11', no data is shown and focus is kept in the field.
• Delete another character using the backspace key, it should show '1' now. A new set of data is returned but the input field no longer has focus.
• Hit the backspace key again, you are now navigated to intro.jsf.

Added client IDs for thead and tbody elements to stop the update from propagating up to root element (this occurs when table transition from being empty to a table has rows to render).

Verified using attached test case. ICEfaces 4 trunk, ee-3.3.0 maintenance branch r44177. Tomcat 7, IE 11, FF 34, Chrome 40.

Reopening for failures in QA test apps which use a global filter or match modes.
The QA Filter test app is failing in the method described in ICE-10362 which was closed because of failure to reproduce the issue.
The issue "When removing filter letters using the "Backspace" key, sometimes the focus changes from the filter input component to the page, and the user is redirected to previously viewed pages." Can be reproduced in the following manner:
Use the dataTable > Filter test app (/views/filterTest.jsf) located at:
http://dev.icesoft.com/svn/repo/qa/trunk/Regression-Icefaces4/Sparkle/Nightly/dataTable
In the iTunes filter type 10000
Use the backspace key. Focus can become lost, at that point the you will be sent back to the start page.

Note* This issue also occurs in the /views/globalFilter.jsf test application but you must use the global filter first

In DataTableRenderer enclose inline script code with 'span' element which has its ID attribute defined so that eventual changes in code will not force the update to propagate to the root element.

Tested with ICEfaces 4 trunk, ee-3.3.0 maintenance branch r44181.
The focus and navigation issue does appear resolved however now when filters are removed the paginator is not reinstated.
To reproduce:
Use the dataTable > Filter test app (/views/filterTest.jsf) located at:
http://dev.icesoft.com/svn/repo/qa/trunk/Regression-Icefaces4/Sparkle/Nightly/dataTable
The demo loads with a paginator on the dataTable.
Type B into the Name field.
The table is reduced to 2 rows.
Press backspace to remove B from the name field.
The table is reloaded but without the paginator.

Changed paginator.js to update the visibility of paginator markup when the number of available rows is higher than the ones displayed.

Verified all issues ICEfaces 4 trunk r44183, Tomcat 7, FF 34, Chrome 40, IE 11.
Issues remain with ee-3.3.0 maintenance branch r44184:
1.) Paginator fix has not been applied.
2.) New js error in browser console:
FF:TypeError: tbl.setupClickableHeaderEventsForColumn is not a function filterTest.jsf (line 20, col 27)
Chrome: Uncaught TypeError: undefined is not a function
IE 11: SCRIPT438: Object doesn't support property or method 'setupClickableHeaderEventsForColumn'

Applied paginator fix to maintance branch.
Also applied a fix to the dataTable application by changing the widgetVar attribute name in filterTest.xhtml page. It seems that the commit for ICE-10055 made the data table component sensitive to what name is assigned to 'widgetVar' attribute. If the name matches the id attribute value then on the client the root element is looked up when invoking setupClickableHeaderEventsForColumn function instead of the data table instance.

Verified remaining issues resolved ICEfaces ee-3.3.0 maintenance branch, ICEfaces 4 trunk r 44184. Tomcat 7, FF 34, IE 11, Chrome 40.

Tested with ICEfaces 4 trunk r44210/ICEfaces ee-3.3.0 r 44213
Reopening for possible regressions.
Showcase ace:columnGroup > Overview failing.
QA test apps failing
dataTable > /views/alternatingRowStyleTest.jsf, /dataTable/views/ICE-10055.jsf
With r44173 the application functions as expected. After the changes made for ICE-10529 using this demo causes a NPE.
Steps to reproduce
1.) Use QA test app dataTable/views/alternatingRowStyleTest.jsf
2.) Click on Artist column header once
3.) Click on Album column header once
4.) Click on Name column header once or twice
5.) Click on any of the unsortable column headers such as AMG, Pitchfork etc. NPE occurs at this time.
Mar 13, 2015 9:44:16 AM com.sun.faces.context.AjaxExceptionHandlerImpl handlePar
tialResponseError
SEVERE: java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.icefaces.ace.util.ComponentUtils.resolveField(ComponentUtils.java
:123)
at org.icefaces.ace.model.table.SortCriteria.<init>(SortCriteria.java:36
)
at org.icefaces.ace.component.datatable.DataTable.getSortCriteria(DataTa
ble.java:1139)
at org.icefaces.ace.component.datatable.DataTable.loadLazyData(DataTable
.java:1452)
at org.icefaces.ace.component.datatable.DataTable.visitRowsAndExpandedRo
ws(DataTable.java:1613)
at org.icefaces.ace.component.datatable.DataTable.visitTree(DataTable.ja
va:1516)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.visitTree(UIComponent.java:1700)
at javax.faces.component.UIForm.visitTree(UIForm.java:362)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.visitTree(UIComponent.java:1700)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.visitTree(UIComponent.java:1700)
at org.icefaces.impl.event.RestoreResourceDependencies.processEvent(Rest
oreResourceDependencies.java:48)
at javax.faces.event.SystemEvent.processListener(SystemEvent.java:108)
at javax.faces.event.ComponentSystemEvent.processListener(ComponentSyste
mEvent.java:118)
at com.sun.faces.application.ApplicationImpl.processListeners(Applicatio
nImpl.java:2169)
at com.sun.faces.application.ApplicationImpl.invokeListenersFor(Applicat
ionImpl.java:2142)
at com.sun.faces.application.ApplicationImpl.publishEvent(ApplicationImp
l.java:301)
at com.sun.faces.application.ApplicationImpl.publishEvent(ApplicationImp
l.java:245)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.encodeBegin(UIComponentBase.jav
a:856)
at javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.encodeBegin(UIViewRoot.java:985)
at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1854)
at com.sun.faces.application.view.FaceletViewHandlingStrategy.renderView
(FaceletViewHandlingStrategy.java:430)
at com.sun.faces.application.view.MultiViewHandler.renderView(MultiViewH
andler.java:133)
at javax.faces.application.ViewHandlerWrapper.renderView(ViewHandlerWrap
per.java:337)
at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RenderResponsePhase.execute(RenderResponsePha
se.java:120)
at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.Phase.doPhase(Phase.java:101)
at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.render(LifecycleImpl.java:219)
at javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:647)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(Appl
icationFilterChain.java:305)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationF
ilterChain.java:210)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperV
alve.java:222)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextV
alve.java:123)
at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(Authentica
torBase.java:502)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.j
ava:171)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.j
ava:99)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve.invoke(AccessLogValve.java:
953)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineVal
ve.java:118)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.jav
a:408)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Processor.process(AbstractHttp
11Processor.java:1023)
at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$AbstractConnectionHandler.process(
AbstractProtocol.java:589)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.AprEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(AprEndpoin
t.java:1852)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.
java:1145)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor
.java:615)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)

r44267: added call to invoke the destroy function before (re)initializing the data table, in order to remove all event listeners and thus avoid multiple event listeners firing for the same event; added code to remove other event listeners that aren't removed via destroy(); fix to only render the clickable header events set-up script when the column is sortable and clickable headers are enabled.

r44268: committed fix to 3.3 EE maintenance branch.

ICEfaces 4 trunk r 44269, EE-4.0.0 r41228.
Just started the regression testing for the latest fix and immediately found an issue when using a filter and backspacing the input:
Console error all browsers:
ReferenceError: _self is not defined
http://localhost:8080/showcase/javax.faces.resource/bridge.js.jsf?ln=ice.core&v=4_0_0_150319 line 2 > eval
Line 16

This can be reproduced by using the showcase ace:dataTable > Overview demo.
1.) Type the letters End into the input in the Name header .
2.) Table will be filtered, press backspace to remove all input.
3.) Error appears in browser console.

r44273: added global cache for the filter event listener, which needs to be global and static.

The issue was caused because of an event listener function that was made static, but it still had a reference to the data table object. This was fixed by having a global cache to store these event listener functions, which are created for each data table instance with a reference to it.

r44274: committed last fix to 3.3 EE maintenance branch.

Verified ICEfaces 4 trunk, EE-3.3.0 maintenance branch r44806. Tomcat 7, FF 34, IE 11 Chrome 43.