Currently <ice:panelSeries> 'stamps' its contents as if it were a table with only one column (ie http://wiki.icefaces.org/display/ICE/Panel+Series). There are, however, people interested on showing its children as if it were a table with 'n' columns, as if it where a PanelGrid. Although the IceFaces component showcase shows a 2 column PanelSeries, this is achieved through css, through the 'align' attribute, so only two columns can be obtained.

The icefaces forum reference attached to this issue proposes using a <ui:repeat> component inside an <ice:panelGrid>, but this approach doesn't work as the <ice:panelGrid> considers the <ui:repeat>.

Using a <c:forEach> is not an option either since its children cannot 'see' the value of 'var', as 'var' only exists while the view is being created. This issue is discussed here: http://www.ninthavenue.com.au/blog/c:foreach-vs-ui:repeat-in-facelets

The solution would be to modify PanelSeriesRenderer so it uses a table with n columns instead of a div for rendering its components, effectively making it a mix of the current PanelSeriesRenderer and GridRenderer classes, then adding a "cols" attribute to PanelSeries.

Additionaly, a new "layout" attribute (grid | group) could be added to PanelSeries so the new PanelSeriesRenderer could fall back to using a div as it is currently done.