In contrast to DelegatingVariableResolver, this VariableResolver does not resolve JSF variable names as Spring bean names. It rather exposes Spring's root WebApplicationContext itself under a special name. JSF-managed beans can then use Spring's WebApplicationContext API to retrieve Spring-managed beans, access resources, etc.

Configure this resolver in your faces-config.xml file as follows:

 <application>
   ...
   <variable-resolver>org.springframework.web.jsf.WebApplicationContextVariableResolver</variable-resolver>
 </application>