cannot get @ModelAttribute to work

[koryakm]

I am trying to use the model attribute annotation to populate the "nav" variable with my navigation data for use on the jsp.
I am using tiles 2 for my views, by the way, if that makes any difference.

my attribute "nav" cannot be found on the jsp, even though looking at the log file, i can see that the method getNavigation() is called.


@Controller
public class ItemController {
@Autowired
private ItemManager itemManager;

@Autowired
private NavigationManager navigationManager;

@Autowired
private MediaUtils mediaUtil;

private final Log log = LogFactory.getLog(ItemController.class);

private static final int PROMO_SIZE = 4; //how big are the promotions, how many items do they include?


@ModelAttribute("nav")
//this DOES NOT APPEAR on my JSP!!
public List<Navigation> getNavigation(){
log.debug("returning moddel attribute: "+this.navigationManager.getNavigationByGroupName("main"));
return this.navigationManager.getNavigationByGroupName("main");
}




/**
* Maps all nav level 2 requests
*/
@RequestMapping("/*/*.*")
public ModelAndView handleSubCategoryRequest(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws Exception {
String path = request.getServletPath();
int idx=path.lastIndexOf("/");
String navUrl = path.substring(0,idx);
String itemSeoName = path.substring(idx+1, path.length() - 5);

Navigation selectedNav = navigationManager.getNavigationByURL(navUrl);

ModelAndView mav = new ModelAndView("error.404");

log.debug("(detail) nav url:"+navUrl+" nav:"+selectedNav);
log.debug("(detail) item seo name:"+itemSeoName);



if(selectedNav == null){
mav.setViewName("error.404");
} else if(selectedNav.getNavName().equals("item") && !processItemDetailRequest(selectedNav, mav, itemSeoName)){
//this is a weird if block: if we have an item request, and fail to process it, fail,
//otherwise the request is already set up correctly!
mav.setViewName("error.404");
}

mav.addObject("selectedNav", selectedNav);
// mav.addObject("nav", this.navigationManager.getNavigation());
log.debug("finished detail request returning modelandview: "+mav);
return mav; //at this point its error.404
}






}