[SalesForce] apex:InputText value not setting on the controller variable

Accessing controller properties uses the usual get & set syntax.

Set in a constructor and retrieved using the shorthand notation

public class YourController {
    public string varA { get; set; } // use the proper type

    public YourController() {
        varA = 'Some text';
    }   
}

or

Retrieved from the getNNN mechanism

public class YourController {
    public YourController() { }

    public string getvarA() {
      return 'Some text';  
    } 
}

or

Retrieved from a shorthand getter which calls a method in the controller

public class YourController {
    public YourController() { }

    public string varA { get { return doIt(); } }

    private string doIt() {
        return 'Some text';
    }
}

VF Page - JavaScript function - controller property reference will work with any of the above examples:

<script>
    function hello(){
        var theControllerValue = '{!varA}';
        alert(theControllerValue);
    }
</script>

The rendered source for the page, which you can go look at in the browser, will look like this after the substitution for the controller variable has been made:

function hello(){
    var theControllerValue = 'Some text';
    alert(theControllerValue);
}

This looks to be a bug in Visualforce - its been around since 2008 by the look of this post on the Developerforce Discussion Boards:

https://developer.salesforce.com/forums/ForumsMain?id=906F0000000951yIAA

The best I've been able to do with this is to have the underlying property still stored as an Integer, but have a string based getter/setter for it that converts to/from a string. That way I can use the property as an Integer within my code and I just have to convert it once.

You'll need an answer from Salesforce as to why it works this way - given that people have been complaining about this behaviour for nearly 6 years, it feels like they might think its working correctly. Although Doug Chasman does suggest its a bug in the developerforce post above.