Error creating bean with name 'dataSource' defined in ServletContext resource

Question

I am working on struts2 demo project and spring to manage Hibernate sessions.

I am following this article http://www.splinter.com.au/using-spring-to-manage-hibernate-sessions-in/

ERROR

  SEVERE: Exception sending context initialized event to listener instance of class org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener
org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'dataSource' defined in ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/applicationContext.xml]: Initialization of bean failed; nested exception is java.lang.NoSuchFieldError: NULL
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:527)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:456)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:294)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:225)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:291)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:193)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:609)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:895)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:425)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.createWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:276)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:197)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:47)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:4791)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5285)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1559)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1549)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:303)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:138)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:886)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:908)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)
Caused by: java.lang.NoSuchFieldError: NULL
    at org.springframework.expression.TypedValue.<clinit>(TypedValue.java:32)
    at org.springframework.expression.spel.support.StandardEvaluationContext.setRootObject(StandardEvaluationContext.java:85)
    at org.springframework.expression.spel.support.StandardEvaluationContext.<init>(StandardEvaluationContext.java:74)
    at org.springframework.context.expression.StandardBeanExpressionResolver.evaluate(StandardBeanExpressionResolver.java:124)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.evaluateBeanDefinitionString(AbstractBeanFactory.java:1299)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.evaluate(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:210)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveValueIfNecessary(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:182)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.applyPropertyValues(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1360)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.populateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1118)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:517)
    ... 21 more
Sep 24, 2012 7:22:18 AM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext startInternal
SEVERE: Error listenerStart
Sep 24, 2012 7:22:18 AM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext startInternal
SEVERE: Context [/1-Struts2_CRUD] startup failed due to previous errors
Sep 24, 2012 7:22:18 AM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: Closing Spring root WebApplicationContext
Sep 24, 2012 7:22:18 AM org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader clearReferencesJdbc
SEVERE: The web application [/1-Struts2_CRUD] registered the JDBC driver [com.mysql.jdbc.Driver] but failed to unregister it when the web application was stopped. To prevent a memory leak, the JDBC Driver has been forcibly unregistered.
Sep 24, 2012 7:22:18 AM org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader clearReferencesThreads
SEVERE: The web application [/1-Struts2_CRUD] appears to have started a thread named [Abandoned connection cleanup thread] but has failed to stop it. This is very likely to create a memory leak.

applicationContext.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
       xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
       xmlns:aop="http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop"
       xmlns:tx="http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx"
       xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
       xsi:schemaLocation="
http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx/spring-tx-3.0.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop-3.0.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/context http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-3.0.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.0.xsd">

    <!-- enable annotation beans definitions -->
    <context:component-scan base-package="com.pirzada"/>

    <!-- Basic DataSource Configuration -->
    <bean id="dataSource" class="org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.DriverManagerDataSource">
        <property name="driverClassName" value="com.mysql.jdbc.Driver"/>
        <property name="url" value="jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/struts2_demo_db"/>
        <property name="username" value="root"/>
        <property name="password" value="786"/>
    </bean>


    <bean id="sessionFactory" class="org.springframework.orm.hibernate4.LocalSessionFactoryBean">
        <property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource"/>

        <property name="packagesToScan">
            <list>
                <value>com.pirzada.dao</value>
            </list>
        </property>
        <property name="hibernateProperties">
            <props>
                <prop key="hibernate.dialect">org.hibernate.dialect.MySQL5Dialect</prop>
                <prop key="hibernate.show_sql">true</prop>
                <prop key="hibernate.format_sql">true</prop>
                <prop key="hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto">update</prop>
                <prop key="hibernate.connection.useUnicode">true</prop>
                <prop key="hibernate.connection.characterEncoding">UTF-8</prop>
                <prop key="hibernate.max_fetch_depth">0</prop>
                <prop key="hibernate.jdbc.use_scrollable_resultset">true</prop>
            </props>
        </property>
    </bean>

    <!-- defining transaction manager bean using Hibernate -->
    <bean id="txManager" class="org.springframework.orm.hibernate4.HibernateTransactionManager">
        <property name="sessionFactory" ref="sessionFactory"/>
    </bean>

    <!-- enable the configuration of transactional behavior based on annotations -->
    <tx:annotation-driven transaction-manager="txManager"/>

    <!-- &lt;!&ndash; exception translation bean post processor &ndash;&gt;
   <bean class="org.springframework.dao.annotation.PersistenceExceptionTranslationPostProcessor"/>
   <bean class="org.springframework.orm.hibernate4.HibernateExceptionTranslator"/>-->

    <!--  DAO beans -->
    <!--
    <bean id="userDAO"  class="org.droidaceapps.dao.UserDAOImpl">
        <property name="hibernateTemplate" ref="hibernateTemplate" />
    </bean>

    &lt;!&ndash;  Service beans &ndash;&gt;

    <bean id="userService"  class="org.droidaceapps.services.UserServiceImpl">
        <property name="userDAO" ref="userDAO" />
    </bean>-->

</beans>

web.xml

<web-app xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee
          http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_3_0.xsd"
         version="3.0">

  <display-name>Archetype Created Web Application</display-name>

    <!--<context-param>
        <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
        <param-value>classpath:applicationContext.xml</param-value>
    </context-param>-->


    <filter>
        <filter-name>struts2</filter-name>
        <filter-class>
            org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ng.filter.StrutsPrepareAndExecuteFilter
        </filter-class>
    </filter>

    <filter-mapping>
        <filter-name>struts2</filter-name>
        <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
    </filter-mapping>

    <!-- Spring -->
    <listener> <!-- Required for the struts2 spring plugin to work -->
        <listener-class>org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener</listener-class>
    </listener>
    <filter> <!-- Get spring to keep the session open for the whole request, so hibernate's lazy loads work -->
        <filter-name>openSessionInViewFilter</filter-name>
        <filter-class>org.springframework.orm.hibernate4.support.OpenSessionInViewFilter</filter-class>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>sessionFactoryBeanName</param-name>
            <param-value>sessionFactory</param-value>
        </init-param>
    </filter>
    <filter-mapping>
        <filter-name>openSessionInViewFilter</filter-name>
        <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
    </filter-mapping>


    <welcome-file-list>
        <welcome-file>/index.jsp</welcome-file>
    </welcome-file-list>

</web-app>

Hibernate.cfg.xml

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<!DOCTYPE hibernate-configuration PUBLIC
        "-//Hibernate/Hibernate Configuration DTD//EN"
        "http://hibernate.sourceforge.net/hibernate-configuration-3.0.dtd">
<hibernate-configuration>
    <session-factory>
        <property name="hibernate.connection.driver_class">com.mysql.jdbc.Driver</property>
        <property name="hibernate.connection.url">jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/struts2_demo_db</property>
        <property name="hibernate.connection.username">root</property>
        <property name="hibernate.connection.password">786</property>
        <property name="hibernate.connection.pool_size">1</property>
        <property name="hibernate.dialect">org.hibernate.dialect.MySQL5Dialect</property>

        <!-- Echo all executed SQL to stdout for debugging -->
        <property name="show_sql">true</property>
        <property name="hbm2ddl.auto">update</property>


        <property name="hibernate.connection.provider_class">org.hibernate.service.jdbc.connections.internal.C3P0ConnectionProvider</property>
        <property name="hibernate.c3p0.max_size">100</property>
        <property name="hibernate.c3p0.min_size">1</property>
        <property name="hibernate.c3p0.idle_test_period">30</property>

        <mapping class="com.pirzada.domain.User"/>
        <!-- DB schema will be updated if needed -->
        <!-- <property name="hbm2ddl.auto">update</property> -->
    </session-factory>
</hibernate-configuration>

UserDAOImpl

/*@Transactional is needed so that a Hibernate transaction is set up, otherwise updates won't have an affect*/
@Transactional
public class UserDAOImpl implements UserDAO {

    // So Spring can inject the session factory
    protected SessionFactory sessionFactory;
    public void setSessionFactory(SessionFactory value) {
        sessionFactory = value;
    }

    // Shortcut for sessionFactory.getCurrentSession()
    protected Session session() {
        return sessionFactory.getCurrentSession();
    }

    @Override
    public void saveOrUpdateUser(User user) {
        session().saveOrUpdate(user);
    }
}

maven

<dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>junit</groupId>
            <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
            <version>4.10</version>
        </dependency>

        <!-- javaee-api 6 dependencies -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax</groupId>
            <artifactId>javaee-api</artifactId>
            <version>6.0</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Spring framework dependencies -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-orm</artifactId>
            <version>3.1.2.RELEASE</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.struts</groupId>
            <artifactId>struts2-spring-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>2.3.4.1</version>
        </dependency>

        <!-- struts2 dependencies -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.struts</groupId>
            <artifactId>struts2-core</artifactId>
            <version>2.3.4.1</version>
        </dependency>

        <!-- sl4j dependencies -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>log4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
            <version>1.2.17</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
            <version>${slf4j.version}</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>slf4j-log4j12</artifactId>
            <version>${slf4j.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Hibernate dependencies -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
            <artifactId>hibernate-core</artifactId>
            <version>${hibernate.core.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
            <artifactId>hibernate-validator</artifactId>
            <version>4.3.0.Final</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
            <artifactId>hibernate-c3p0</artifactId>
            <version>${hibernate.core.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <!-- JDBC dependencies -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>mysql</groupId>
            <artifactId>mysql-connector-java</artifactId>
            <version>5.1.21</version>
        </dependency>

    </dependencies>

Answer 1

It looks to be a problem with incompatible versions of JAR files in the classpath, for instance Spring may need some lower or higher version of hibernate. hibernate.core.version - this would be useful to see. Try using Hibernate3 instead, I bet it's a problem with Hibernate4 and its Spring support.

Answer 2

You should add mysql-connector-java-5.1.26-bin.jar into WEB-INF/lib. I met problem like you. It'll work.

Answer 3

I can't offer a solution, but since I can't comment as I do not have enough points I can give you what information I have gotten in hopes you are able to find a solution as well.

I am getting the same error when I am trying to run a sample project. I am running Hibernate 3.2.0.ga, Maven 2, Spring 3.2.0 and Tomcat 7. I get the exact error. I downloaded the source files, put in a break and ran Tomcat on debug. From what I can tell. I am getting the error when it is trying to get the registered scopes. What the Beans are passing in is "singleton" and when it looks for that scope it returns null and I get the error you described.

I, for sanity sake, added "session" to all my beans and I get a different error

java.lang.IllegalStateException: No thread-bound request found: Are you referring to request attributes outside of an actual web request, or processing a request outside of the originally receiving thread? If you are actually operating within a web request and still receive this message, your code is probably running outside of DispatcherServlet/DispatcherPortlet: In this case, use RequestContextListener or RequestContextFilter to expose the current request.
    at org.springframework.web.context.request.RequestContextHolder.currentRequestAttributes(RequestContextHolder.java:131)
    ...

I hope that this might put you on the right track to solve this as I would love to find the solution as well. Setting up the projects and the project infrastructure is my weak point so this is always a head-banger for me.

EDIT: Sure enough, it is most likely a library version conflict. On my project I was initially trying to go with the latest of the Spring and Hibernate 3 when I was getting the error. I Googled and Googled to find out which versions were compatible with each other and found one old comment from a Hibernate forum that showed Spring 3.0.0.RELEASE will work with Hibernate 3.4.0.GA. I plan on updating each until I can get to the latest compatible versions for the two tools.

Someone on a SO comment had said

Just play around with the libraries until you find some that are compatible. Isn't that one of the fun parts of being a developer?

... I sure hope that guy was being facetious.