Transactional services => BeanNotOfRequiredTypeException, should be Advice, but is TransactionInterceptor

Question

After following the great advice given in a thread about service beans I have made a Service that is listed under. I've tried putting @Transactional at the interface level, interface method level, class level and class method level. However I do it, I get

org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanNotOfRequiredTypeException: Bean named 'org.springframework.transaction.interceptor.TransactionInterceptor#0' must be of type [org.aopalliance.aop.Advice], but was actually of type [org.springframework.transaction.interceptor.TransactionInterceptor]

UPDATE: I only get this error when I've defined <tx:annotation-driven transaction-manager="transactionManager/> but I without it, the @Transactional annotation doesn't do anything and I'm left without a Hibernate session.

Any idea why I get this error? I'm fairly new to this, but it looks like I'm doing what the PetClinic example is doing, and I've googled around for hours and browsed the docs without getting any wiser.

UPDATE: I've also found a way to config myself into the same error trying to follow suggestions from Abhi On Java. I've added that all the way in the bottom of this post.

My config, interface and class is listed below. This is the config that loads the services (UPDATE: What loads the services is in the bottom. The first part is concerning my database and more):

  <bean id="dataSource" class="org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource">
    <property name="driverClassName"   value="com.mysql.jdbc.Driver" />
    <property name="url"     value="jdbc:mysql://${db.host}:{db.port}/{db.name}" />
    <property name="username" value="{db.username}" />
    <property name="password" value="{db.password}" />
    <property name="initialSize" value="{db.minConnections}" />
    <property name="maxActive" value="{db.maxConnections}" />
  </bean>

  <bean id="sessionFactory" class="org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.annotation.AnnotationSessionFactoryBean">
    <property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource"/>
    <property name="annotatedClasses">
      <list>
       <value>tld.mydomain.data.entities.User</value>
      </list>
    </property>
    <property name="hibernateProperties">
      <props>
        <prop key="hibernate.dialect">org.hibernate.dialect.MySQLDialect</prop>
        <prop key="hibernate.show_sql">false</prop>
      </props>
    </property>
  </bean>

  <bean id="transactionManager" class="org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.HibernateTransactionManager">
    <property name="sessionFactory" ref="sessionFactory"/>
  </bean>

  <tx:annotation-driven transaction-manager="transactionManager"/>

  <bean class="org.springframework.dao.annotation.PersistenceExceptionTranslationPostProcessor"/>

  <bean name="openSessionInViewInterceptor" class="org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.support.OpenSessionInViewInterceptor">
    <property name="sessionFactory" ref="sessionFactory"/>
    <property name="flushMode" value="0" />
  </bean> 

<!--

  <bean id="txProxyTemplate" class="org.springframework.transaction.interceptor.TransactionProxyFactoryBean" abstract="true">
    <property name="transactionManager" ref="transactionManager"/>
    <property name="transactionAttributes">
      <props>
        <prop key="create*">PROPAGATION_REQUIRED</prop>
        <prop key="update*">PROPAGATION_REQUIRED</prop>
        <prop key="delete*">PROPAGATION_REQUIRED</prop>
        <prop key="*">PROPAGATION_SUPPORTS,readOnly</prop>
      </props>
    </property>
  </bean>
-->
  <context:component-scan base-package="tld.mydomain.business"/>

This is the interface:

import org.springframework.security.core.userdetails.UserDetailsService;
import org.springframework.transaction.annotation.Transactional;

import tld.mydomain.data.entities.User;
import tld.mydomain.data.entities.keys.UserId;

public interface UserService extends UserDetailsService, CRUDService<User, UserId> {

    @Transactional(readOnly = true)
    public User lookupUser(String username);

    @Transactional(readOnly = true)
    public User publicAliasForUser(String username);
}

and class:

import java.util.List;

import org.hibernate.criterion.Restrictions;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.dao.DataAccessException;
import org.springframework.security.core.userdetails.UserDetails;
import org.springframework.security.core.userdetails.UsernameNotFoundException;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;
import org.springframework.transaction.annotation.Transactional;

import tld.mydomain.commons.RandomString;
import tld.mydomain.data.entities.User;

@Service("userService")
public class UserServiceImpl extends AbstractCRUDServiceImpl<User, String> implements UserService {

    @Autowired
    private LogService logService;

    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    @Override
    public User lookupUser(String username) {

        if(username == null || username.equals("") || username.equals("anonymousUser"))
            return null;

        try {
          List<User> matchingUsers = (List<User>) DAO.getSession().createCriteria(User.class).add(Restrictions.eq("username", username)).list();
          int n = matchingUsers.size();
          if(n == 0) return null;
          if(n > 1) logService.logWarning("Got " + n + " users back, expected just one. Data inconsistency, multiple users with username = " + username);
          return matchingUsers.get(0);
        } catch (Exception ex) {
          logService.logException(ex);
          return null;
        }
    }

    @Override
    public UserDetails loadUserByUsername(String username)
            throws UsernameNotFoundException, DataAccessException {
        if(username == null || username.equals("") || username.equals("anonymousUser"))
            return null;

        User user = this.lookupUser(username);
        if(user == null) {
            logService.logWarning("Couldn't find a user to match, throw out a garbage object");
            user = new User();
            user.setUsername(RandomString.getString(30));
            user.setPassword(RandomString.getString(30));
        }

        return user.getUserDetails();
    }

    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    public User publicAliasForUser(String alias) {
        List<User> publicUsers = DAO.getSession().createCriteria(User.class)
        .add(Restrictions.eq("alias", alias))
        .list();

        if(publicUsers.size() <= 0) return null;
        if(publicUsers.size() > 1) logService.logWarning("Data inconsistency: More than one alias for a user with alias " + alias);
        return publicUsers.get(0);
    }

}

This is the full exception:

org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanNotOfRequiredTypeException: Bean named 'org.springframework.transaction.interceptor.TransactionInterceptor#0' must be of type [org.aopalliance.aop.Advice], but was actually of type [org.springframework.transaction.interceptor.TransactionInterceptor]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:347)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:192)
    at org.springframework.aop.support.AbstractBeanFactoryPointcutAdvisor.getAdvice(AbstractBeanFactoryPointcutAdvisor.java:77)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.adapter.DefaultAdvisorAdapterRegistry.getInterceptors(DefaultAdvisorAdapterRegistry.java:78)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.DefaultAdvisorChainFactory.getInterceptorsAndDynamicInterceptionAdvice(DefaultAdvisorChainFactory.java:61)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.AdvisedSupport.getInterceptorsAndDynamicInterceptionAdvice(AdvisedSupport.java:481)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.JdkDynamicAopProxy.invoke(JdkDynamicAopProxy.java:188)
    at $Proxy28.loadUserByUsername(Unknown Source)
    at org.springframework.security.authentication.dao.DaoAuthenticationProvider.retrieveUser(DaoAuthenticationProvider.java:83)
    at org.springframework.security.authentication.dao.AbstractUserDetailsAuthenticationProvider.authenticate(AbstractUserDetailsAuthenticationProvider.java:125)
    at org.springframework.security.authentication.ProviderManager.doAuthentication(ProviderManager.java:121)
    at org.springframework.security.authentication.AbstractAuthenticationManager.authenticate(AbstractAuthenticationManager.java:49)
    at org.springframework.security.authentication.ProviderManager.doAuthentication(ProviderManager.java:139)
    at org.springframework.security.authentication.AbstractAuthenticationManager.authenticate(AbstractAuthenticationManager.java:49)
    at org.springframework.security.web.authentication.www.BasicAuthenticationFilter.doFilter(BasicAuthenticationFilter.java:142)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:356)
    at org.springframework.security.web.authentication.ui.DefaultLoginPageGeneratingFilter.doFilter(DefaultLoginPageGeneratingFilter.java:92)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:356)
    at org.springframework.security.web.authentication.AbstractAuthenticationProcessingFilter.doFilter(AbstractAuthenticationProcessingFilter.java:188)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:356)
    at org.springframework.security.web.authentication.logout.LogoutFilter.doFilter(LogoutFilter.java:106)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:356)
    at org.springframework.security.web.context.SecurityContextPersistenceFilter.doFilter(SecurityContextPersistenceFilter.java:80)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:356)
    at org.springframework.security.web.access.channel.ChannelProcessingFilter.doFilter(ChannelProcessingFilter.java:110)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:356)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:150)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.DelegatingFilterProxy.invokeDelegate(DelegatingFilterProxy.java:237)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.DelegatingFilterProxy.doFilter(DelegatingFilterProxy.java:167)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:233)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:128)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:293)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:849)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:583)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$Worker.run(JIoEndpoint.java:454)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:637)

Finally, as promised, here is what I can add of configuration to get the exact same exception:

 <aop:config>
  <aop:pointcut id="serviceMethods" expression="execution(* tld.mydomain.business..*(..))" />
  <aop:advisor  advice-ref="txAdvice" pointcut-ref="serviceMethods" />
 </aop:config>

 <tx:advice id="txAdvice" transaction-manager="transactionManager" >
  <tx:attributes>
   <tx:method name="*" propagation="REQUIRES_NEW" />
  </tx:attributes>
 </tx:advice>

This again gives me the following exception:

Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanNotOfRequiredTypeException: Bean named 'txAdvice' must be of type [org.aopalliance.aop.Advice], but was actually of type [org.springframework.transaction.interceptor.TransactionInterceptor]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:347)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:192)
    at org.springframework.aop.support.AbstractBeanFactoryPointcutAdvisor.getAdvice(AbstractBeanFactoryPointcutAdvisor.java:77)
    at org.springframework.aop.aspectj.AspectJProxyUtils.isAspectJAdvice(AspectJProxyUtils.java:67)
    at org.springframework.aop.aspectj.AspectJProxyUtils.makeAdvisorChainAspectJCapableIfNecessary(AspectJProxyUtils.java:49)
    at org.springframework.aop.aspectj.autoproxy.AspectJAwareAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.extendAdvisors(AspectJAwareAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.java:101)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.findEligibleAdvisors(AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.java:88)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.getAdvicesAndAdvisorsForBean(AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.java:68)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAutoProxyCreator.wrapIfNecessary(AbstractAutoProxyCreator.java:359)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAutoProxyCreator.postProcessAfterInitialization(AbstractAutoProxyCreator.java:322)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.applyBeanPostProcessorsAfterInitialization(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:404)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1401)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:512)
    ... 26 more

Cheers

Nik

Answer 1

I think I see the problem now:

... must be of type [org.aopalliance.aop.Advice], but was actually of type [org.springframework.transaction.interceptor.TransactionInterceptor]

Given that TransactionInterceptor is an implementation of org.aopalliance.aop.Advice, this suggests to me that you have a classloading issue. Specifically, you either have two copies of Spring being loaded by two different classloaders, or two copies of aop-alliance being loaded by two different classloaders. In this situation, you can get instanceof errors or ClassCastExceptions that can be a bit hard to diagnose.

I suggests looking through your manifests and classpaths, including the app-server's own classpaths, and make sure your application can only find Spring and aop-alliance in one place. Remember that the Spring JARs already include a copy of the aop-alliance stuff, so you don't need another copy.