error while implementing spring transaction

Question

I am new to springs. i want to implement JtaTransactionManager in my application instead of HibernateTransactionManager.But i am get following error when i write the following code in my xml.

<bean id="transactionManager"
     class="org.springframework.transaction.jta.JtaTransactionManager"/>

On server start up following error occurs:-

org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'transactionManager' defined in ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/resources/transaction-context.xml]: Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalStateException: No JTA UserTransaction available - specify either 'userTransaction' or 'userTransactionName' or 'transactionManager' or 'transactionManagerName'
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1282)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:510)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:246)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:166)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:243)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:167)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:351)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:689)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:358)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.createWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:244)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:187)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:49)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:3827)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4334)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:791)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:771)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:525)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDirectory(HostConfig.java:920)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDirectories(HostConfig.java:883)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:492)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.start(HostConfig.java:1138)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.lifecycleEvent(HostConfig.java:311)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:117)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1053)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start(StandardHost.java:719)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1045)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.start(StandardEngine.java:443)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.start(StandardService.java:516)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.start(StandardServer.java:710)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:566)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:288)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:413)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: No JTA UserTransaction available - specify either 'userTransaction' or 'userTransactionName' or 'transactionManager' or 'transactionManagerName'
    at org.springframework.transaction.jta.JtaTransactionManager.checkUserTransactionAndTransactionManager(JtaTransactionManager.java:489)
    at org.springframework.transaction.jta.JtaTransactionManager.afterPropertiesSet(JtaTransactionManager.java:429)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeInitMethods(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1310)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1279)
    ... 35 more
30 Dec, 2009 6:43:10 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext listenerStart
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 'transactionManager' defined in ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/resources/transaction-context.xml]: Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalStateException: No JTA UserTransaction available - specify either 'userTransaction' or 'userTransactionName' or 'transactionManager' or 'transactionManagerName'
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1282)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:510)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:246)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:166)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:243)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:167)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:351)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:689)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:358)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.createWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:244)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:187)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:49)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:3827)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4334)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:791)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:771)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:525)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDirectory(HostConfig.java:920)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDirectories(HostConfig.java:883)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:492)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.start(HostConfig.java:1138)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.lifecycleEvent(HostConfig.java:311)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:117)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1053)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start(StandardHost.java:719)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1045)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.start(StandardEngine.java:443)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.start(StandardService.java:516)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.start(StandardServer.java:710)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:566)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:288)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:413)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: No JTA UserTransaction available - specify either 'userTransaction' or 'userTransactionName' or 'transactionManager' or 'transactionManagerName'
    at org.springframework.transaction.jta.JtaTransactionManager.checkUserTransactionAndTransactionManager(JtaTransactionManager.java:489)
    at org.springframework.transaction.jta.JtaTransactionManager.afterPropertiesSet(JtaTransactionManager.java:429)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeInitMethods(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1310)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1279)
    ... 35 more

Answer 1

I have a response for a particular case, if you are using Atomikos for the JTA implementation, and I resolved the problem by adding those lines bellow to th context.xml in the /conf folder.

<!-- Spring LoadTimeWeaver Support for the Tomcat server. -->

 <Loader loaderClass="org.springframework.instrument.classloading.tomcat.TomcatInstrumentableClassLoader"/>

Answer 2

As skaffman sad, Tomcat does not have a built-in JTA implementation. So in order to use JtaTransactionManager in your application context you should put JARs of some JTA implementation (e.g. Bitronix) in Tomcat lib folder and put the following declaration in Tomcat's context.xml file

<Transaction factory="bitronix.tm.BitronixUserTransactionObjectFactory" />

That way Tomcat will create and expose UserTransaction which is used in initialization of JtaTransactionManager.

Answer 3

Tomcat does not have a built-in JTA implementation, and so Spring will fail if you try and use JtaTransactionManager.

However, you can use JOTM, which is can be used within Tomcat to provide such functionality.

I have to ask, though - why do you want JTA to begin with? Isn't the hibernate transaction manager sufficient? If you find yourself needing JTA support, then you may want to consider using a full JavaEE app server (JBoss would be the obvious choice, since it includes Tomcat as its servlet engine), and make use of the proper, fully-supported JTA implementation there.