Tomcat 7 Server won't load class: ClassNotFoundException

Question

    SEVERE: A child container failed during start
    java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost].StandardContext[/Employee_12_30_AngularJS]]
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.report(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.get(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:1123)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.startInternal(StandardHost.java:800)
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.run(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
    Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost].StandardContext[/Employee_12_30_AngularJS]]
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
... 6 more
Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: net/sf/json/JSONException
at java.lang.Class.getDeclaredFields0(Native Method)
at java.lang.Class.privateGetDeclaredFields(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Class.getDeclaredFields(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.catalina.util.Introspection.getDeclaredFields(Introspection.java:87)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.WebAnnotationSet.loadFieldsAnnotation(WebAnnotationSet.java:261)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.WebAnnotationSet.loadApplicationServletAnnotations(WebAnnotationSet.java:140)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.WebAnnotationSet.loadApplicationAnnotations(WebAnnotationSet.java:67)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.applicationAnnotationsConfig(ContextConfig.java:405)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.configureStart(ContextConfig.java:881)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.lifecycleEvent(ContextConfig.java:369)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:119)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleBase.java:90)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5173)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
... 6 more
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: net.sf.json.JSONException
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1714)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1559)
... 20 more

Jan 07, 2014 12:20:38 AM org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase startInternal
    SEVERE: A child container failed during start
   java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost]]
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.report(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.get(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:1123)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.startInternal(StandardEngine.java:302)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.startInternal(StandardService.java:443)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.startInternal(StandardServer.java:732)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:684)
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:322)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:451)
    Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost]]
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
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.run(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
    Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: A child container failed during start
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:1131)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.startInternal(StandardHost.java:800)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
... 6 more

    Jan 07, 2014 12:20:38 AM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start
    SEVERE: Catalina.start: 
    org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardServer[8005]]
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:684)
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:322)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:451)
    Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardService[Catalina]]
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.startInternal(StandardServer.java:732)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
... 7 more
    Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina]]
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.startInternal(StandardService.java:443)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
... 9 more
    Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: A child container failed during start
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:1131)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.startInternal(StandardEngine.java:302)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
... 11 more

I assume its from more specifically this branch of code

    Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: net.sf.json.JSONException
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1714)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1559)
... 20 more

I have added these to my build path so im not quite sure what the heck is the problem

commons-beanutils-1.9.0 commons-lang-2.6 ezmorph-1.0.6 commons-collections-3.2.1 commons-logging-1.1.3 json-lib-2.2.2-jdk15

I am hosting on a tomcat7 server using the eclipse ide

Answer 1

If you're not dropping jars into the WEB-INF/lib folder in your project, anything you need at runtime (in addition to compile time) needs to be marked as such in the "Deployment Assembly" property page for the project.

Answer 2

Jar added to the build path will only be available at compile time and it doesn't at run time.

Create a "lib" folder in your WEB-INF and copy all the jars inside that folder. So that all the jars will be available to your project