Spring Batch Exponential Retry doesn't kick in even after NullPointerException is thrown

Question

I have the below configuration for spring batch exponential retry, but I don't see retry kicking in when I intentionally throw a NullPointerException. Why?

Spring batch exponential retry configuration:

<bean id="stepParentExponentialRetry" class="org.springframework.batch.core.step.item.FaultTolerantStepFactoryBean" abstract="true">
    <property name="backOffPolicy">
        <bean class="org.springframework.batch.retry.backoff.ExponentialBackOffPolicy">
            <property name="initialInterval" value="10" />
            <property name="maxInterval" value="15" />
            <property name="multiplier" value="5" />
        </bean>
        </property>
</bean>

<!-- Batch Job -->     
<bean id="checkNextRetryTasklet" class="com.XX.XX.XX.RetrySubmitJob" />
    <batch:job id="expoRetryJob" job-repository="jobRepository">
        <batch:step id="expoRetryStep" parent="stepParentExponentialRetry">
            <batch:tasklet ref="checkNextRetryTasklet" transaction-manager="txManager"/>
        </batch:step>
    </batch:job>

RetrySubmitJob:

    public class RetrySubmitJob implements Tasklet{
       @Override
        public RepeatStatus execute(StepContribution contribution, ChunkContext chunkContext) throws Exception {
   try {        
        logger.debug("--Logger in --Spring batch--- expo --- retry----");
        String orderId = (String)    chunkContext.getStepContext().getJobParameters().get(CommonConstants.ORDER_NUMBER);
        Orders order = null;
        order.getStatus(); // To throw Null pointer exception
        } catch (Exception e) {
            logger.debug(e.fillinStackTrace());
            throw e;
        }

        return RepeatStatus.FINISHED;
        }
    }

The class calling this batch in my Unit Testing scenario:

 JobParameters jobParameters = 
                          new JobParametersBuilder()
                          .addString(CommonConstants.ORDER_NUMBER, orderNmb).toJobParameters();
jobLauncher.run(expoRetryJob, jobParameters);

Relevant Logs:

Hibernate: SELECT JOB_INSTANCE_ID, JOB_NAME from BATCH_JOB_INSTANCE where JOB_NAME = ? and JOB_KEY = ?
Hibernate: SELECT JOB_INSTANCE_ID, JOB_NAME from BATCH_JOB_INSTANCE where JOB_NAME = ? and JOB_KEY = ?
Hibernate: SELECT JOB_INSTANCE_ID, JOB_NAME from BATCH_JOB_INSTANCE where JOB_NAME = ? and JOB_KEY = ?
Hibernate: select BATCH_JOB_SEQ.nextval from dual
Hibernate: INSERT into BATCH_JOB_INSTANCE(JOB_INSTANCE_ID, JOB_NAME, JOB_KEY, VERSION) values (?, ?, ?, ?)
Hibernate: INSERT into BATCH_JOB_PARAMS(JOB_INSTANCE_ID, KEY_NAME, TYPE_CD, STRING_VAL, DATE_VAL, LONG_VAL, DOUBLE_VAL) values (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)
Hibernate: select BATCH_JOB_EXECUTION_SEQ.nextval from dual
Hibernate: INSERT into BATCH_JOB_EXECUTION(JOB_EXECUTION_ID, JOB_INSTANCE_ID, START_TIME, END_TIME, STATUS, EXIT_CODE, EXIT_MESSAGE, VERSION, CREATE_TIME, LAST_UPDATED) values (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)
Hibernate: INSERT INTO BATCH_JOB_EXECUTION_CONTEXT (SHORT_CONTEXT, SERIALIZED_CONTEXT, JOB_EXECUTION_ID) VALUES(?, ?, ?)
Hibernate: SELECT COUNT(*) FROM BATCH_JOB_EXECUTION WHERE JOB_EXECUTION_ID = ?
Hibernate: UPDATE BATCH_JOB_EXECUTION set START_TIME = ?, END_TIME = ?,  STATUS = ?, EXIT_CODE = ?, EXIT_MESSAGE = ?, VERSION = ?, CREATE_TIME = ?, LAST_UPDATED = ? where JOB_EXECUTION_ID = ? and VERSION = ?
Hibernate: SELECT JOB_EXECUTION_ID, START_TIME, END_TIME, STATUS, EXIT_CODE, EXIT_MESSAGE, CREATE_TIME, LAST_UPDATED, VERSION from BATCH_JOB_EXECUTION where JOB_INSTANCE_ID = ? order by JOB_EXECUTION_ID desc
Hibernate: SELECT STEP_EXECUTION_ID, STEP_NAME, START_TIME, END_TIME, STATUS, COMMIT_COUNT, READ_COUNT, FILTER_COUNT, WRITE_COUNT, EXIT_CODE, EXIT_MESSAGE, READ_SKIP_COUNT, WRITE_SKIP_COUNT, PROCESS_SKIP_COUNT, ROLLBACK_COUNT, LAST_UPDATED, VERSION from BATCH_STEP_EXECUTION where JOB_EXECUTION_ID = ? order by STEP_EXECUTION_ID
Hibernate: SELECT JOB_EXECUTION_ID, START_TIME, END_TIME, STATUS, EXIT_CODE, EXIT_MESSAGE, CREATE_TIME, LAST_UPDATED, VERSION from BATCH_JOB_EXECUTION where JOB_INSTANCE_ID = ? order by JOB_EXECUTION_ID desc
Hibernate: SELECT STEP_EXECUTION_ID, STEP_NAME, START_TIME, END_TIME, STATUS, COMMIT_COUNT, READ_COUNT, FILTER_COUNT, WRITE_COUNT, EXIT_CODE, EXIT_MESSAGE, READ_SKIP_COUNT, WRITE_SKIP_COUNT, PROCESS_SKIP_COUNT, ROLLBACK_COUNT, LAST_UPDATED, VERSION from BATCH_STEP_EXECUTION where JOB_EXECUTION_ID = ? order by STEP_EXECUTION_ID
Hibernate: select BATCH_STEP_EXECUTION_SEQ.nextval from dual
Hibernate: INSERT into BATCH_STEP_EXECUTION(STEP_EXECUTION_ID, VERSION, STEP_NAME, JOB_EXECUTION_ID, START_TIME, END_TIME, STATUS, COMMIT_COUNT, READ_COUNT, FILTER_COUNT, WRITE_COUNT, EXIT_CODE, EXIT_MESSAGE, READ_SKIP_COUNT, WRITE_SKIP_COUNT, PROCESS_SKIP_COUNT, ROLLBACK_COUNT, LAST_UPDATED) values(?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)
Hibernate: INSERT INTO BATCH_STEP_EXECUTION_CONTEXT (SHORT_CONTEXT, SERIALIZED_CONTEXT, STEP_EXECUTION_ID) VALUES(?, ?, ?)
Hibernate: UPDATE BATCH_STEP_EXECUTION set START_TIME = ?, END_TIME = ?, STATUS = ?, COMMIT_COUNT = ?, READ_COUNT = ?, FILTER_COUNT = ?, WRITE_COUNT = ?, EXIT_CODE = ?, EXIT_MESSAGE = ?, VERSION = ?, READ_SKIP_COUNT = ?, PROCESS_SKIP_COUNT = ?, WRITE_SKIP_COUNT = ?, ROLLBACK_COUNT = ?, LAST_UPDATED = ? where STEP_EXECUTION_ID = ? and VERSION = ?
Hibernate: SELECT VERSION FROM BATCH_JOB_EXECUTION WHERE JOB_EXECUTION_ID=?
Hibernate: UPDATE BATCH_STEP_EXECUTION_CONTEXT SET SHORT_CONTEXT = ?, SERIALIZED_CONTEXT = ? WHERE STEP_EXECUTION_ID = ?
--Logger in --Spring batch--- expo --- retry----
java.lang.NullPointerException
    at com.XX.XX.XX.XX.RetrySubmitJob.execute(RetrySubmitJob.java:88)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.step.tasklet.TaskletStep$ChunkTransactionCallback.doInTransaction(TaskletStep.java:386)
    at org.springframework.transaction.support.TransactionTemplate.execute(TransactionTemplate.java:133)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.step.tasklet.TaskletStep$2.doInChunkContext(TaskletStep.java:264)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.scope.context.StepContextRepeatCallback.doInIteration(StepContextRepeatCallback.java:76)
    at org.springframework.batch.repeat.support.RepeatTemplate.getNextResult(RepeatTemplate.java:367)
    at org.springframework.batch.repeat.support.RepeatTemplate.executeInternal(RepeatTemplate.java:214)
    at org.springframework.batch.repeat.support.RepeatTemplate.iterate(RepeatTemplate.java:143)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.step.tasklet.TaskletStep.doExecute(TaskletStep.java:250)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.step.AbstractStep.execute(AbstractStep.java:195)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.job.SimpleStepHandler.handleStep(SimpleStepHandler.java:135)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.job.flow.JobFlowExecutor.executeStep(JobFlowExecutor.java:61)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.job.flow.support.state.StepState.handle(StepState.java:60)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.job.flow.support.SimpleFlow.resume(SimpleFlow.java:144)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.job.flow.support.SimpleFlow.start(SimpleFlow.java:124)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.job.flow.FlowJob.doExecute(FlowJob.java:135)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.job.AbstractJob.execute(AbstractJob.java:293)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.launch.support.SimpleJobLauncher$1.run(SimpleJobLauncher.java:120)
    at org.springframework.core.task.SyncTaskExecutor.execute(SyncTaskExecutor.java:50)
    at org.springframework.batch.core.launch.support.SimpleJobLauncher.run(SimpleJobLauncher.java:114)

Answer 1

The fault tolerant mechanism in Spring Batch doesn't apply to custom Tasklets. It only applies to chunk based processing. When using your own custom Tasklet implementation, the expectation is that you'll implement your own fault tolerant logic.