How to fix dataexporter ClassDefFoundError in PrimeFaces dataexporter

Question

I am trying to practice the export functionality in Primefaces and I was trying to check the <p:dataexporter> element. I have added the itextpdf-5.3.0.jar in the Libraries and classpath in the project in the Jdeveloper. However when I tried to use it in the click on the commandbutton for exporting the DataTable to PDF, I got the below error:

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/lowagie/text/DocumentException
    at org.primefaces.component.export.PDFExporter.export(PDFExporter.java:53)
    at org.primefaces.component.export.DataExporter.processAction(DataExporter.java:97)
    at javax.faces.event.ActionEvent.processListener(ActionEvent.java:88)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.broadcast(UIComponentBase.java:778)
    at javax.faces.component.UICommand.broadcast(UICommand.java:300)
    at javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.broadcastEvents(UIViewRoot.java:787)
    at javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.processApplication(UIViewRoot.java:1252)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.InvokeApplicationPhase.execute(InvokeApplicationPhase.java:81)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.Phase.doPhase(Phase.java:101)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.execute(LifecycleImpl.java:118)
    at javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:508)
    at weblogic.servlet.internal.StubSecurityHelper$ServletServiceAction.run(StubSecurityHelper.java:227)
    at weblogic.servlet.internal.StubSecurityHelper.invokeServlet(StubSecurityHelper.java:125)
    at weblogic.servlet.internal.ServletStubImpl.execute(ServletStubImpl.java:300)
    at weblogic.servlet.internal.TailFilter.doFilter(TailFilter.java:26)
    at weblogic.servlet.internal.FilterChainImpl.doFilter(FilterChainImpl.java:56)
    at oracle.adf.model.servlet.ADFBindingFilter.doFilter(ADFBindingFilter.java:173)
    at weblogic.servlet.internal.FilterChainImpl.doFilter(FilterChainImpl.java:56)
    at oracle.security.jps.ee.http.JpsAbsFilter$1.run(JpsAbsFilter.java:119)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at oracle.security.jps.util.JpsSubject.doAsPrivileged(JpsSubject.java:315)
    at oracle.security.jps.ee.util.JpsPlatformUtil.runJaasMode(JpsPlatformUtil.java:442)
    at oracle.security.jps.ee.http.JpsAbsFilter.runJaasMode(JpsAbsFilter.java:103)
    at oracle.security.jps.ee.http.JpsAbsFilter.doFilter(JpsAbsFilter.java:171)
    at oracle.security.jps.ee.http.JpsFilter.doFilter(JpsFilter.java:71)
    at weblogic.servlet.internal.FilterChainImpl.doFilter(FilterChainImpl.java:56)
    at oracle.dms.servlet.DMSServletFilter.doFilter(DMSServletFilter.java:139)
    at weblogic.servlet.internal.FilterChainImpl.doFilter(FilterChainImpl.java:56)
    at weblogic.servlet.internal.RequestEventsFilter.doFilter(RequestEventsFilter.java:27)
    at weblogic.servlet.internal.FilterChainImpl.doFilter(FilterChainImpl.java:56)
    at weblogic.servlet.internal.WebAppServletContext$ServletInvocationAction.wrapRun(WebAppServletContext.java:3715)
    at weblogic.servlet.internal.WebAppServletContext$ServletInvocationAction.run(WebAppServletContext.java:3681)
    at weblogic.security.acl.internal.AuthenticatedSubject.doAs(AuthenticatedSubject.java:321)
    at weblogic.security.service.SecurityManager.runAs(SecurityManager.java:120)
    at weblogic.servlet.internal.WebAppServletContext.securedExecute(WebAppServletContext.java:2277)
    at weblogic.servlet.internal.WebAppServletContext.execute(WebAppServletContext.java:2183)
    at weblogic.servlet.internal.ServletRequestImpl.run(ServletRequestImpl.java:1454)
    at weblogic.work.ExecuteThread.execute(ExecuteThread.java:209)
    at weblogic.work.ExecuteThread.run(ExecuteThread.java:178)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.lowagie.text.DocumentException
    at weblogic.utils.classloaders.GenericClassLoader.findLocalClass(GenericClassLoader.java:297)
    at weblogic.utils.classloaders.GenericClassLoader.findClass(GenericClassLoader.java:270)
    at weblogic.utils.classloaders.ChangeAwareClassLoader.findClass(ChangeAwareClassLoader.java:64)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:305)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:246)
    at weblogic.utils.classloaders.GenericClassLoader.loadClass(GenericClassLoader.java:179)
    at weblogic.utils.classloaders.ChangeAwareClassLoader.loadClass(ChangeAwareClassLoader.java:43)
    ... 39 more

There is only one jar file and I tried to download other jar files and to try the export, however it is still the same.

Answer 1

All iText versions older than December 2009 are obsolete and should no longer be used. See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25696851/can-itext-2-1-7-or-earlier-can-be-used-commercially for more info. (There are also a number of unofficial iText versions with a version number 4.)

How do you recognize these obsolete versions? The easiest way is to look at the package names. When the package refers to my name (lowagie), then you are using an obsolete, unsupported version of iText.

You have downloaded iText 5.3.0 dating from June 20, 2012. (Which is also pretty old; why not use a more recent version?) Since December 2009, all the package names were changed from com.lowagie into com.itextpdf. See the changelog for more detail.

Your error message says:

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/lowagie/text/DocumentException

That is correct. The package com.lowagie.text refers to a version of iText that is older than December 2009 (and all of these versions have been removed from the official download sites). You are using a version that has a class named com.itextpdf.text.DocumentException. That version doesn't contain any class named com.lowagie.text.DocumentException.