beaninstantiationexception in using spring with jsf

Question

I am new to Spring and Hibernate. I tried to create a simple application using JSF, Spring and Hibernate. When I am try to run the application through Eclipse, I am getting this error

org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'AddressBean' defined in ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/applicationContext.xml]: Instantiation of bean failed; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.BeanInstantiationException: Could not instantiate bean class [com.address.AddressBean]: Constructor threw exception; nested exception is java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.instantiateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:883)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBeanInstance(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:839)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:440)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory$1.run(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:409)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:380)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:264)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:221)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:261)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:185)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:164)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:429)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:729)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:381)
at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.createWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:255)
at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:199)
at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:45)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:3972)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4467)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1045)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start(StandardHost.java:785)
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:519)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.start(StandardServer.java:710)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:581)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:289)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:414)


Caused by: org.springframework.beans.BeanInstantiationException: Could not instantiate bean class [com.address.AddressBean]: Constructor threw exception; nested exception is java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.springframework.beans.BeanUtils.instantiateClass(BeanUtils.java:115)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.SimpleInstantiationStrategy.instantiate(SimpleInstantiationStrategy.java:61)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.instantiateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:877)
... 31 more
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.util.FacesUtil.getServletContext(FacesUtil.java:33)
at com.address.AddressBean.<init>(AddressBean.java:19)
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:27)
at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:513)
at org.springframework.beans.BeanUtils.instantiateClass(BeanUtils.java:100)
... 33 more

Relevant part of the view

<h:outputText value="Address:"/>
            <h:inputText value="#{addressBean.address.address}"/><br />
            <h:outputText value="City:"/>
            <h:inputText value="#{addressBean.address.city}"/><br />
            <h:outputText value="Contact Id:"/>
            <h:inputText value="#{addressBean.address.contactId}"/><br />
            <h:outputText value="Country:"/>
            <h:inputText value="#{addressBean.address.country}"/><br /><br />
            <h:commandButton value="Submit" action="#{addressBean.addAddress}" />

This is my AddressBean

public AddressBean()
{
    ServletContext servletContext = FacesUtil.getServletContext();
    this.context = WebApplicationContextUtils
            .getRequiredWebApplicationContext(servletContext);
}
public String addAddress()
{
    dao = (AddressDAOImpl)context.getBean("AddressDAOImpl");
    dao.saveAddress(address);
    return "";
}

and this is my applicationcontext.xml code

<!-- Hibernate SessionFactory Definition -->
<bean id="sessionFactory"
    class="org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.LocalSessionFactoryBean">
    <property name="mappingResources">
        <list>
            <value>
                com/address/Address.hbm.xml
            </value>                
        </list>
    </property>

    <property name="hibernateProperties">
        <props>
            <prop key="hibernate.dialect">
                org.hibernate.dialect.MySQLDialect
            </prop>
            <prop key="hibernate.show_sql">true</prop>
            <prop key="hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto">update</prop>
            <prop key="hibernate.cglib.use_reflection_optimizer">
                true
            </prop>
            <prop key="hibernate.cache.provider_class">
                org.hibernate.cache.HashtableCacheProvider
            </prop>
            <prop key="hibernate.connection.useUnicode">true</prop>
            <prop key="hibernate.connection.characterEncoding">UTF-8</prop>
        </props>
    </property>

    <property name="dataSource">
        <ref bean="dataSource" />
    </property>
</bean>

<!-- Spring Data Access Exception Translator Definition -->
<bean id="jdbcExceptionTranslator"
    class="org.springframework.jdbc.support.SQLErrorCodeSQLExceptionTranslator">
    <property name="dataSource">
        <ref bean="dataSource" />
    </property>
</bean>

<!-- Hibernate Template Definition -->
<bean id="hibernateTemplate"
    class="org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.HibernateTemplate">
    <property name="sessionFactory">
        <ref bean="sessionFactory" />
    </property>
    <property name="jdbcExceptionTranslator">
        <ref bean="jdbcExceptionTranslator" />
    </property>
</bean> 


<bean id="AddressBean"
    class="com.address.AddressBean">
    <property name="hibernateTemplate">
        <ref bean="hibernateTemplate" />
    </property>
    <property name="addressDAO">
        <ref bean="addressDAO" />
    </property>
    <property name="sessionFactory">
        <ref local="sessionFactory" />
    </property>
</bean>

<!-- ========================= Start of SERVICE DEFINITIONS =========================
-->

<!-- Hibernate Transaction Manager Definition -->
<bean id="transactionManager"
    class="org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.HibernateTransactionManager">
    <property name="sessionFactory">
        <ref local="sessionFactory" />
    </property>
</bean>

Please correct my mistake. Please update me if miss any detail.

Update @chkal I tried as you said and followed this tutorial and modified the applicationcontext.xml file as below

<bean id="dao" class="com.address.AddressDAO">                      
</bean>
<bean id="addressBean"
    class="com.address.AddressBean">
    <property name="dao">
        <ref local="dao" />
    </property>                 
</bean>

Now the error comes as follows

org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'dao' defined in ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/applicationContext.xml]: Instantiation of bean failed; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.BeanInstantiationException: Could not instantiate bean class [com.address.AddressDAO]: Specified class is an interface
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.instantiateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:883)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBeanInstance(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:839)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:440)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory$1.run(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:409)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:380)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFact....

If I am completely wrong, please suggest me a good tutorial for a beginner like me

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

It seems like you are trying to use regular JSF managed beans and some workaround to get references to beans managed by Spring (like the DAO).

This is not the recommended way of handling this. You should really take a look at the JSF integration of Spring. If you are using this way you won't need to use JSF managed beans at all. You will just declare your JSF beans as regular Spring beans and will be able to access them by using EL expressions just like regular JSF managed beans. Then you can also use @Autowired to inject other Spring beans (like your DAO) into your JSF bean.

Add this to your faces-config.xml:

<faces-config>
  <application>
    <el-resolver>org.springframework.web.jsf.el.SpringBeanFacesELResolver</el-resolver>
  </application>
</faces-config> 

Then change your AddressBean to something like this:

@Component("addressBean")
@Scope("request")
public class AddressBean {

  @Autowired
  private AddressDAO dao;

  public String addAddress()
  {
      dao.saveAddress(address);
      return "";
  }

}

You won't even have to change your view, as this example will add the AddressBean to the EL context under the name addressBean.