gradle java.lang.IllegalArgumentException

Question

I am trying to run junit tests with my gradle project but regardless of the test they throw the following stacktrace

java.lang.IllegalStateException: Failed to load ApplicationContext
    at org.springframework.test.context.cache.DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.loadContext(DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.java:124)
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.DefaultTestContext.getApplicationContext(DefaultTestContext.java:83)
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.injectDependencies(DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.java:117)
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.prepareTestInstance(DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.java:83)
    at org.springframework.test.context.TestContextManager.prepareTestInstance(TestContextManager.java:230)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.createTest(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:228)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner$1.runReflectiveCall(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:287)
    at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:12)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.methodBlock(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:289)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:247)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:94)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.run(ParentRunner.java:290)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$1.schedule(ParentRunner.java:71)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runChildren(ParentRunner.java:288)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.access$000(ParentRunner.java:58)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$2.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:268)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.java:61)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.java:70)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:363)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.run(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:191)
    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.junit.JUnitTestClassExecuter.runTestClass(JUnitTestClassExecuter.java:114)
    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.junit.JUnitTestClassExecuter.execute(JUnitTestClassExecuter.java:57)
    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.junit.JUnitTestClassProcessor.processTestClass(JUnitTestClassProcessor.java:66)
    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.SuiteTestClassProcessor.processTestClass(SuiteTestClassProcessor.java:51)
    at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor11.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
    at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ReflectionDispatch.dispatch(ReflectionDispatch.java:35)
    at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ReflectionDispatch.dispatch(ReflectionDispatch.java:24)
    at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ContextClassLoaderDispatch.dispatch(ContextClassLoaderDispatch.java:32)
    at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ProxyDispatchAdapter$DispatchingInvocationHandler.invoke(ProxyDispatchAdapter.java:93)
    at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy1.processTestClass(Unknown Source)
    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.worker.TestWorker.processTestClass(TestWorker.java:108)
    at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor10.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
    at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ReflectionDispatch.dispatch(ReflectionDispatch.java:35)
    at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ReflectionDispatch.dispatch(ReflectionDispatch.java:24)
    at org.gradle.internal.remote.internal.hub.MessageHubBackedObjectConnection$DispatchWrapper.dispatch(MessageHubBackedObjectConnection.java:146)
    at org.gradle.internal.remote.internal.hub.MessageHubBackedObjectConnection$DispatchWrapper.dispatch(MessageHubBackedObjectConnection.java:128)
    at org.gradle.internal.remote.internal.hub.MessageHub$Handler.run(MessageHub.java:404)
    at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ExecutorPolicy$CatchAndRecordFailures.onExecute(ExecutorPolicy.java:63)
    at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ManagedExecutorImpl$1.run(ManagedExecutorImpl.java:46)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624)
    at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ThreadFactoryImpl$ManagedThreadRunnable.run(ThreadFactoryImpl.java:55)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: Parser configuration exception parsing XML from URL [file:etc/applicationContext-taxonomy.xml]; nested exception is javax.xml.parsers.ParserConfigurationException: Unable to validate using XSD: Your JAXP provider [org.apache.xerces.jaxp.DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl@fd06dcb] does not support XML Schema. Are you running on Java 1.4 with Apache Crimson? Upgrade to Apache Xerces (or Java 1.5) for full XSD support.
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.doLoadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:406)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:336)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.groovy.GroovyBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(GroovyBeanDefinitionReader.java:236)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.groovy.GroovyBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(GroovyBeanDefinitionReader.java:220)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:181)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:217)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:188)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:252)
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.GenericGroovyXmlContextLoader.loadBeanDefinitions(GenericGroovyXmlContextLoader.java:49)
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractGenericContextLoader.loadContext(AbstractGenericContextLoader.java:124)
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractGenericContextLoader.loadContext(AbstractGenericContextLoader.java:60)
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractDelegatingSmartContextLoader.delegateLoading(AbstractDelegatingSmartContextLoader.java:108)
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractDelegatingSmartContextLoader.loadContext(AbstractDelegatingSmartContextLoader.java:251)
    at org.springframework.test.context.cache.DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.loadContextInternal(DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.java:98)
    at org.springframework.test.context.cache.DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.loadContext(DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.java:116)
    ... 46 more
Caused by: javax.xml.parsers.ParserConfigurationException: Unable to validate using XSD: Your JAXP provider [org.apache.xerces.jaxp.DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl@fd06dcb] does not support XML Schema. Are you running on Java 1.4 with Apache Crimson? Upgrade to Apache Xerces (or Java 1.5) for full XSD support.
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultDocumentLoader.createDocumentBuilderFactory(DefaultDocumentLoader.java:102)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultDocumentLoader.loadDocument(DefaultDocumentLoader.java:71)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.doLoadDocument(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:429)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.doLoadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:391)
    ... 60 more
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Feature 'http://apache.org/xml/features/validation/schema' is not recognized.
    at org.apache.xerces.jaxp.DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl.setAttribute(Unknown Source)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultDocumentLoader.createDocumentBuilderFactory(DefaultDocumentLoader.java:99)
    ... 63 more

I've seen a few suggested solutions to this but none of them seem to work. My tests work fine when I run them in ant. I have made sure that xerces is using the most current version I have also added the suggested

-Djavax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory=com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.jaxp.DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl 
-Djavax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory=com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.jaxp.SAXParserFactoryImpl

to the JVM but nothing seems to work.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I can provide more information upon request.

** Update **

Made the following changes --

test {

    jvmArgs '-Djavax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory=com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.jaxp.DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl -Djavax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory=com.sun.org.apache.xerces'
    include "test/src/java/"
    testLogging.showStandardStreams = true
    minHeapSize = "512m"
    maxHeapSize = "1024m"
}

but now the out put is as shown

:compileTestJava (Thread[Task worker for ':',5,main]) completed. Took 0.391 secs.
:compileTestGroovy (Thread[Task worker for ':',5,main]) started.

> Task :compileTestGroovy NO-SOURCE
Deleting stale output file: C:\Users\edunn\eclipse-workspace\iC\build\classes\groovy\test
file or directory 'C:\Users\edunn\eclipse-workspace\iC\src\test\groovy', not found
Skipping task ':compileTestGroovy' as it has no source files and no previous output files.

:compileTestGroovy (Thread[Task worker for ':',5,main]) completed. Took 0.001 secs.
:processTestResources (Thread[Task worker for ':',5,main]) started.

> Task :processTestResources NO-SOURCE
Deleting stale output file: C:\Users\edunn\eclipse-workspace\iC\build\resources\test
file or directory 'C:\Users\edunn\eclipse-workspace\iC\src\test\resources', not found
Skipping task ':processTestResources' as it has no source files and no previous output files.

:processTestResources (Thread[Task worker for ':',5,main]) completed. Took 0.001 secs.
:testClasses (Thread[Task worker for ':',5,main]) started.

> Task :testClasses
Skipping task ':testClasses' as it has no actions.

:testClasses (Thread[Task worker for ':',5,main]) completed. Took 0.0 secs.
:test (Thread[Task worker for ':',5,main]) started.

> Task :test
Cleaned previous output of task ':test' as it has no source files.

:test (Thread[Task worker for ':',5,main]) completed. Took 0.11 secs.

BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 25s
4 actionable tasks: 4 executed
VCS Checkout Cache (C:\Users\edunn\eclipse-workspace\iC\.gradle\vcsWorkingDirs) has not been cleaned up in 1 days

** Update 2 **

I have made the following changes

test {
    systemProperty 'javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory', 'com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.jaxp.DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl'
    systemProperty 'javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory', 'com.sun.org.apache.xerces'
    include "com/compsci/ic/**"
    testLogging.showStandardStreams = true
    minHeapSize = "512m"
    maxHeapSize = "1024m"
}

which has gotten me further but I now get the following stacktrace

java.lang.IllegalStateException: Failed to load ApplicationContext
    at org.springframework.test.context.cache.DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.loadContext(DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.java:124)
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.DefaultTestContext.getApplicationContext(DefaultTestContext.java:83)
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.injectDependencies(DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.java:117)
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.prepareTestInstance(DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.java:83)
    at org.springframework.test.context.TestContextManager.prepareTestInstance(TestContextManager.java:230)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.createTest(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:228)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner$1.runReflectiveCall(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:287)
    at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:12)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.methodBlock(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:289)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:247)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:94)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.run(ParentRunner.java:290)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$1.schedule(ParentRunner.java:71)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runChildren(ParentRunner.java:288)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.access$000(ParentRunner.java:58)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$2.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:268)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.java:61)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.java:70)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:363)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.run(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:191)
    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.junit.JUnitTestClassExecuter.runTestClass(JUnitTestClassExecuter.java:114)
    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.junit.JUnitTestClassExecuter.execute(JUnitTestClassExecuter.java:57)
    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.junit.JUnitTestClassProcessor.processTestClass(JUnitTestClassProcessor.java:66)
    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.SuiteTestClassProcessor.processTestClass(SuiteTestClassProcessor.java:51)
    at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor11.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
    at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ReflectionDispatch.dispatch(ReflectionDispatch.java:35)
    at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ReflectionDispatch.dispatch(ReflectionDispatch.java:24)
    at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ContextClassLoaderDispatch.dispatch(ContextClassLoaderDispatch.java:32)
    at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ProxyDispatchAdapter$DispatchingInvocationHandler.invoke(ProxyDispatchAdapter.java:93)
    at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy3.processTestClass(Unknown Source)
    at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.testing.worker.TestWorker.processTestClass(TestWorker.java:108)
    at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor10.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
    at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ReflectionDispatch.dispatch(ReflectionDispatch.java:35)
    at org.gradle.internal.dispatch.ReflectionDispatch.dispatch(ReflectionDispatch.java:24)
    at org.gradle.internal.remote.internal.hub.MessageHubBackedObjectConnection$DispatchWrapper.dispatch(MessageHubBackedObjectConnection.java:146)
    at org.gradle.internal.remote.internal.hub.MessageHubBackedObjectConnection$DispatchWrapper.dispatch(MessageHubBackedObjectConnection.java:128)
    at org.gradle.internal.remote.internal.hub.MessageHub$Handler.run(MessageHub.java:404)
    at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ExecutorPolicy$CatchAndRecordFailures.onExecute(ExecutorPolicy.java:63)
    at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ManagedExecutorImpl$1.run(ManagedExecutorImpl.java:46)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624)
    at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ThreadFactoryImpl$ManagedThreadRunnable.run(ThreadFactoryImpl.java:55)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'baseCorpusInitializerGaap2013' defined in URL [file:etc/applicationContext-taxonomy-usg2013.xml]: Cannot resolve reference to bean 'tableIdentCorpus' while setting bean property 'tableIdentifierTrainers'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'tableIdentCorpus' defined in URL [file:etc/applicationContext-corpus.xml]: Cannot create inner bean 'com.compsci.ic.classify.corpus.PropertiesFilesMultiTrainer#37e1a955' of type [com.compsci.ic.classify.corpus.PropertiesFilesMultiTrainer] while setting bean property 'multiTrainers'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.UnsatisfiedDependencyException: Error creating bean with name 'com.compsci.ic.classify.corpus.PropertiesFilesMultiTrainer#37e1a955' defined in URL [file:etc/applicationContext-corpus.xml]: Unsatisfied dependency expressed through constructor parameter 1: Could not convert argument value of type [java.lang.String] to required type [[Lorg.springframework.core.io.Resource;]: Failed to convert value of type 'java.lang.String' to required type 'org.springframework.core.io.Resource[]'; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Could not resolve resource location pattern [classpath:data/corpus/*/*.properties]: class path resource [data/corpus/] cannot be resolved to URL because it does not exist
Related cause: org.springframework.beans.factory.UnsatisfiedDependencyException: Error creating bean with name 'com.compsci.ic.classify.corpus.PropertiesFilesMultiTrainer#37e1a955' defined in URL [file:etc/applicationContext-corpus.xml]: Unsatisfied dependency expressed through constructor parameter 1: Could not convert argument value of type [java.util.ArrayList] to required type [[Ljava.net.URL;]: Failed to convert value of type 'java.util.ArrayList' to required type 'java.net.URL[]'; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Could not retrieve URL for class path resource [ConsolidatedBalanceSheet.properties]: class path resource [ConsolidatedBalanceSheet.properties] cannot be resolved to URL because it does not exist
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveReference(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:359)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveValueIfNecessary(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:108)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.applyPropertyValues(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1492)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.populateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1237)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:552)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:483)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:306)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:230)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:302)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:197)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:759)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:866)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:542)
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractGenericContextLoader.loadContext(AbstractGenericContextLoader.java:128)
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractGenericContextLoader.loadContext(AbstractGenericContextLoader.java:60)
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractDelegatingSmartContextLoader.delegateLoading(AbstractDelegatingSmartContextLoader.java:108)
    at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractDelegatingSmartContextLoader.loadContext(AbstractDelegatingSmartContextLoader.java:251)
    at org.springframework.test.context.cache.DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.loadContextInternal(DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.java:98)
    at org.springframework.test.context.cache.DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.loadContext(DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.java:116)
    ... 46 more
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'tableIdentCorpus' defined in URL [file:etc/applicationContext-corpus.xml]: Cannot create inner bean 'com.compsci.ic.classify.corpus.PropertiesFilesMultiTrainer#37e1a955' of type [com.compsci.ic.classify.corpus.PropertiesFilesMultiTrainer] while setting bean property 'multiTrainers'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.UnsatisfiedDependencyException: Error creating bean with name 'com.compsci.ic.classify.corpus.PropertiesFilesMultiTrainer#37e1a955' defined in URL [file:etc/applicationContext-corpus.xml]: Unsatisfied dependency expressed through constructor parameter 1: Could not convert argument value of type [java.lang.String] to required type [[Lorg.springframework.core.io.Resource;]: Failed to convert value of type 'java.lang.String' to required type 'org.springframework.core.io.Resource[]'; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Could not resolve resource location pattern [classpath:data/corpus/*/*.properties]: class path resource [data/corpus/] cannot be resolved to URL because it does not exist
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveInnerBean(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:313)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveValueIfNecessary(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:122)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.applyPropertyValues(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1492)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.populateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1237)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:552)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:483)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:306)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:230)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:302)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:197)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveReference(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:351)
    ... 64 more
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.UnsatisfiedDependencyException: Error creating bean with name 'com.compsci.ic.classify.corpus.PropertiesFilesMultiTrainer#37e1a955' defined in URL [file:etc/applicationContext-corpus.xml]: Unsatisfied dependency expressed through constructor parameter 1: Could not convert argument value of type [java.lang.String] to required type [[Lorg.springframework.core.io.Resource;]: Failed to convert value of type 'java.lang.String' to required type 'org.springframework.core.io.Resource[]'; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Could not resolve resource location pattern [classpath:data/corpus/*/*.properties]: class path resource [data/corpus/] cannot be resolved to URL because it does not exist
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.createArgumentArray(ConstructorResolver.java:723)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.autowireConstructor(ConstructorResolver.java:189)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.autowireConstructor(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1154)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBeanInstance(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1056)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:513)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:483)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveInnerBean(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:299)
    ... 74 more

I believe I am on the right track

Answer 1

According to docs, Gradle runs unit tests in different jvms (like maven surefire).

Executes JUnit (3.8.x or 4.x) or TestNG tests. Test are always run in (one or more) separate JVMs. The sample below shows various configuration options. apply plugin: 'java' // adds 'test' task

test {
   // enable TestNG support (default is JUnit)
   useTestNG()

   // set a system property for the test JVM(s)
   systemProperty 'some.prop', 'value'

   // explicitly include or exclude tests
   include 'org/foo/**'
   exclude 'org/boo/**'

   // show standard out and standard error of the test JVM(s) on the console
   testLogging.showStandardStreams = true

   // set heap size for the test JVM(s)
   minHeapSize = "128m"
   maxHeapSize = "512m"

https://docs.gradle.org/current/javadoc/org/gradle/api/tasks/testing/Test.html

You should add your jvm args like this

systemProperty 'javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory', 'com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.jaxp.DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl'

This thread shows how to fetch arguments from gradle jvm
How to give System property to my test via Gradle and -D