Getting NoClassDefFoundError while running my Cucumber Automation

Question

I am facing the following issue while running my automation. This is what I am getting on the console.

io.cucumber.core.exception.CucumberException: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: io/cucumber/messages/internal/com/google/protobuf/GeneratedMessageV3

at io.cucumber.core.plugin.PluginFactory.newInstance(PluginFactory.java:120)
at io.cucumber.core.plugin.PluginFactory.instantiate(PluginFactory.java:99)
at io.cucumber.core.plugin.PluginFactory.create(PluginFactory.java:63)
at io.cucumber.core.plugin.Plugins.createPlugins(Plugins.java:32)
at io.cucumber.core.plugin.Plugins.<init>(Plugins.java:25)
at io.cucumber.testng.TestNGCucumberRunner.<init>(TestNGCucumberRunner.java:108)
at io.cucumber.testng.AbstractTestNGCucumberTests.setUpClass(AbstractTestNGCucumberTests.java:27)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:566)
at org.testng.internal.MethodInvocationHelper.invokeMethod(MethodInvocationHelper.java:133)
at org.testng.internal.MethodInvocationHelper.invokeMethodConsideringTimeout(MethodInvocationHelper.java:62)
at org.testng.internal.ConfigInvoker.invokeConfigurationMethod(ConfigInvoker.java:385)
at org.testng.internal.ConfigInvoker.invokeConfigurations(ConfigInvoker.java:321)
at org.testng.internal.TestMethodWorker.invokeBeforeClassMethods(TestMethodWorker.java:176)
at org.testng.internal.TestMethodWorker.run(TestMethodWorker.java:122)
at java.base/java.util.ArrayList.forEach(ArrayList.java:1541)
at org.testng.TestRunner.privateRun(TestRunner.java:794)
at org.testng.TestRunner.run(TestRunner.java:596)
at org.testng.SuiteRunner.runTest(SuiteRunner.java:377)
at org.testng.SuiteRunner.runSequentially(SuiteRunner.java:371)
at org.testng.SuiteRunner.privateRun(SuiteRunner.java:332)
at org.testng.SuiteRunner.run(SuiteRunner.java:276)
at org.testng.SuiteRunnerWorker.runSuite(SuiteRunnerWorker.java:53)
at org.testng.SuiteRunnerWorker.run(SuiteRunnerWorker.java:96)
at org.testng.TestNG.runSuitesSequentially(TestNG.java:1212)
at org.testng.TestNG.runSuitesLocally(TestNG.java:1134)
at org.testng.TestNG.runSuites(TestNG.java:1063)
at org.testng.TestNG.run(TestNG.java:1031)
at com.intellij.rt.testng.IDEARemoteTestNG.run(IDEARemoteTestNG.java:66)
at com.intellij.rt.testng.RemoteTestNGStarter.main(RemoteTestNGStarter.java:109)

Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: io/cucumber/messages/internal/com/google/protobuf/GeneratedMessageV3 at com.aventstack.extentreports.cucumber.adapter.ExtentCucumberAdapter.(ExtentCucumberAdapter.java:91) at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method) at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:62) at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45) at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:490) at io.cucumber.core.plugin.PluginFactory.newInstance(PluginFactory.java:116) ... 31 more Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: io.cucumber.messages.internal.com.google.protobuf.GeneratedMessageV3 at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.loadClass(BuiltinClassLoader.java:581) at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.ClassLoaders$AppClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoaders.java:178) at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:522) ... 37 more

Answer 1

Hi I had the same problem when cucumber 7 came out, and just today I was able to solve it, basically what I did was to update the versions of some other frameworks that might be affected by the cucumber version as well (on my pom.xml file). These are the frameworks that I use in the stable version:

<dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>io.cucumber</groupId>
            <artifactId>cucumber-java</artifactId>
            <version>7.0.0</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>io.cucumber</groupId>
            <artifactId>cucumber-testng</artifactId>
            <version>7.0.0</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>io.cucumber</groupId>
            <artifactId>cucumber-junit</artifactId>
            <version>7.0.0</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.testng</groupId>
            <artifactId>testng</artifactId>
            <version>7.4.0</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.aventstack</groupId>
            <artifactId>extentreports</artifactId>
            <version>5.0.8</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.aventstack</groupId>
            <artifactId>klov-reporter</artifactId>
            <version>5.0.8</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>tech.grasshopper</groupId>
            <artifactId>extent-pdf-report</artifactId>
            <version>1.7.3</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>tech.grasshopper</groupId>
            <artifactId>extentreports-cucumber7-adapter</artifactId>
            <version>1.1.0</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>io.qameta.allure</groupId>
            <artifactId>allure-cucumber7-jvm</artifactId>
            <version>2.17.2</version>
        </dependency>

I hope this helps to solve your problem, best regards!

Answer 2

To find out which class was loaded (and which was not, respectively), run Java in verbose mode but limited to classloading like so:

java -verbose:class ...

From that output you should be able to decide which exact class was missing. If again you are looking at GeneratedMessageV3, try to look at the source code of that class. It may be that some static initializer is throwing an exception that simply told the JVM that this class could not be loaded successfully.

Answer 3

Ahh, this is a tricky one. From the 'PluginFactory' stacktrace, I guess its caused by this: You have a class which contains step bindings ("Given I login" for example). To create that class you require specflow to Inject some class into the constructor (dependancy injection). If THAT class is in another project, but the StepAssembly (see specflow.json or app.config) or project reference is not correct this can happen. See code example (C# unfortunatly, but the point should be clear)

[Binding]
public class Test{
   public Test(ThisClassNotInAssembly getMe){
     getMe.SomeFunction();
   }
}

Other option is that a step requires a transform (from string to MyNotDependancy class). Where again, the class is in another project and at runtime the dependancy fails.