What is wrong with a test that was working and has stopped without any changes being made? - spring

Question

I am using Spring 3.1.1 and Hibernate. I want to write Tests for the DAO Objects. The Problem is that I get an java.lang.IllegalStateException: Failed to load ApplicationContext
in the test classes I have annotated the Applicationscontext for example:
#RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
#ContextConfiguration( { "/test-applicationContext.xml" })
public class GenPlaceUserDAOTest {.......}
What we (my fellow students) do not understand, that the Tests has worked before, and now we get this exception.
Here is a part of the Error Trace. maybe anyone here could explain that to me??
java.lang.IllegalStateException: Failed to load ApplicationContext
at org.springframework.test.context.TestContext.getApplicationContext(TestContext.java:157)
at org.springframework.test.context.support.DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.injectDependencies(DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.java:109)
at org.springframework.test.context.support.DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.prepareTestInstance(DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.java:75)
at org.springframework.test.context.TestContextManager.prepareTestInstance(TestContextManager.java:321)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.createTest(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:211)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner$1.runReflectiveCall(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:288)
at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:15)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.methodBlock(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:290)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:231)
at org.junit.runners.BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(BlockJUnit4ClassRunner.java:49)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.run(ParentRunner.java:193)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$1.schedule(ParentRunner.java:52)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runChildren(ParentRunner.java:191)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.access$000(ParentRunner.java:42)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$2.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:184)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.java:61)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.java:71)
at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:236)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.run(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:174)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit4.runner.JUnit4TestReference.run(JUnit4TestReference.java:50)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.TestExecution.run(TestExecution.java:38)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:467)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:683)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.run(RemoteTestRunner.java:390)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.main(RemoteTestRunner.java:197)
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'templateDAOImpl': Injection of autowired dependencies failed; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Could not autowire field: protected javax.persistence.EntityManager org.inso_ase01.genplace.persistance.BasicDAO.em; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'entityManager' defined in class path resource [applicationContext-test.xml]: Cannot resolve reference to bean 'entityManagerFactory' while setting bean property 'entityManagerFactory'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'entityManagerFactory' defined in class path resource [applicationContext-test.xml]: Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is java.lang.NoSuchFieldError: TRACE
at org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.AutowiredAnnotationBeanPostProcessor.postProcessPropertyValues(AutowiredAnnotationBeanPostProcessor.java:287)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.populateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1106)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:517)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:456)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:294)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:225)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:291)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:193)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:585)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:913)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:464)
at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractGenericContextLoader.loadContext(AbstractGenericContextLoader.java:103)
at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractGenericContextLoader.loadContext(AbstractGenericContextLoader.java:1)
at org.springframework.test.context.support.DelegatingSmartContextLoader.loadContext(DelegatingSmartContextLoader.java:228)
at org.springframework.test.context.TestContext.loadApplicationContext(TestContext.java:124)
at org.springframework.test.context.TestContext.getApplicationContext(TestContext.java:148)
... 24 more

Answer 1

This looks like a log library problem to me. The "NoSuchFieldError: TRACE" suggests that the wrong version of, say, Log4J is being used.
It might work intermittently if there are multiple versions of the library on your classpath - sometimes the right one is found; other times the wrong one. Alternatively, someone might have monkeyed with the dependencies and not the code, or if you're using a build system like Maven and inheriting dependencies from a parent project the change that's breaking your tests could have happened in a different project.