Parent Contexts in spring based web-app - spring

Question

I'm deploying my EAR/WAR file to Jboss 4.2 and i've wired the web.xml to load the common application context file, so i can share common bean via parent spring context.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee web-app_2_4.xsd"
version="2.4">
<display-name>Validation Service</display-name>
<description>Validation Service</description>
<context-param>
<param-name>locatorFactorySelector</param-name>
<param-value>classpath*:coreBeanContext.xml</param-value>
</context-param>
<context-param>
<param-name>parentContextKey</param-name>
<param-value>coreBeanFactory</param-value>
</context-param>
<listener>
<listener-class>org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener</listener-class>
</listener>
and my 'coreBeanFactory' is defined to use the 'ClassPathXmlApplicationContext'.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.0.xsd"
default-lazy-init="true">
<bean id="coreBeanFactory"
class="org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext">
<constructor-arg>
<value>coreApplicationContext.xml</value>
</constructor-arg>
</bean>
But during start up, the coreBeanContext.xml file is loaded, but i'm getting this exception
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.access.BootstrapException:
Unable to return specified BeanFactory instance: factory key [coreBeanFactory],
from group with resource name [classpath*:coreBeanContext.xml];
nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanNotOfRequiredTypeException:
Bean named 'coreBeanFactory' must be of type
[org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactory],
but was actually of type
[org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext]
at org.springframework.beans.factory.access.SingletonBeanFactoryLocator.useBeanFactory(SingletonBeanFactoryLocator.java:410)
I'm wondering why the SingletonBeanFactoryLocator is picking this bean up as the wrong type?
UPDATE (20/06/2009)
Adding the full stack trace. My app uses #Webservice annotations, and during the deploy the WSDL file is generated. One of the objects references within the interface, needs to connect to the database in its constructor - and its the lookup of the spring datasource bean reference that causes this. ATM - I'm thinking of using the SpringBeanAutowiringInterceptor to ensure that the object is correctly injected.
org.jboss.deployment.DeploymentException: Could not create deployment: file:/C:/projects/libs/jboss-4.2.2.GA/server/default/tmp/deploy/tmp30413validationservice.ear-contents/validation-ejb.jar; - nested throwable: (java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError)
at org.jboss.deployment.DeploymentException.rethrowAsDeploymentException(DeploymentException.java:53)
at org.jboss.deployment.MainDeployer.start(MainDeployer.java:1050)
at org.jboss.deployment.MainDeployer.start(MainDeployer.java:1015)
at org.jboss.deployment.MainDeployer.deploy(MainDeployer.java:819)
at org.jboss.deployment.MainDeployer.deploy(MainDeployer.java:782)
at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor20.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:585)
at org.jboss.mx.interceptor.ReflectedDispatcher.invoke(ReflectedDispatcher.java:155)
at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.dispatch(Invocation.java:94)
at org.jboss.mx.interceptor.AbstractInterceptor.invoke(AbstractInterceptor.java:133)
at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.invoke(Invocation.java:88)
at org.jboss.mx.interceptor.ModelMBeanOperationInterceptor.invoke(ModelMBeanOperationInterceptor.java:142)
at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.invoke(Invocation.java:88)
at org.jboss.mx.server.AbstractMBeanInvoker.invoke(AbstractMBeanInvoker.java:264)
at org.jboss.mx.server.MBeanServerImpl.invoke(MBeanServerImpl.java:659)
at org.jboss.mx.util.MBeanProxyExt.invoke(MBeanProxyExt.java:210)
at $Proxy9.deploy(Unknown Source)
at org.jboss.deployment.scanner.URLDeploymentScanner.deploy(URLDeploymentScanner.java:421)
at org.jboss.deployment.scanner.URLDeploymentScanner.scan(URLDeploymentScanner.java:634)
at org.jboss.deployment.scanner.AbstractDeploymentScanner$ScannerThread.doScan(AbstractDeploymentScanner.java:263)
at org.jboss.deployment.scanner.AbstractDeploymentScanner.startService(AbstractDeploymentScanner.java:336)
at org.jboss.system.ServiceMBeanSupport.jbossInternalStart(ServiceMBeanSupport.java:289)
at org.jboss.system.ServiceMBeanSupport.jbossInternalLifecycle(ServiceMBeanSupport.java:245)
at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor4.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:585)
at org.jboss.mx.interceptor.ReflectedDispatcher.invoke(ReflectedDispatcher.java:155)
at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.dispatch(Invocation.java:94)
at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.invoke(Invocation.java:86)
at org.jboss.mx.server.AbstractMBeanInvoker.invoke(AbstractMBeanInvoker.java:264)
at org.jboss.mx.server.MBeanServerImpl.invoke(MBeanServerImpl.java:659)
at org.jboss.system.ServiceController$ServiceProxy.invoke(ServiceController.java:978)
at $Proxy0.start(Unknown Source)
at org.jboss.system.ServiceController.start(ServiceController.java:417)
at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor10.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:585)
at org.jboss.mx.interceptor.ReflectedDispatcher.invoke(ReflectedDispatcher.java:155)
at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.dispatch(Invocation.java:94)
at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.invoke(Invocation.java:86)
at org.jboss.mx.server.AbstractMBeanInvoker.invoke(AbstractMBeanInvoker.java:264)
at org.jboss.mx.server.MBeanServerImpl.invoke(MBeanServerImpl.java:659)
at org.jboss.mx.util.MBeanProxyExt.invoke(MBeanProxyExt.java:210)
at $Proxy4.start(Unknown Source)
at org.jboss.deployment.SARDeployer.start(SARDeployer.java:302)
at org.jboss.deployment.MainDeployer.start(MainDeployer.java:1025)
at org.jboss.deployment.MainDeployer.deploy(MainDeployer.java:819)
at org.jboss.deployment.MainDeployer.deploy(MainDeployer.java:782)
at org.jboss.deployment.MainDeployer.deploy(MainDeployer.java:766)
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:585)
at org.jboss.mx.interceptor.ReflectedDispatcher.invoke(ReflectedDispatcher.java:155)
at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.dispatch(Invocation.java:94)
at org.jboss.mx.interceptor.AbstractInterceptor.invoke(AbstractInterceptor.java:133)
at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.invoke(Invocation.java:88)
at org.jboss.mx.interceptor.ModelMBeanOperationInterceptor.invoke(ModelMBeanOperationInterceptor.java:142)
at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.invoke(Invocation.java:88)
at org.jboss.mx.server.AbstractMBeanInvoker.invoke(AbstractMBeanInvoker.java:264)
at org.jboss.mx.server.MBeanServerImpl.invoke(MBeanServerImpl.java:659)
at org.jboss.mx.util.MBeanProxyExt.invoke(MBeanProxyExt.java:210)
at $Proxy5.deploy(Unknown Source)
at org.jboss.system.server.ServerImpl.doStart(ServerImpl.java:482)
at org.jboss.system.server.ServerImpl.start(ServerImpl.java:362)
at org.jboss.Main.boot(Main.java:200)
at org.jboss.Main$1.run(Main.java:508)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:595)
Caused by: java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
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:585)
at java.lang.Class.getEnumConstants(Class.java:2903)
at java.util.EnumMap.<init>(EnumMap.java:109)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeEnumLeafInfoImpl.<init>(RuntimeEnumLeafInfoImpl.java:83)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeModelBuilder.createEnumLeafInfo(RuntimeModelBuilder.java:103)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeModelBuilder.createEnumLeafInfo(RuntimeModelBuilder.java:79)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.ModelBuilder.getClassInfo(ModelBuilder.java:207)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeModelBuilder.getClassInfo(RuntimeModelBuilder.java:98)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeModelBuilder.getClassInfo(RuntimeModelBuilder.java:79)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.ModelBuilder.getClassInfo(ModelBuilder.java:192)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeModelBuilder.getClassInfo(RuntimeModelBuilder.java:93)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeModelBuilder.getClassInfo(RuntimeModelBuilder.java:79)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.ModelBuilder.getTypeInfo(ModelBuilder.java:298)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.TypeRefImpl.calcRef(TypeRefImpl.java:92)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.TypeRefImpl.getTarget(TypeRefImpl.java:69)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeTypeRefImpl.getTarget(RuntimeTypeRefImpl.java:58)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeTypeRefImpl.getTarget(RuntimeTypeRefImpl.java:51)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.ElementPropertyInfoImpl$1.get(ElementPropertyInfoImpl.java:74)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.ElementPropertyInfoImpl$1.get(ElementPropertyInfoImpl.java:77)
at java.util.AbstractList$Itr.next(AbstractList.java:422)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.ModelBuilder.getClassInfo(ModelBuilder.java:238)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeModelBuilder.getClassInfo(RuntimeModelBuilder.java:98)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeModelBuilder.getClassInfo(RuntimeModelBuilder.java:79)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.ModelBuilder.getClassInfo(ModelBuilder.java:192)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeModelBuilder.getClassInfo(RuntimeModelBuilder.java:93)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeModelBuilder.getClassInfo(RuntimeModelBuilder.java:79)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.ModelBuilder.getTypeInfo(ModelBuilder.java:298)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.TypeRefImpl.calcRef(TypeRefImpl.java:92)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.TypeRefImpl.getTarget(TypeRefImpl.java:69)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeTypeRefImpl.getTarget(RuntimeTypeRefImpl.java:58)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeTypeRefImpl.getTarget(RuntimeTypeRefImpl.java:51)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.ElementPropertyInfoImpl$1.get(ElementPropertyInfoImpl.java:74)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.ElementPropertyInfoImpl$1.get(ElementPropertyInfoImpl.java:77)
at java.util.AbstractList$Itr.next(AbstractList.java:422)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.ModelBuilder.getClassInfo(ModelBuilder.java:238)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeModelBuilder.getClassInfo(RuntimeModelBuilder.java:98)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeModelBuilder.getClassInfo(RuntimeModelBuilder.java:79)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.ModelBuilder.getClassInfo(ModelBuilder.java:192)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeModelBuilder.getClassInfo(RuntimeModelBuilder.java:93)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.RuntimeModelBuilder.getClassInfo(RuntimeModelBuilder.java:79)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.ModelBuilder.getTypeInfo(ModelBuilder.java:298)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.model.impl.ModelBuilder.getTypeInfo(ModelBuilder.java:313)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.runtime.JAXBContextImpl.getTypeInfoSet(JAXBContextImpl.java:432)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.runtime.JAXBContextImpl.<init>(JAXBContextImpl.java:286)
at com.sun.xml.bind.v2.ContextFactory.createContext(ContextFactory.java:139)
at com.sun.xml.bind.api.JAXBRIContext.newInstance(JAXBRIContext.java:105)
at com.sun.xml.bind.api.JAXBRIContext.newInstance(JAXBRIContext.java:116)
at org.jboss.ws.metadata.builder.jaxws.JAXWSMetaDataBuilder.createJAXBContext(JAXWSMetaDataBuilder.java:921)
at org.jboss.ws.metadata.builder.jaxws.JAXWSWebServiceMetaDataBuilder.buildWebServiceMetaData(JAXWSWebServiceMetaDataBuilder.java:146)
at org.jboss.ws.metadata.builder.jaxws.JAXWSServerMetaDataBuilder.setupProviderOrWebService(JAXWSServerMetaDataBuilder.java:50)
at org.jboss.ws.metadata.builder.jaxws.JAXWSMetaDataBuilderEJB3.buildMetaData(JAXWSMetaDataBuilderEJB3.java:78)
at org.jboss.wsf.stack.jbws.UnifiedMetaDataDeploymentAspect.create(UnifiedMetaDataDeploymentAspect.java:71)
at org.jboss.wsf.framework.deployment.DeploymentAspectManagerImpl.deploy(DeploymentAspectManagerImpl.java:115)
at org.jboss.wsf.container.jboss42.ArchiveDeployerHook.deploy(ArchiveDeployerHook.java:97)
at org.jboss.wsf.container.jboss42.DeployerInterceptor.start(DeployerInterceptor.java:90)
at org.jboss.deployment.SubDeployerInterceptorSupport$XMBeanInterceptor.start(SubDeployerInterceptorSupport.java:188)
at org.jboss.deployment.SubDeployerInterceptor.invoke(SubDeployerInterceptor.java:95)
at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.invoke(Invocation.java:88)
at org.jboss.mx.server.AbstractMBeanInvoker.invoke(AbstractMBeanInvoker.java:264)
at org.jboss.mx.server.MBeanServerImpl.invoke(MBeanServerImpl.java:659)
at org.jboss.mx.util.MBeanProxyExt.invoke(MBeanProxyExt.java:210)
at $Proxy34.start(Unknown Source)
at org.jboss.deployment.MainDeployer.start(MainDeployer.java:1025)
... 67 more
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.access.BootstrapException: Unable to return specified BeanFactory instance: factory key [coreBeanFactory], from group with resource name [classpath*:coreBeanContext.xml]; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanNotOfRequiredTypeException: Bean named 'coreBeanFactory' must be of type [org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactory], but was actually of type [org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext]
at org.springframework.beans.factory.access.SingletonBeanFactoryLocator.useBeanFactory(SingletonBeanFactoryLocator.java:410)
at xxx.common.utilities.spring.SpringContainerUtilities.getSingletonFactoryBean(SpringContainerUtilities.java:211)
at xxx.common.utilities.spring.SpringContainerUtilities.getCoreFocusDataSource(SpringContainerUtilities.java:145)
at xxx.common.collections.LabelSerialCollection.checkForConnection(LabelSerialCollection.java:687)
at xxx.common.collections.LabelSerialCollection.populate(LabelSerialCollection.java:813)
at xxx.common.collections.LabelSerialCollection.getInstance(LabelSerialCollection.java:342)
at xxx.common.enums.SEIProducts.<clinit>(SEIProducts.java:23)
... 133 more
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanNotOfRequiredTypeException: Bean named 'coreBeanFactory' must be of type [org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactory], but was actually of type [org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext]
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:322)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:185)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:168)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.getBean(AbstractApplicationContext.java:884)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.access.SingletonBeanFactoryLocator.useBeanFactory(SingletonBeanFactoryLocator.java:397)
... 139 more
2009-07-20 10:20:20,487 DEBUG [org.jboss.deployment.scanner.URLDeploymentScanner] Watch URL for: file:/C:/projects/libs/jboss-4.2.2.GA/server/default/deploy/validationservice.ear -> file:/C:/projects/libs/jboss-4.2.2.GA/server/default/deploy/validationservice.ear
2009-07-20 10:20:20,487 ERROR [org.jboss.deployment.scanner.URLDeploymentScanner] Incomplete Deployment listing:

Answer 1

My guess is that Spring is being loaded by two different classloaders. If this is the case, then the webapp's classloader cannot cast the parent context to BeanFactory.
Your WAR is packaged inside your EAR, is that correct? If so, do you have a single copy of Spring inside the EAR, or do you have additional Spring JARs inside the WAR?

Answer 2

I would classify this as a problem with the spring configuration, not with JBoss' class loading. Could you describe what your intention is with this set of configurations?
Do you only need to load multiple application contexts, or is there a need to have the application contexts loaded this way?
You can try to just load a single application context and import all other application contexts in that configuration, or configure all contexts via web.xml and have them loaded by the spring context loader listener.
single application context: the context ${servlet-name}-servlet.xml is automatically loaded. You can insert <import/> directives into this configuration file as described in Composing XML-based configuration metadata
configuration via web.xml: configure the contextConfigLocation context parameter of the web application as described in Common configuration.
If you have any special requirements why you chose to configure your application this way, please give more details. The recommended approach is to either configure all contexts externally (in this case via web.xml context parameter), or have the contexts import other contexts via <import/>.
I hope this could help,
Kariem