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javaexceptionnetbeansembedded-tomcat-8

Web app using embedded Tomcat only works in IDE

I recently switched a large project from Spring MVC to Spring Boot and i'm facing issues running the resulting JAR file (with dependencies inside) outside of Netbeans. Here is the POM.XML file which works perfectly when run from Netbeans. Notice the section in comments, i'll get to that in a minute. Also note that MDHIS_Common has Spring Boot as its parent which makes this a Spring Boot project :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

<groupId>com.mdenis</groupId>
<artifactId>MDHIS_WebClient</artifactId>
<version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

<name>MDHIS_WebClient</name>

<properties>
    <endorsed.dir>${project.build.directory}/endorsed</endorsed.dir>
    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
    <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source>
    <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>
</properties>

<dependencies>

    <!--JAVA-->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax</groupId>
        <artifactId>javaee-web-api</artifactId>
        <version>8.0</version>
        <scope>provided</scope>
    </dependency>

    <!--JSTL-->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
        <artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
        <version>1.2</version>
    </dependency>

    <!--TOMCAT-->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.tomcat.embed</groupId>
        <artifactId>tomcat-embed-jasper</artifactId>
        <version>9.0.11</version>
    </dependency>

    <!--JASPER REPORTS-->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>net.sf.jasperreports</groupId>
        <artifactId>jasperreports</artifactId>
        <version>6.6.0</version>
    </dependency>

    <!--SIGAR-->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.fusesource</groupId>
        <artifactId>sigar</artifactId>
        <version>1.6.4</version>
    </dependency>

    <!--LOG4J2-->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j-slf4j-impl</artifactId>
        <version>2.11.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
        <version>1.8.0-beta2</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j-api</artifactId>
        <version>2.11.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j-core</artifactId>
        <version>2.11.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j-1.2-api</artifactId>
        <version>2.11.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j-jcl</artifactId>
        <version>2.11.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j-web</artifactId>
        <version>2.11.0</version>
    </dependency>

    <!--MDHIS_COMMON-->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.mdenis</groupId>
        <artifactId>MDHIS_Common</artifactId>
        <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    </dependency>

    <!--TRYING TO WORK AROUND THE EXCEPTIONS
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.eclipse</groupId>
        <artifactId>yasson</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.1</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.glassfish</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.json</artifactId>
        <version>1.1.2</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.sun.el</groupId>
        <artifactId>el-ri</artifactId>
        <version>1.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.json.bind</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.json.bind-api</artifactId>
        <version>1.0</version>
    </dependency> -->
</dependencies>

<build>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>2.0.4.RELEASE</version>
            <executions>
                <execution>
                    <goals>
                        <goal>repackage</goal>
                    </goals>
                </execution>
            </executions>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>

</project>

When running the resulting JAR outside of Netbeans, i get a series of exceptions which i have detailed in another post which resulted in a quite unpleasant wall of text and was downvoted to oblivion. Long story short, each dependency was added one at a time to progress through the exceptions i was getting when running the JAR. With all of those uncommented, the app starts fine but i get this exception the moment i browse to any page : 

[WEBCLIENT] [ERROR] [2018-08-28 08:22:02.924] o.a.c.c.C.[.[.[.[jsp]                    : Servlet.service() for servlet [jsp] threw exception
java.lang.NullPointerException
    at javax.el.CompositeELResolver.add(CompositeELResolver.java:117)
    at org.apache.jasper.el.ELContextImpl.<clinit>(ELContextImpl.java:87)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Validator$ValidateVisitor.getJspAttribute(Validator.java:1417)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Validator$ValidateVisitor.checkXmlAttributes(Validator.java:1234)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Validator$ValidateVisitor.visit(Validator.java:882)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Node$CustomTag.accept(Node.java:1544)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Node$Nodes.visit(Node.java:2389)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Node$Visitor.visitBody(Node.java:2441)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Node$Visitor.visit(Node.java:2447)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Node$Root.accept(Node.java:470)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Node$Nodes.visit(Node.java:2389)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Validator.validateExDirectives(Validator.java:1856)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.generateJava(Compiler.java:224)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.compile(Compiler.java:385)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.compile(Compiler.java:362)
    at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.compile(Compiler.java:346)
    at org.apache.jasper.JspCompilationContext.compile(JspCompilationContext.java:603)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(JspServletWrapper.java:383)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:386)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:330)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:791)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:231)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
    at org.apache.tomcat.websocket.server.WsFilter.doFilter(WsFilter.java:52)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.invoke(ApplicationDispatcher.java:712)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.processRequest(ApplicationDispatcher.java:459)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.doForward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:384)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.forward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:312)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.view.InternalResourceView.renderMergedOutputModel(InternalResourceView.java:170)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.view.AbstractView.render(AbstractView.java:314)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.render(DispatcherServlet.java:1325)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.processDispatchResult(DispatcherServlet.java:1069)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doDispatch(DispatcherServlet.java:1008)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doService(DispatcherServlet.java:925)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:974)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doGet(FrameworkServlet.java:866)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:686)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.service(FrameworkServlet.java:851)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:791)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:231)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
    at org.apache.tomcat.websocket.server.WsFilter.doFilter(WsFilter.java:52)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
    at com.mdenis.mdhis_webclient.filter.PermissionsFilter.doFilter(PermissionsFilter.java:788)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.RequestContextFilter.doFilterInternal(RequestContextFilter.java:99)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:107)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.HttpPutFormContentFilter.doFilterInternal(HttpPutFormContentFilter.java:109)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:107)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.HiddenHttpMethodFilter.doFilterInternal(HiddenHttpMethodFilter.java:93)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:107)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.CharacterEncodingFilter.doFilterInternal(CharacterEncodingFilter.java:200)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:107)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:199)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:96)
    at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:490)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:139)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:92)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:74)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:343)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.service(Http11Processor.java:408)
    at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProcessorLight.process(AbstractProcessorLight.java:66)
    at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$ConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:770)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioEndpoint$SocketProcessor.doRun(NioEndpoint.java:1415)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.SocketProcessorBase.run(SocketProcessorBase.java:49)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

Not sure why the behavior in the IDE vs outside can be so drastically different but there you go. I searched far and wide for a solution to this and came up empty handed.

EDIT

Note that, prior to switching to Spring Boot, i was running Spring MVC with a normal standalone Tomcat 9 install and it worked perfectly. Only when switching to Spring Boot and Tomcat embedded did I start to experience this issue.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

Solution

  • FINALLY, i have something that works. Here is the working dependency list, this works both in Netbeans and using the embedded Tomcat container inside the JAR :

    <dependencies>

    <!--JAVA-->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax</groupId>
        <artifactId>javaee-web-api</artifactId>
        <version>8.0</version>
        <scope>provided</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.json.bind</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.json.bind-api</artifactId>
    </dependency> 
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.el</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.el-api</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
        <artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
    </dependency>

    <!--GLASSFISH-->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.glassfish</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.el</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.glassfish</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.json</artifactId>
        <version>1.1.3</version>
    </dependency>

    <!--TOMCAT-->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.tomcat.embed</groupId>
        <artifactId>tomcat-embed-jasper</artifactId>
    </dependency>

    <!--JASPER REPORTS-->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>net.sf.jasperreports</groupId>
        <artifactId>jasperreports</artifactId>
        <version>6.7.0</version>
    </dependency>

    <!--SIGAR-->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.fusesource</groupId>
        <artifactId>sigar</artifactId>
        <version>1.6.4</version>
    </dependency>

    <!--LOG4J2-->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j-slf4j-impl</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j-api</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j-core</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j-1.2-api</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j-jcl</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j-web</artifactId>
    </dependency>

    <!--MDHIS_COMMON-->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.mdenis</groupId>
        <artifactId>MDHIS_Common</artifactId>
        <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    </dependency>

    <!--YASSON-->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.eclipse</groupId>
        <artifactId>yasson</artifactId>
        <version>1.1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    </dependency>

</dependencies>