Spring - component-scan error while trying to use annotations

Question

I am learning Spring, and following an example on YouTube about Annotations. When I try to use component-scan in the spring.xml file, I get this error message:

Context namespace element 'component-scan' and its parser class [org.springframework.context.annotation.ComponentScanBeanDefinitionParser] are only available on JDK 1.5 and higher

This is my spring.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 
 <beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
     xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
     xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
     xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
                         http://www.springframework.org/schema/context http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context.xsd">
 
     <!-- <bean id="vehicle" class="com.spring.Bike"></bean> -->
 
     <context:component-scan base-package="com.spring.Car"></context:component-scan> </beans>

I am using the latest Java version as follows:

java 23.0.1 2024-10-15
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 23.0.1+11-39)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.0.1+11-39, mixed mode, sharing)

The editor is VSCode. How to fix this? I am unable to proceed.

My pom.xml file:

<?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.spring</groupId>
  <artifactId>first</artifactId>
  <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

  <name>first</name>
  <!-- FIXME change it to the project's website -->
  <url>http://www.example.com</url>

  <properties>
    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
    <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source>
    <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>
    <java.version>23</java.version>
</properties>

  <dependencies>

    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring</artifactId>
      <version>5.3.39</version>
      <type>pom</type>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
      <groupId>junit</groupId>
      <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
      <version>4.11</version>
      <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
  
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring</artifactId>
      <version>2.5.6.SEC03</version>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>

  <build>
    <pluginManagement><!-- lock down plugins versions to avoid using Maven defaults (may be moved to parent pom) -->
      <plugins>
        <!-- clean lifecycle, see https://maven.apache.org/ref/current/maven-core/lifecycles.html#clean_Lifecycle -->
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>3.1.0</version>
        </plugin>
        <!-- default lifecycle, jar packaging: see https://maven.apache.org/ref/current/maven-core/default-bindings.html#Plugin_bindings_for_jar_packaging -->
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>3.0.2</version>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>3.8.0</version>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>2.22.1</version>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>3.0.2</version>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-install-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>2.5.2</version>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-deploy-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>2.8.2</version>
        </plugin>
        <!-- site lifecycle, see https://maven.apache.org/ref/current/maven-core/lifecycles.html#site_Lifecycle -->
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-site-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>3.7.1</version>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-project-info-reports-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>3.0.0</version>
        </plugin>
      </plugins>
    </pluginManagement>
  </build>
</project>

Answer 1

You have an error in your pom.xml file. This dependency is causing the problem.

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
  <artifactId>spring</artifactId>
  <version>2.5.6.SEC03</version>
</dependency>

Remove this dependency from your pom.xml to resolve the issue.

Spring 2.5.6 does not support context:component-scan. This feature was introduced in Spring 2.5, but in a limited form. Full support for the @Component annotation and component scanning via context:component-scan appeared later, in Spring 3.0.

See article "New Features and Enhancements in Spring 3.0".