Spring Webflow and JSF: java.lang.NullPointerException at com.sun.faces.config.processor.FaceletTaglibConfigProcessor.processTagLibrary

Question

I am trying to build a webproject which uses spring webflow and JSF using Eclipse IDE. So i have created a dynamic web project with JSF 2.2 Implementation. However while trying to run the project i am getting some Exceptions. Below is my Maven config file.

pom.xml

<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/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <groupId>com.breathejava</groupId>
  <artifactId>WebFlowDemo2</artifactId>
  <packaging>war</packaging>
  <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
  <name>SWF_Example Maven Webapp</name>
  <url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
  <properties>
    <spring.version>4.0.1.RELEASE</spring.version>
    <swf.version>2.4.0.RELEASE</swf.version>
  </properties>
  <dependencies>
       <dependency>
            <groupId>javax</groupId>
            <artifactId>javaee-web-api</artifactId>
            <version>7.0</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>junit</groupId>
      <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
      <version>3.8.1</version>
      <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>      
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
      <version>${spring.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-web</artifactId>
      <version>${spring.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
      <version>${spring.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework.webflow</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-webflow</artifactId>
      <version>${swf.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>jstl</groupId>
        <artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
        <version>1.2</version>
    </dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.sun.facelets</groupId>
    <artifactId>jsf-facelets</artifactId>
    <version>1.1.14</version>
</dependency>

<dependency>
    <groupId>javax.faces</groupId>
    <artifactId>javax.faces-api</artifactId>
    <version>2.2</version>
</dependency>

  </dependencies>
  <build>
    <finalName>WebFlowDemo2</finalName>
  </build>
</project>

Stack Trace

SEVERE: Critical error during deployment: 
com.sun.faces.config.ConfigurationException: CONFIGURATION FAILED! null
    at com.sun.faces.config.ConfigManager.initialize(ConfigManager.java:449)
    at com.sun.faces.config.ConfigureListener.contextInitialized(ConfigureListener.java:214)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:5017)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5531)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1574)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1564)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
    at com.sun.faces.config.processor.FaceletTaglibConfigProcessor.processTagLibrary(FaceletTaglibConfigProcessor.java:326)
    at com.sun.faces.config.processor.FaceletTaglibConfigProcessor.process(FaceletTaglibConfigProcessor.java:270)
    at com.sun.faces.config.ConfigManager.initialize(ConfigManager.java:437)
    ... 10 more

Sep 09, 2015 3:26:09 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext listenerStart
SEVERE: Exception sending context initialized event to listener instance of class com.sun.faces.config.ConfigureListener
java.lang.RuntimeException: com.sun.faces.config.ConfigurationException: CONFIGURATION FAILED! null
    at com.sun.faces.config.ConfigureListener.contextInitialized(ConfigureListener.java:273)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:5017)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5531)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1574)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1564)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: com.sun.faces.config.ConfigurationException: CONFIGURATION FAILED! null
    at com.sun.faces.config.ConfigManager.initialize(ConfigManager.java:449)
    at com.sun.faces.config.ConfigureListener.contextInitialized(ConfigureListener.java:214)
    ... 9 more
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
    at com.sun.faces.config.processor.FaceletTaglibConfigProcessor.processTagLibrary(FaceletTaglibConfigProcessor.java:326)
    at com.sun.faces.config.processor.FaceletTaglibConfigProcessor.process(FaceletTaglibConfigProcessor.java:270)
    at com.sun.faces.config.ConfigManager.initialize(ConfigManager.java:437)
    ... 10 more

Sep 09, 2015 3:26:09 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext startInternal
SEVERE: One or more listeners failed to start. Full details will be found in the appropriate container log file
Sep 09, 2015 3:26:09 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext startInternal
SEVERE: Context [/JSF_Webflow] startup failed due to previous errors
Sep 09, 2015 3:26:09 PM javax.faces.FactoryFinder$FactoryManager getFactory
SEVERE: Application was not properly initialized at startup, could not find Factory: javax.faces.application.ApplicationFactory. Attempting to find backup.
Sep 09, 2015 3:26:09 PM com.sun.faces.config.ConfigureListener contextDestroyed
SEVERE: Unexpected exception when attempting to tear down the Mojarra runtime
java.lang.IllegalStateException: Could not find backup for factory javax.faces.application.ApplicationFactory. 
    at javax.faces.FactoryFinder$FactoryManager.getFactory(FactoryFinder.java:1135)
    at javax.faces.FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.java:379)
    at com.sun.faces.config.InitFacesContext.getApplication(InitFacesContext.java:140)
    at com.sun.faces.config.ConfigureListener.contextDestroyed(ConfigureListener.java:310)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStop(StandardContext.java:5064)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.stopInternal(StandardContext.java:5726)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.stop(LifecycleBase.java:232)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:160)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1574)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1564)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

What causes this exception ? What is the reason and what will be a solution ?

Answer 1

This is not right.

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.sun.facelets</groupId>
    <artifactId>jsf-facelets</artifactId>
    <version>1.1.14</version>
</dependency>

<dependency>
    <groupId>javax.faces</groupId>
    <artifactId>javax.faces-api</artifactId>
    <version>2.2</version>
</dependency>

Facelets 1.x is for JSF 1.x. Since JSF 2.0, Facelets is integrated as part of standard JSF API. In effects, you end up with two different Facelets versions in runtime classpath, incompatible with each other and thus causing classpath conflicts in all colors related to processing Facelets files.

Get rid of Facelets 1.x. You do not need it in JSF 2.x.

---

Unrelated to the concrete problem, the combination Spring WebFlow and JSF 2.2 is strange as JSF 2.2 already ships with builtin flow scope support. You'd usually only expect to see Spring WebFlow in combination with JSF 2.0/2.1 which lacks the flow scope feature. And then I'm not talking about Spring MVC there in your pom. It looks much like you have no idea what JSF is and what it is to be used for. This is then food for read: Using JSF as view technology of Spring MVC .