Issue - java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet

Question

I am trying to get simple spring application up and running posted at Spring Example.

I am getting

SEVERE: Servlet /MavenWeb threw load() exception java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1676)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1521)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.DefaultInstanceManager.loadClass(DefaultInstanceManager.java:415)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.DefaultInstanceManager.loadClassMaybePrivileged(DefaultInstanceManager.java:397)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.DefaultInstanceManager.newInstance(DefaultInstanceManager.java:118)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.loadServlet(StandardWrapper.java:1073)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.load(StandardWrapper.java:1021)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.loadOnStartup(StandardContext.java:4957)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext$3.call(StandardContext.java:5284)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext$3.call(StandardContext.java:5279)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:303)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:138)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:886)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:908)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)

I have spring.jar, spring-webmvc.jar and all other required jars in place and so am not sure why am getting this error.

Here is my web.xml file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee" xmlns:web="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd" xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd" id="WebApp_ID" version="2.5">
  <display-name>Spring3-Hibernate</display-name>
  <welcome-file-list>
    <welcome-file>list.html</welcome-file>
  </welcome-file-list>
  <servlet>
    <servlet-name>spring</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet</servlet-class>
    <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
  </servlet>
  <servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>spring</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/</url-pattern>
  </servlet-mapping>
</web-app>

and my Spring-servlet.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:aop="http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop"
    xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
    xmlns:jee="http://www.springframework.org/schema/jee" xmlns:lang="http://www.springframework.org/schema/lang"
    xmlns:p="http://www.springframework.org/schema/p" xmlns:tx="http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx"
    xmlns:util="http://www.springframework.org/schema/util"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/context http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/jee http://www.springframework.org/schema/jee/spring-jee.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/lang http://www.springframework.org/schema/lang/spring-lang.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx/spring-tx.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/util http://www.springframework.org/schema/util/spring-util.xsd">

    <context:annotation-config />
    <context:component-scan base-package="net.viralpatel.contact" />

    <bean id="jspViewResolver"
        class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.InternalResourceViewResolver">
        <property name="viewClass"
            value="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.JstlView" />
        <property name="prefix" value="/WEB-INF/jsp/" />
        <property name="suffix" value=".jsp" />
    </bean>

    <bean id="messageSource"
        class="org.springframework.context.support.ReLoadableBundleMessageSource">
        <property name="basename" value="classpath:messages" />
        <property name="defaultEncoding" value="UTF-8" />
    </bean>

    <bean id="propertyConfigurer"
        class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer"
        p:location="/WEB-INF/jdbc.properties" />

    <bean id="dataSource" class="org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource"
        destroy-method="close" p:driverClassName="${jdbc.driverClassName}"
        p:url="${jdbc.databaseurl}" p:username="${jdbc.username}" p:password="${jdbc.password}" />

    <bean id="sessionFactory"
        class="org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.LocalSessionFactoryBean">
        <property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource" />
        <property name="configLocation">
            <value>classpath:hibernate.cfg.xml</value>
        </property>
        <property name="configurationClass">
            <value>org.hibernate.cfg.AnnotationConfiguration</value>
        </property>
        <property name="hibernateProperties">
            <props>
                <prop key="hibernate.dialect">${jdbc.dialect}</prop>
                <prop key="hibernate.show_sql">true</prop>
            </props>
        </property>
    </bean>

    <tx:annotation-driven />
    <bean id="transactionManager"
        class="org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.HibernateTransactionManager">
        <property name="sessionFactory" ref="sessionFactory" />
    </bean>

</beans>

I am not sure as to what is going wrong here and would appreciate any help or suggestions. I have gone through springsource forums and other similar questions on SO and still it is not working. Any suggestions as to what might be the road block here?

UPDATES:

DispatcherServlet Error is gone but now am getting another error

Stacktrace:

SEVERE: StandardWrapper.Throwable
java.lang.NoSuchFieldError: APPLICATION_CONTEXT_ID_PREFIX
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.createWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:430)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.createWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:458)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.initWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:339)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.initServletBean(FrameworkServlet.java:306)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.HttpServletBean.init(HttpServletBean.java:127)
    at javax.servlet.GenericServlet.init(GenericServlet.java:160)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.initServlet(StandardWrapper.java:1201)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.loadServlet(StandardWrapper.java:1114)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.load(StandardWrapper.java:1021)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.loadOnStartup(StandardContext.java:4957)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext$3.call(StandardContext.java:5284)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext$3.call(StandardContext.java:5279)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:303)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:138)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:886)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:908)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)
Jul 18, 2011 11:25:09 AM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext loadOnStartup
SEVERE: Servlet /MavenWeb threw load() exception
java.lang.NoSuchFieldError: APPLICATION_CONTEXT_ID_PREFIX
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.createWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:430)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.createWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:458)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.initWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:339)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.initServletBean(FrameworkServlet.java:306)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.HttpServletBean.init(HttpServletBean.java:127)
    at javax.servlet.GenericServlet.init(GenericServlet.java:160)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.initServlet(StandardWrapper.java:1201)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.loadServlet(StandardWrapper.java:1114)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.load(StandardWrapper.java:1021)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.loadOnStartup(StandardContext.java:4957)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext$3.call(StandardContext.java:5284)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext$3.call(StandardContext.java:5279)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:303)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:138)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:886)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:908)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)

Similar Question for Update Portion

Follow up Question on @Autowiring not working issue

Answer 1

CNF exception should always make you think "I'm missing a JAR."

In this case, you want the Spring 3.0.5 JAR named org.springframework.web.servlet-3.0.5.RELEASE.jar . it contains the DispatcherServlet .

If you think they're in your CLASSPATH, perhaps you don't understand how to set it properly.

You should not have a CLASSPATH environment variable.

The Spring JARs and all their dependencies should be in your WEB-INF/lib.

Answer 2

If you're using Maven, you need this dependency:

<dependency>
   <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
   <artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
   <!-- Set this to the respective version -->
   <version>3.0.5.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>

Answer 3

I had a similar problem... I asume that the spring-webmvc is a runtime dependency. The project can be compiled, but you get the runtime exception.

You can add it as runtime dependency in your pom, and I think it should work... (As compile time dependency it works, not sure if you want to add the dependency using the "compile" scope)

Answer 4

This is a very old question

According to an article I read "Most probably the necessary Spring MVC related jar files are not loaded and deployed on tomcat startup. But note: these files are in your classpath and hence you are not getting any error in Eclipse IDE during development time. Happens only during runtime."

This is how I resolved mine:

1. Right Click on Project.
2. Choose Properties.
3. Click Deployment Assembly.
4. Click on Add.
5. Select "Java Build Path Entries"
6. Select Maven Dependencies and finish.

Clean the project and you are good to go.

Answer 5

Initially I was having the same error even though I configured the build path by adding external jars(In Eclipse Indigo). Later I copied the jar files directly to web-inf/lib and the problem disappeared.