EJB Exception that does not leave

Question

I'm writing an application with JSF, EJB and JPA.

I have an authenticateUser method in one of my session beans that returns the authenticated User object when the login is successful.

The problem is after running my application several times (no rule for the number of times), I face an EJB exception that says "model.User cannot be cast to model.User"! WHY? This is very confusing. When this EJBException occurs the only way I can run my application again is to restart my NetBeans. Otherwise, no matter how hard I try to change my code it won't work and the same error is displayed.

What confuses me is that this does not happen all the time. I'm able to login many times successfully without facing this. But when it comes, it lingers and does not leave unless I restart. Has anyone had this problem before and if so, is there something I'm doing wrong? It's a bit difficult to trace because my code works correctly most of the time and the error message looks a bit stupid.

This is my authenticateUser method. Please let me know if you need any other code from my project:

public boolean authenticateUser() {
        isUserAuthenticated = false;
        isAdmin = false;
        User foundUser = userEJB.authenticateUser(username, password);
        if (foundUser != null) {
            //User foundUser = (User) result.get(0);
            if (foundUser.getUsername().equalsIgnoreCase(username) && foundUser.getPassword().equals(password)) {
                if (foundUser.getBanned()) {
                    isBanned = true;
                    this.setLblUserAuthenticated("Unfortunately you are banned from entering the system.");

                } else {
                    isUserAuthenticated = true;
                    this.currentUser = foundUser;
                    this.currentUser.setFirstname(foundUser.getFirstname());
                    if (foundUser.getType().equals("admin")) {
                        isAdmin = true;
                    }
                    ExternalContext externalContext = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getExternalContext();
                    Map<String, Object> sessionMap = externalContext.getSessionMap();
                    sessionMap.put("user", currentUser);
                    return true;
                }

            } else if (foundUser.getUsername().equalsIgnoreCase(username) && !foundUser.getPassword().equals(password)) {
                this.setLblUserAuthenticated("Wrong password.");

                return false;
            }
        } else {
            this.setLblUserAuthenticated("No such user found");
            return false;
        }
        return false;
    }

This is the stack trace I get.

WARNING: EJB5184:A system exception occurred during an invocation on EJB UserEJB, method: public model.User bean.UserEJB.authenticateUser(java.lang.String,java.lang.String)
WARNING: javax.ejb.EJBException
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.processSystemException(BaseContainer.java:5215)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.completeNewTx(BaseContainer.java:5113)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.postInvokeTx(BaseContainer.java:4915)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.postInvoke(BaseContainer.java:2045)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.postInvoke(BaseContainer.java:1994)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.EJBLocalObjectInvocationHandler.invoke(EJBLocalObjectInvocationHandler.java:222)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.EJBLocalObjectInvocationHandlerDelegate.invoke(EJBLocalObjectInvocationHandlerDelegate.java:88)
    at $Proxy631.authenticateUser(Unknown Source)
    at bean.__EJB31_Generated__UserEJB__Intf____Bean__.authenticateUser(Unknown Source)
    at view.LoginManager.authenticateUser(LoginManager.java:37)
    at view.LoginManager$Proxy$_$$_WeldClientProxy.authenticateUser(LoginManager$Proxy$_$$_WeldClientProxy.java)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
    at com.sun.el.parser.AstValue.invoke(AstValue.java:254)
    at com.sun.el.MethodExpressionImpl.invoke(MethodExpressionImpl.java:302)
    at org.jboss.weld.util.el.ForwardingMethodExpression.invoke(ForwardingMethodExpression.java:39)
    at org.jboss.weld.el.WeldMethodExpression.invoke(WeldMethodExpression.java:50)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.el.TagMethodExpression.invoke(TagMethodExpression.java:105)
    at javax.faces.component.MethodBindingMethodExpressionAdapter.invoke(MethodBindingMethodExpressionAdapter.java:88)
    at com.sun.faces.application.ActionListenerImpl.processAction(ActionListenerImpl.java:102)
    at javax.faces.component.UICommand.broadcast(UICommand.java:315)
    at javax.faces.component.UIData.broadcast(UIData.java:1093)
    at javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.broadcastEvents(UIViewRoot.java:794)
    at javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.processApplication(UIViewRoot.java:1259)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.InvokeApplicationPhase.execute(InvokeApplicationPhase.java:81)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.Phase.doPhase(Phase.java:101)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.execute(LifecycleImpl.java:118)
    at javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:593)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.service(StandardWrapper.java:1542)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:281)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:175)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.doInvoke(StandardPipeline.java:655)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:595)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:161)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.doService(CoyoteAdapter.java:331)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:231)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ContainerMapper$AdapterCallable.call(ContainerMapper.java:317)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ContainerMapper.service(ContainerMapper.java:195)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.invokeAdapter(ProcessorTask.java:849)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.doProcess(ProcessorTask.java:746)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.process(ProcessorTask.java:1045)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.DefaultProtocolFilter.execute(DefaultProtocolFilter.java:228)
    at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.executeProtocolFilter(DefaultProtocolChain.java:137)
    at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.execute(DefaultProtocolChain.java:104)
    at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.execute(DefaultProtocolChain.java:90)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.HttpProtocolChain.execute(HttpProtocolChain.java:79)
    at com.sun.grizzly.ProtocolChainContextTask.doCall(ProtocolChainContextTask.java:54)
    at com.sun.grizzly.SelectionKeyContextTask.call(SelectionKeyContextTask.java:59)
    at com.sun.grizzly.ContextTask.run(ContextTask.java:71)
    at com.sun.grizzly.util.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.doWork(AbstractThreadPool.java:532)
    at com.sun.grizzly.util.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.run(AbstractThreadPool.java:513)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassCastException: model.User cannot be cast to model.User
    at bean.UserEJB.authenticateUser(UserEJB.java:83)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
    at org.glassfish.ejb.security.application.EJBSecurityManager.runMethod(EJBSecurityManager.java:1052)
    at org.glassfish.ejb.security.application.EJBSecurityManager.invoke(EJBSecurityManager.java:1124)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.invokeBeanMethod(BaseContainer.java:5388)
    at com.sun.ejb.EjbInvocation.invokeBeanMethod(EjbInvocation.java:619)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.AroundInvokeChainImpl.invokeNext(InterceptorManager.java:800)
    at com.sun.ejb.EjbInvocation.proceed(EjbInvocation.java:571)
    at org.jboss.weld.ejb.SessionBeanInterceptor.aroundInvoke(SessionBeanInterceptor.java:42)
    at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor830.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.AroundInvokeInterceptor.intercept(InterceptorManager.java:861)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.AroundInvokeChainImpl.invokeNext(InterceptorManager.java:800)
    at com.sun.ejb.EjbInvocation.proceed(EjbInvocation.java:571)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.SystemInterceptorProxy.doAround(SystemInterceptorProxy.java:162)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.SystemInterceptorProxy.aroundInvoke(SystemInterceptorProxy.java:144)
    at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor829.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.AroundInvokeInterceptor.intercept(InterceptorManager.java:861)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.AroundInvokeChainImpl.invokeNext(InterceptorManager.java:800)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.InterceptorManager.intercept(InterceptorManager.java:370)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.__intercept(BaseContainer.java:5360)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.intercept(BaseContainer.java:5348)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.EJBLocalObjectInvocationHandler.invoke(EJBLocalObjectInvocationHandler.java:214)
    ... 48 more

WARNING: #{loginManager.authenticateUser}: javax.ejb.EJBException
javax.faces.FacesException: #{loginManager.authenticateUser}: javax.ejb.EJBException
    at com.sun.faces.application.ActionListenerImpl.processAction(ActionListenerImpl.java:118)
    at javax.faces.component.UICommand.broadcast(UICommand.java:315)
    at javax.faces.component.UIData.broadcast(UIData.java:1093)
    at javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.broadcastEvents(UIViewRoot.java:794)
    at javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.processApplication(UIViewRoot.java:1259)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.InvokeApplicationPhase.execute(InvokeApplicationPhase.java:81)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.Phase.doPhase(Phase.java:101)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.execute(LifecycleImpl.java:118)
    at javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:593)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.service(StandardWrapper.java:1542)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:281)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:175)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.doInvoke(StandardPipeline.java:655)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:595)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:161)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.doService(CoyoteAdapter.java:331)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:231)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ContainerMapper$AdapterCallable.call(ContainerMapper.java:317)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ContainerMapper.service(ContainerMapper.java:195)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.invokeAdapter(ProcessorTask.java:849)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.doProcess(ProcessorTask.java:746)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.process(ProcessorTask.java:1045)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.DefaultProtocolFilter.execute(DefaultProtocolFilter.java:228)
    at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.executeProtocolFilter(DefaultProtocolChain.java:137)
    at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.execute(DefaultProtocolChain.java:104)
    at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.execute(DefaultProtocolChain.java:90)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.HttpProtocolChain.execute(HttpProtocolChain.java:79)
    at com.sun.grizzly.ProtocolChainContextTask.doCall(ProtocolChainContextTask.java:54)
    at com.sun.grizzly.SelectionKeyContextTask.call(SelectionKeyContextTask.java:59)
    at com.sun.grizzly.ContextTask.run(ContextTask.java:71)
    at com.sun.grizzly.util.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.doWork(AbstractThreadPool.java:532)
    at com.sun.grizzly.util.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.run(AbstractThreadPool.java:513)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722)
Caused by: javax.faces.el.EvaluationException: javax.ejb.EJBException
    at javax.faces.component.MethodBindingMethodExpressionAdapter.invoke(MethodBindingMethodExpressionAdapter.java:102)
    at com.sun.faces.application.ActionListenerImpl.processAction(ActionListenerImpl.java:102)
    ... 32 more
Caused by: javax.ejb.EJBException
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.processSystemException(BaseContainer.java:5215)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.completeNewTx(BaseContainer.java:5113)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.postInvokeTx(BaseContainer.java:4915)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.postInvoke(BaseContainer.java:2045)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.postInvoke(BaseContainer.java:1994)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.EJBLocalObjectInvocationHandler.invoke(EJBLocalObjectInvocationHandler.java:222)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.EJBLocalObjectInvocationHandlerDelegate.invoke(EJBLocalObjectInvocationHandlerDelegate.java:88)
    at $Proxy631.authenticateUser(Unknown Source)
    at bean.__EJB31_Generated__UserEJB__Intf____Bean__.authenticateUser(Unknown Source)
    at view.LoginManager.authenticateUser(LoginManager.java:37)
    at view.LoginManager$Proxy$_$$_WeldClientProxy.authenticateUser(LoginManager$Proxy$_$$_WeldClientProxy.java)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
    at com.sun.el.parser.AstValue.invoke(AstValue.java:254)
    at com.sun.el.MethodExpressionImpl.invoke(MethodExpressionImpl.java:302)
    at org.jboss.weld.util.el.ForwardingMethodExpression.invoke(ForwardingMethodExpression.java:39)
    at org.jboss.weld.el.WeldMethodExpression.invoke(WeldMethodExpression.java:50)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.el.TagMethodExpression.invoke(TagMethodExpression.java:105)
    at javax.faces.component.MethodBindingMethodExpressionAdapter.invoke(MethodBindingMethodExpressionAdapter.java:88)
    ... 33 more
Caused by: java.lang.ClassCastException: model.User cannot be cast to model.User
    at bean.UserEJB.authenticateUser(UserEJB.java:83)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
    at org.glassfish.ejb.security.application.EJBSecurityManager.runMethod(EJBSecurityManager.java:1052)
    at org.glassfish.ejb.security.application.EJBSecurityManager.invoke(EJBSecurityManager.java:1124)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.invokeBeanMethod(BaseContainer.java:5388)
    at com.sun.ejb.EjbInvocation.invokeBeanMethod(EjbInvocation.java:619)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.AroundInvokeChainImpl.invokeNext(InterceptorManager.java:800)
    at com.sun.ejb.EjbInvocation.proceed(EjbInvocation.java:571)
    at org.jboss.weld.ejb.SessionBeanInterceptor.aroundInvoke(SessionBeanInterceptor.java:42)
    at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor830.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.AroundInvokeInterceptor.intercept(InterceptorManager.java:861)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.AroundInvokeChainImpl.invokeNext(InterceptorManager.java:800)
    at com.sun.ejb.EjbInvocation.proceed(EjbInvocation.java:571)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.SystemInterceptorProxy.doAround(SystemInterceptorProxy.java:162)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.SystemInterceptorProxy.aroundInvoke(SystemInterceptorProxy.java:144)
    at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor829.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.AroundInvokeInterceptor.intercept(InterceptorManager.java:861)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.AroundInvokeChainImpl.invokeNext(InterceptorManager.java:800)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.InterceptorManager.intercept(InterceptorManager.java:370)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.__intercept(BaseContainer.java:5360)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.intercept(BaseContainer.java:5348)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.EJBLocalObjectInvocationHandler.invoke(EJBLocalObjectInvocationHandler.java:214)
    ... 48 more

Answer 1

It is class loading strategies of your Application Server. Which Application server you use? Reference class loading strategies of your application server.

Answer 2

I may not know exactly what happened here but I got rid of the problem this way. The ClassCastException occurred because every time I logged in, for unknown reasons, two instances of my user entity was invoked. So what I did was that I merged all the methods that dealt with users in my user controller class. I don't know why by authenticateUser method, two objects where tryong to be casted but I guess we just have to use one controller invoking entities for our application.