HTTP Status 500 - Error instantiating servlet class org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet

Question

Please don't flag this post as a duplicate one because I didn't find any good resource in the relevant question.

Technologies used :- Spring MVC 4.3.3.RELEASE Gradle 3.1 Tomcat 9.0

I created a dynamic web project and when I run it, I get the following error

HTTP Status 500 - Error instantiating servlet class org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet

type Exception report

message Error instantiating servlet class org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet

description The server encountered an internal error that prevented it from fulfilling this request.

exception

javax.servlet.ServletException: Error instantiating servlet class org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet
    org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:522)
    org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:79)
    org.apache.catalina.valves.AbstractAccessLogValve.invoke(AbstractAccessLogValve.java:620)
    org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:349)
    org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.service(Http11Processor.java:1102)
    org.apache.coyote.AbstractProcessorLight.process(AbstractProcessorLight.java:66)
    org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$ConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:788)
    org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(NioEndpoint.java:1485)
    java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
    java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
    org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61)
    java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
root cause

java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet
    org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoaderBase.loadClass(WebappClassLoaderBase.java:1299)
    org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoaderBase.loadClass(WebappClassLoaderBase.java:1133)
    org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:522)
    org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:79)
    org.apache.catalina.valves.AbstractAccessLogValve.invoke(AbstractAccessLogValve.java:620)
    org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:349)
    org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.service(Http11Processor.java:1102)
    org.apache.coyote.AbstractProcessorLight.process(AbstractProcessorLight.java:66)
    org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$ConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:788)
    org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(NioEndpoint.java:1485)
    java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
    java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
    org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61)
    java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)

It is saying that it could not find the dispatcher servlet class but when I ctrl + click the dispatcher servlet path in the spring-dispatcher-servlet , It lands to the spring Dispatcher Servlet class. I could not get the root cause of this problem.

Here are my web.xml and spring-dispatcher-servlet.xml files

web.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee" xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_3_1.xsd" id="WebApp_ID" version="3.1">
  <display-name>MenuOrder</display-name>

  <welcome-file-list>
    <welcome-file>index.jsp</welcome-file>
  </welcome-file-list>

  <servlet>
    <servlet-name>spring-dispatcher</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>
        org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet
    </servlet-class>
  </servlet>

  <servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>spring-dispatcher</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/</url-pattern>
  </servlet-mapping>

</web>

spring-dispatcher-servlet.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans 
    http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.5.xsd">

    <bean id = "HandlerMapping" class = "org.springframework.web.servlet.handler.BeanNameUrlHandlerMapping"/>

    <bean id = "viewResolver" 
        class = "org.springframework.web.servlet.view.InternalResourceViewResolver">
        <property name = "prefix">
            <value>/WEB-INF/</value>
        </property>

        <property name = "sufix">
            <value>.jsp</value>
        </property>
        </bean>

</beans>

Project directory

My gradle.build file

allprojects{
apply plugin: 'java'
apply plugin: 'eclipse-wtp'
group = 'com'
version = '0.0.1-SNAPSHOT'
}

subprojects{
    tasks.withType(JavaCompile){
    options.encoding = 'UTF-8'
    }
}



allprojects {
    task hello { task -> println "I'm $task.project.name" }
}


allprojects{

repositories {
    mavenLocal()
    jcenter()
    mavenCentral()

}


    dependencies {

        // The production code uses the SLF4J logging API at compile time
    //    compile 'org.slf4j:slf4j-api:1.7.21'


        //spring web
        compile group: 'org.springframework', name: 'spring-webmvc', version: '4.3.3.RELEASE'

        // spring core
        compile group: 'org.springframework', name: 'spring-core', version: '4.3.3.RELEASE'

        // spring context support
        compile group: 'org.springframework', name: 'spring-context-support', version: '4.3.3.RELEASE'


        // ORM dependencies

        // spring jpa
        compile group: 'org.springframework.data', name: 'spring-data-jpa', version: '1.10.4.RELEASE'

        // hibernate-entity manager
        compile group: 'org.hibernate', name: 'hibernate-entitymanager', version: '5.2.2.Final'

        // End of ORM dependencies

        // postgres connector
        compile group: 'org.postgresql', name: 'postgresql', version: '9.4-1200-jdbc41'

        // Junit
        compile group: 'junit', name: 'junit', version: '4.12'

        // servlet
        compile group: 'javax.servlet', name: 'javax.servlet-api', version: '4.0.0-b01'

        compile group: 'javax.el', name: 'javax.el-api', version: '2.2.1'

        compile group: 'org.springframework', name: 'spring', version: '3.2.0.RC1'

        }
        }

The whole project code can be found in https://github.com/viper-pranish/menu-order

Dependencies inside the project structure

I was going to say either you havent added the required libraries to your war (show us the contents of WEB-INF/lib) — Narrim, Oct 26 '16 at 07:59
For starter remove the `org.springframework:spring` dependency... You are mixing Spring Versions doing this, never mix versions of a framework. Next to that there is no such thing a `spring-version` so not sure which `spring-core` version you expect but that one simply doesn't exists. Your final error is the fact you are only applying the `java` plugin whereas you want a web application you need to add the `war` plugin as well. — M. Deinum, Oct 26 '16 at 08:11
@M.Deinum I have added `war` and `jetty` plugin in my sub project's gradle file. And `spring-version` is a variable that I had set in `gradle.properties` file. — viper, Oct 26 '16 at 08:19
What you had here wasn't going to work as you used a literal (single quotes not double quotes so it wouldn't be replaced). Which makes me wonder if this is the actual code you are using or a modified version. Long story short the dependencies simply isn't there that is what the exception is telling you. Next to that as stated in my previous comment you are mixing versions of a framework never do that. — M. Deinum, Oct 26 '16 at 08:22
I can see the dependencies being listed in the project. I have update the post please refer to the last image in the post. And as you said I have removed `spring` dependency. But still I am having the same error. — viper, Oct 26 '16 at 08:28

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 10 '17 at 15:14

2

you can simply add tag under tag of web.xml, It will work.

edited Jan 10 '17 at 15:14

Jose Rodriguez

9,753
13
36
52

answered Jan 10 '17 at 11:31

Abhishek Adityan

21
2

4

Welcome to Stack Overflow! If you have code to share with us, please don't post it as image. You can add it to your post and [format it as code](http://stackoverflow.com/editing-help#code). – FelixSFD Jan 10 '17 at 12:03

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 26 '16 at 08:46

1

as @Denium pointed out you should not mix the spring versions

remove compile group: 'org.springframework', name: 'spring', version: '3.2.0.RC1' from gradle.build and add

apply plugin: 'war'

and you may to provide your controller url mapping as well

<bean name="/index"
            class="com.mkyong.common.controller.IndexController" />

answered Oct 26 '16 at 08:46

kuhajeyan

10,727
10
46
71

Did as you told but still I am having the same issue. Its not just this gradle project that is facing error. I created a maven project too and it also gave me the same error. – viper Oct 26 '16 at 09:17
@viper what do you see in the console stack trace – kuhajeyan Oct 26 '16 at 09:18

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 11 '19 at 11:22

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. to fix this:- 1)Right-click on project 2)Click on Properties 3)Click on Deployment Assembly Tab 4)Click Add 5)Click on Java Build Path Entries 6)Click on Maven Dependencies 7)Click Finish 8)Redeploy Spring MVC application to Tomcat again 9)Restart Tomcat

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 19 '17 at 17:39

0

Make sure that you have added all the required Spring jars at both places: in build path as well as WEB-INF/lib folder

answered Aug 19 '17 at 17:39

Shobhit Mittal

21
7

Tapan · Answer 5 · 2018-11-12T21:45:32.487

<dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
            <version>4.1.7.RELEASE</version>
            <exclusions>
                <exclusion>
                    <artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
                    <groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
                </exclusion>
            </exclusions>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
            <artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
            <version>1.2</version>
        </dependency>


        <dependency>
            <groupId>junit</groupId>
            <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
            <version>4.12</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>jcl-over-slf4j</artifactId>
            <version>1.7.12</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-security-web</artifactId>
            <version>4.0.2.RELEASE</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-security-config</artifactId>
            <version>4.0.2.RELEASE</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-security-taglibs</artifactId>
            <version>4.0.2.RELEASE</version>
        </dependency>
        <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.springframework/spring-web -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-web</artifactId>
            <version>4.1.7.RELEASE</version>
        </dependency>

    </dependencies>

Add slf4j dependencies. The problem will resolve. My pom.xml dependencies it resolved the problem.
After adding slf4j if the problem is not resolved, then add Maven Dependency in Deployment Assembly.

Welcome to SO, Tapan! Code-only answers are discouraged here, as they provide no insight into how the problem is solved. Please update your solution with an explanation of how your code solves the problem at hand. — Joel, Nov 11 '18 at 18:05
DispatcherServlet has import { import org.apache.commons.logging.Log; import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory}; When DispactehrServlet class load its need log jar.if we check the statck trace of error AuthenticatorBase.class at line number 522 its start logging ,so its need a logging isnstance same for other one. — Tapan, Nov 12 '18 at 19:17
After adding slf4j if the problem is not resolved, then add Maven Dependency in Deployment Assembly. — Tapan, Nov 12 '18 at 21:44

HTTP Status 500 - Error instantiating servlet class org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet

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