Could not obtain JSP 2.1 ExpressionFactory :jsp EL

Question

I have both GWT 2.5.1, Spring 3.2 and Tiles in a (Maven) Project. Everything works fine as long as I start the project with something like mvn jetty:run-war.

As soon as I try to start the project with mvn gwt:run into DevMode. It throws the following error message:

2013-10-07 14:49:31,676 [main] WARN  org.springframework.web.servlet.view.tiles3.TilesConfigurer - Could not obtain JSP 2.1 ExpressionFactory

... and this:

java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: javax.servlet.jsp.JspFactory.getJspApplicationContext(Ljavax/servlet/ServletContext;)Ljavax/servlet/jsp/JspApplicationContext;
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.view.tiles3.TilesConfigurer$TilesElActivator.createEvaluator(TilesConfigurer.java:395)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.view.tiles3.TilesConfigurer$SpringTilesContainerFactory.createELEvaluator(TilesConfigurer.java:357)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.view.tiles3.TilesConfigurer$SpringTilesContainerFactory.createAttributeEvaluatorFactory(TilesConfigurer.java:352)
    at org.apache.tiles.factory.BasicTilesContainerFactory.createContainer(BasicTilesContainerFactory.java:88)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.view.tiles3.TilesConfigurer$SpringTilesContainerFactory.createContainer(TilesConfigurer.java:277)
    at org.apache.tiles.startup.AbstractTilesInitializer.createContainer(AbstractTilesInitializer.java:114)
    at org.apache.tiles.startup.AbstractTilesInitializer.initialize(AbstractTilesInitializer.java:64)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.view.tiles3.TilesConfigurer.afterPropertiesSet(TilesConfigurer.java:252)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeInitMethods(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1541)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1479)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:521)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:458)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:295)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:223)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:292)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:194)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:628)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:932)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:479)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.configureAndRefreshWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:651)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.createWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:599)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.createWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:665)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.initWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:518)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.initServletBean(FrameworkServlet.java:459)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.HttpServletBean.init(HttpServletBean.java:136)
    at javax.servlet.GenericServlet.init(GenericServlet.java:241)
    at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.ServletHolder.initServlet(ServletHolder.java:433)
    at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.ServletHolder.doStart(ServletHolder.java:256)
    at org.mortbay.component.AbstractLifeCycle.start(AbstractLifeCycle.java:39)
    at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler.initialize(ServletHandler.java:616)
    at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.Context.startContext(Context.java:140)
    at org.mortbay.jetty.webapp.WebAppContext.startContext(WebAppContext.java:1220)
    at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.ContextHandler.doStart(ContextHandler.java:513)
    at org.mortbay.jetty.webapp.WebAppContext.doStart(WebAppContext.java:448)
    at com.google.gwt.dev.shell.jetty.JettyLauncher$WebAppContextWithReload.doStart(JettyLauncher.java:468)
    at org.mortbay.component.AbstractLifeCycle.start(AbstractLifeCycle.java:39)
    at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.HandlerWrapper.doStart(HandlerWrapper.java:130)
    at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.RequestLogHandler.doStart(RequestLogHandler.java:115)
    at org.mortbay.component.AbstractLifeCycle.start(AbstractLifeCycle.java:39)
    at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.HandlerWrapper.doStart(HandlerWrapper.java:130)
    at org.mortbay.jetty.Server.doStart(Server.java:222)
    at org.mortbay.component.AbstractLifeCycle.start(AbstractLifeCycle.java:39)
    at com.google.gwt.dev.shell.jetty.JettyLauncher.start(JettyLauncher.java:672)
    at com.google.gwt.dev.DevMode.doStartUpServer(DevMode.java:509)
    at com.google.gwt.dev.DevModeBase.startUp(DevModeBase.java:1093)
    at com.google.gwt.dev.DevModeBase.run(DevModeBase.java:836)
    at com.google.gwt.dev.DevMode.main(DevMode.java:311)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
    at com.intellij.rt.execution.application.AppMain.main(AppMain.java:120)

Please find my web.xml below:

<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="myclient_mdb" version="2.5">
    <display-name>MyClient Memberdatabase</display-name>

    <!--Configuration-->
    <context-param>
        <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
        <param-value>/WEB-INF/spring-security.xml, /WEB-INF/applicationContext.xml</param-value>
    </context-param>

    <filter>
        <filter-name>hibernateFilter</filter-name>
        <filter-class>org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.support.OpenSessionInViewFilter</filter-class>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>sessionFactoryBeanName</param-name>
            <param-value>hibernateSessionFactory</param-value>
        </init-param>
    </filter>

    <filter>
        <filter-name>springSecurityFilterChain</filter-name>
        <filter-class>org.springframework.web.filter.DelegatingFilterProxy</filter-class>
    </filter>

    <!--Spring Security Filter-->
    <filter-mapping>
        <filter-name>hibernateFilter</filter-name>
        <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
    </filter-mapping>

    <filter-mapping>
        <filter-name>springSecurityFilterChain</filter-name>
        <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
    </filter-mapping>

    <!--Context Loader-->
    <listener>
        <listener-class>org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener</listener-class>
    </listener>

    <!-- Servlets -->
    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>springGwtRemoteServiceServlet</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>org.spring4gwt.server.SpringGwtRemoteServiceServlet</servlet-class>
    </servlet>

    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>mvc-dispatcher</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet</servlet-class>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
            <param-value>/WEB-INF/applicationContext.xml</param-value>
        </init-param>
        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>


    <!-- Mapping -->
    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>mvc-dispatcher</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/member/*</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>springGwtRemoteServiceServlet</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/ui/springGwtServices/*</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>mvc-dispatcher</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/account.html</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>mvc-dispatcher</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/login.html</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>mvc-dispatcher</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/logout.html</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>mvc-dispatcher</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/loginfailed.html</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>


    <!-- Default page to serve -->
  <welcome-file-list>
    <welcome-file>/login.html</welcome-file>
  </welcome-file-list>

</web-app>

Please find my pom.xml below:

<?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/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">

    <!-- POM file generated with GWT webAppCreator -->
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>com.mycompany.myclient.mdb</groupId>
    <artifactId>ui</artifactId>
    <packaging>war</packaging>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <name>Myclient MemberDatabase</name>

    <properties>
        <!-- Convenience property to set the GWT version -->
        <gwtVersion>2.5.1</gwtVersion>
        <!-- GWT needs at least java 1.5 -->
        <webappDirectory>${project.build.directory}/${project.build.finalName}</webappDirectory>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
        <java.version>1.6</java.version>
        <spring.version>3.2.4.RELEASE</spring.version>
        <spring-security.version>3.2.0.M1</spring-security.version>
        <cglib.version>2.2.2</cglib.version>
        <contextPath>mdb</contextPath>
    </properties>

    <dependencies>
        <!--Logging-->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>log4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
            <version>1.2.14</version>
        </dependency>

        <!--GWT-->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.google.gwt</groupId>
            <artifactId>gwt-servlet</artifactId>
            <version>${gwtVersion}</version>
            <scope>runtime</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.google.gwt</groupId>
            <artifactId>gwt-user</artifactId>
            <version>${gwtVersion}</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>

        <!--Testing-->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>junit</groupId>
            <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
            <version>4.7</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>

        <!--Servlet-->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.validation</groupId>
            <artifactId>validation-api</artifactId>
            <version>1.0.0.GA</version>
            <!--<scope>test</scope>-->
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.validation</groupId>
            <artifactId>validation-api</artifactId>
            <version>1.0.0.GA</version>
            <classifier>sources</classifier>
            <!--<scope>test</scope>-->
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
            <artifactId>hibernate-validator</artifactId>
            <version>4.3.1.Final</version>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Spring core & mvc -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-context</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>${spring.version}</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-orm</artifactId>
            <version>${spring.version}</version>
            <type>jar</type>
            <scope>compile</scope>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-test</artifactId>
            <version>${spring.version}</version>
            <type>jar</type>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Spring Security -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-security-core</artifactId>
            <version>${spring-security.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-security-web</artifactId>
            <version>${spring-security.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-security-config</artifactId>
            <version>${spring-security.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <!-- CGLib for @Configuration -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>cglib</groupId>
            <artifactId>cglib-nodep</artifactId>
            <version>${cglib.version}</version>
            <scope>runtime</scope>
        </dependency>


        <!-- Servlet Spec -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
            <artifactId>servlet-api</artifactId>
            <version>2.5</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.servlet.jsp</groupId>
            <artifactId>jsp-api</artifactId>
            <version>2.1</version>
            <scope>compile</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
            <artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
            <version>1.2</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.sun.el</groupId>
            <artifactId>el-ri</artifactId>
            <version>1.0</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring4gwt</artifactId>
            <version>0.0.1</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>commons-dbcp</groupId>
            <artifactId>commons-dbcp</artifactId>
            <version>1.4</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
            <artifactId>hibernate-entitymanager</artifactId>
            <version>3.3.2.GA</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hsqldb</groupId>
            <artifactId>hsqldb</artifactId>
            <version>2.2.9</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>mysql</groupId>
            <artifactId>mysql-connector-java</artifactId>
            <!-- <version>5.0.8</version> -->
            <version>5.1.10</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>commons-codec</groupId>
            <artifactId>commons-codec</artifactId>
            <version>1.6</version>
        </dependency>

        <!--Tiles-->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.tiles</groupId>
            <artifactId>tiles-extras</artifactId>
            <version>3.0.1</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>slf4j-log4j12</artifactId>
            <version>1.5.2</version>
        </dependency>


    </dependencies>


    <build>
        <finalName>mdb</finalName>
        <!-- Generate compiled stuff in the folder used for developing mode -->
        <outputDirectory>${webappDirectory}/WEB-INF/classes</outputDirectory>

        <plugins>

            <!-- GWT Maven Plugin -->
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
                <artifactId>gwt-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.5.1</version>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>compile</goal>
                            <goal>test</goal>
                            <goal>i18n</goal>
                            <goal>generateAsync</goal>
                        </goals>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
                <!-- Plugin configuration. There are many available options, see
                  gwt-maven-plugin documentation at codehaus.org -->
                <configuration>
                    <runTarget>ui.html</runTarget>
                    <hostedWebapp>${webappDirectory}</hostedWebapp>
                    <i18nMessagesBundle>com.mycompany.myclient.mdb.ui.client.Messages</i18nMessagesBundle>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>

            <!-- Copy static web files before executing gwt:run -->
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.3</version>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <phase>compile</phase>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>exploded</goal>
                        </goals>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
                <configuration>
                    <webappDirectory>${webappDirectory}</webappDirectory>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.1</version>
                <configuration>
                    <source>1.5</source>
                    <target>1.5</target>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>

            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.tomcat.maven</groupId>
                <artifactId>tomcat7-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.1</version>
                <configuration>
                    <server>svr4-worker1</server>
                    <url>http://svr4.dmz.mycompany.com:8180/manager</url>
                    <update>true</update>
                    <path>${contextPath}</path>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>



        <testResources>
            <testResource>
                <directory>src/main/webapp/WEB-INF</directory>
            </testResource>
            <testResource>
                <directory>src/test/resources</directory>
            </testResource>
        </testResources>
    </build>
</project>

I belive this has something to do with the integrated Servlet Container of GWT. However I don't know how to resolve this. Could anybody give me a hint please?

Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

The problem I experienced here was caused by the embedded and somewhat outdated jetty that is used by default by gwt in dev mode.

My hostpage is not just a static html-page but a JSP (MVC view, Tiles 3) that makes use of the expression language. Since my configuration required a more recent servlet container than the one that is shipped with gwt, my project didn't work with the embedded jetty.

To solve this problem I had to start a recent servlet container like Jetty 7 (Tomcat will also work) to run the server side of the project (and gwt).

In order to be able the run gwt in dev mode and to debug it it is necessary to prevent it from starting the embedded server and provide it with the info where to find the server. In my case I added to the gwt Run/Debug Configuration of Intellij IDEA under Dev Mode parameters the following line

-noserver -war localBuild -port 8080 com.myproject.modul

Of corse you have to replace the module name with you module name. The port 8080 is the port my Jetty 7 is listening for client connections. The option -noserver prevent gwt from starting the embedded server.

You can also reach the same result with maven by adding the following lines to the maven-gwt-plugin-configuration:

        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
            <artifactId>gwt-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>2.5.1</version>
            ...
            <configuration>
                ..
                <noServer>true</noServer>
                <port>8080</port>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>

To run/debug your gwt module you now simply start the server of your choice by invoking mvn clean jetty:run-war (can also be started direct from your IDE) and then start the Dev Mode of gwt as you did before.

A nice side effect is that refreshing is now much faster since the embedded server is not beeing started all the time as long as nothing is change in the server side.

This like helped me to figure out this solution: http://clojure-dev.blogspot.de/2011/12/debugging-gwt-client-side-code-with.html

Answer 2

The most probable solution is include the el-ri.jar library

  <dependency>
     <groupId>com.sun.el</groupId>
     <artifactId>el-ri</artifactId>
     <version>1.0</version>
  </dependency>