.ClassCastException: org.apache.xerces.jaxp.DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl cannot be cast to javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory

Question

I am upgrading Weblogic server from 9 to 10.3.6. when I am trying to deploy my ear application and got below exception.

Caused By: java.lang.ClassCastException: org.apache.xerces.jaxp.DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl cannot be cast to javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory
    at javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance(DocumentBuilderFactory.java:123)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultDocumentLoader.createDocumentBuilderFactory(DefaultDocumentLoader.java:89)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultDocumentLoader.loadDocument(DefaultDocumentLoader.java:70)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.doLoadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:396)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:342)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:310)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:143)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:178)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:149)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:212)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractXmlApplicationContext.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractXmlApplicationContext.java:113)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractXmlApplicationContext.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractXmlApplicationContext.java:80)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.refreshBeanFactory(AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.java:123)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.obtainFreshBeanFactory(AbstractApplicationContext.java:423)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:353)
    at org.springframework.context.access.ContextSingletonBeanFactoryLocator.initializeDefinition(ContextSingletonBeanFactoryLocator.java:141)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.access.SingletonBeanFactoryLocator.useBeanFactory(SingletonBeanFactoryLocator.java:384)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.loadParentContext(ContextLoader.java:341)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:195)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:45)
    at weblogic.servlet.internal.EventsManager$FireContextListenerAction.run(EventsManager.java:481)
    at weblogic.security.acl.internal.AuthenticatedSubject.doAs(AuthenticatedSubject.java:321)
    at weblogic.security.service.SecurityManager.runAs(SecurityManager.java:120)
    at weblogic.servlet.internal.EventsManager.notifyContextCreatedEvent(EventsManager.java:181)
    at weblogic.servlet.internal.WebAppServletContext.preloadResources(WebAppServletContext.java:1868)

I tried all sorts for things including adding a weblogic-application.xml but it still does not work.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <weblogic-application>
 <xml>
 <parser-factory>
    <saxparser-factory>
      org.apache.xerces.jaxp.SAXParserFactoryImpl
    </saxparser-factory>
    <document-builder-factory>
      org.apache.xerces.jaxp.DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl
    </document-builder-factory>
    <transformer-factory>
      org.apache.xalan.processor.TransformerFactoryImpl
    </transformer-factory>
  </parser-factory>
</xml>

<prefer-application-packages>
 <package-name>org.apache.xerces.parsers.*</package-name>
</prefer-application-packages>
</weblogic-application>

my weblogic.xml has

<prefer-web-inf-classes>true</prefer-web-inf-classes>

This is part of my pom.xml:

<dependency>
<groupId>xerces</groupId>
<artifactId>xercesImpl</artifactId>
<version>2.8.1</version>
<scope>runtime</scope>
</dependency>

Please help. Thanks!

Answer 1

I answer my own question:

Below link inspired me of fixing this issue:

Dealing with "Xerces hell" in Java/Maven?

Basiclly I have removed all the dependencies of xml-api and xmlParserAPIs in pom.xml. The problem is fixed. The root cause is my classpath should not include any javax libraries which cause the library conflict with Weblogic app server. Hope it helps.

Answer 2

I had the similar problem. I was using an application installed on wildly server. The problem was that I have to place xerces jars in both framework's and third party lib folder of the application. After much research, I found the solution in the documentation of xerces.

Why do I get a ClassCastException when I use Xerces and WebSphere Application Server? Xerces uses the ObjectFactory class to load some classes dynamically, e.g. the parser configuration. The ObjectFactory finds the specified implementation class by querying the system property, reading META-INF/services/factoryId file or using a fallback classname. After the implementation is found, the ObjectFactory tries to load the file using the context classloader and if it is null, the ObjectFactory uses the system classloader. If you run Xerces in an environment, such as WebSphere® Application Server, that has multiple classloaders you may get ClassCastExceptions thrown from Xerces because different classloaders might get involved in loading Xerces classes. For example, ClassCastExceptions may occur when utility EAR classes that use Xerces load Xerces classes from WAR modules. We suggest you read the "Avoiding ClassCastExceptions..." article which explains a workaround for this problem. Also you might want to read the "J2EE Class Loading Demystified" article that explains how multiple classloaders work in WebSphere Application Server.

"

Basically, use two util class to create domparser object. For the service call from your application, change the classloader and create the object. After doing the processing, revert back the classloader.

ClassLoader savedClassLoader = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
ClassLoader currentClassLoader = this.getClass().getClassLoader() ;
Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(currentClassLoader);
//do the processing, after that revert back

https://xerces.apache.org/xerces2-j/faq-general.html