Spring transaction management: Cannot resolve reference to bean 'transactionManager'

Question

I have the following bean configuration XML file (beans.xml):

<tx:advice id="txAdvice" transaction-manager="transactionManager">
    <tx:attributes>
        <tx:method name="createWithContactInfo"/>
    </tx:attributes>
</tx:advice>

<aop:config>
    <aop:pointcut id="createOperation"
        expression="execution(* com.example.db.CustomerJDBCTemplate.createWithContactInfo(..))" />
    <aop:advisor advice-ref="txAdvice" pointcut-ref="createOperation" />
</aop:config>

<!-- Initialization for data source -->
<bean id="dataSource"
    class="org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource" destroy-method="close">
    <property name="driverClassName" value="com.mysql.jdbc.Driver" />
    <property name="url" value="jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/Customer" />
    <property name="username" value="myusername"/>
    <property name="password" value="12345"/>
    <property name="initialSize" value="10"/>
</bean>

<!-- Definition for customerJDBCTemplate bean -->
<bean id="customerJDBCTemplate" class="com.example.db.CustomerJDBCTemplate">
    <property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource" />
</bean>

<bean id="transactionManager"
    class="org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.DataSourceTransactionManager">
    <property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource" />
</bean>

However when I do the following test to instantiate the bean from the application context, it throws exception at the first line:

public class MyTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ApplicationContext ctx = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("beans.xml");
        CustomerJDBCTemplate dao = (CustomerJDBCTemplate) ctx.getBean("customerJDBCTemplate");
        Date dob = new Date(90, 9, 10);
        dao.createWithContactInfo("m9086", "Sam", dob, "David", "123456", "a123@example.com");
    }
}

The error message is:

Exception in thread "main" org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'txAdvice': Cannot resolve reference to bean 'transactionManager' while setting bean property 'transactionManager'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'transactionManager' defined in class path resource [beans.xml]: BeanPostProcessor before instantiation of bean failed; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'org.springframework.aop.support.DefaultBeanFactoryPointcutAdvisor#0': Cannot resolve reference to bean 'createOperation' while setting bean property 'pointcut'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'createOperation': Instantiation of bean failed; nested exception is java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/aspectj/weaver/tools/PointcutDesignatorHandler
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveReference(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:329)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveValueIfNecessary(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:107)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.applyPropertyValues(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1387)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.populateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1128)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:519)
    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:626)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:932)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:479)
    at org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.<init>(ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.java:139)
    at org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.<init>(ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.java:83)
    at com.example.test.JdbcTest.main(JdbcTest.java:14)
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'transactionManager' defined in class path resource [beans.xml]: BeanPostProcessor before instantiation of bean failed; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'org.springframework.aop.support.DefaultBeanFactoryPointcutAdvisor#0': Cannot resolve reference to bean 'createOperation' while setting bean property 'pointcut'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'createOperation': Instantiation of bean failed; nested exception is java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/aspectj/weaver/tools/PointcutDesignatorHandler
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:454)
    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.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveReference(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:323)
    ... 15 more
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'org.springframework.aop.support.DefaultBeanFactoryPointcutAdvisor#0': Cannot resolve reference to bean 'createOperation' while setting bean property 'pointcut'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'createOperation': Instantiation of bean failed; nested exception is java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/aspectj/weaver/tools/PointcutDesignatorHandler
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveReference(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:329)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveValueIfNecessary(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:107)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.applyPropertyValues(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1387)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.populateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1128)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:519)
    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:198)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.BeanFactoryAdvisorRetrievalHelper.findAdvisorBeans(BeanFactoryAdvisorRetrievalHelper.java:86)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.findCandidateAdvisors(AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.java:101)
    at org.springframework.aop.aspectj.autoproxy.AspectJAwareAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.shouldSkip(AspectJAwareAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.java:103)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAutoProxyCreator.postProcessBeforeInstantiation(AbstractAutoProxyCreator.java:276)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.applyBeanPostProcessorsBeforeInstantiation(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:890)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.resolveBeforeInstantiation(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:862)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:448)
    ... 20 more
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'createOperation': Instantiation of bean failed; nested exception is java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/aspectj/weaver/tools/PointcutDesignatorHandler
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.instantiateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1007)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBeanInstance(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:953)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:487)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:458)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:314)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:194)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveReference(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:323)
    ... 36 more
Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/aspectj/weaver/tools/PointcutDesignatorHandler
    at java.lang.Class.getDeclaredConstructors0(Native Method)
    at java.lang.Class.privateGetDeclaredConstructors(Class.java:2404)
    at java.lang.Class.getConstructor0(Class.java:2714)
    at java.lang.Class.getDeclaredConstructor(Class.java:2002)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.SimpleInstantiationStrategy.instantiate(SimpleInstantiationStrategy.java:78)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.instantiateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1000)
    ... 42 more
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.aspectj.weaver.tools.PointcutDesignatorHandler
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:366)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:355)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:354)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:423)
    at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:308)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:356)
    ... 48 more

The first line of the error message says:

org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'txAdvice': Cannot resolve reference to bean 'transactionManager' while setting bean property 'transactionManager'; 

which seems to suggest that transactionManager is not set. But I do have that set in my beans.xml file.

I tried many times but couldn't figure it out. What caused the problem?

Answer 1

java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.aspectj.weaver.tools.PointcutDesignatorHandler

means you need dependency

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.aspectj</groupId>
    <artifactId>aspectjweaver</artifactId>
    <version>1.7.4</version>
</dependency>