[spring] Spring cannot find bean xml configuration file when it does exist

I am trying to make my first bean in Spring but got a problem with loading a context. I have a configuration XML file of the bean in src/main/resources.

I receive the following IOException:

Exception in thread "main" org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: IOException parsing XML document from class path resource [src/main/resources/beans.xml]; nested exception is

java.io.FileNotFoundException: class path resource [src/main/resources/beans.xml] cannot be opened because it does not exist

but I don't get it, since I do the following code test:

File f = new File("src/main/resources/beans.xml");
System.out.println("Exist test: " + f.exists());

which gives me true! resources is in the classpath. What's wrong?

I suspect you're building a .war/.jar and consequently it's no longer a file, but a resource within that package. Try ClassLoader.getResourceAsStream(String path) instead.

If this problem is still flummoxing you and you are developing using Eclipse, have a look at this Eclipse bug: Resources files from "src/main/resources" are not correctly included in classpath

Solution seems to be look at properties of project, Java build path, source folders. Delete the /src/main/resources dir and add it again. This causes Eclipse to be reminded it needs to copy these files to the classpath.

This bug affected me when using the "Neon" release of Eclipse. (And was very frustrating until I realized the simple fix just described)

I am on IntelliJ and faced the same issue. Below is how i resolved it:

1. Added the resource import as following in Spring application class along with other imports: @ImportResource("applicationContext.xml")

2. Saw IDE showing : Cannot resolve file 'applicationContext.xml' and also suggesting paths where its expecting the file (It was not the resources where the file applicationContext.xml was originally kept)

3. Copied the file at the expected location and the Exception got resolved.

Screen shot below for easy ref:

But if you would like to keep it at resources then follow this great answer link below and add the resources path so that it gets searched. With this setting exception resolves without @ImportResource described in above steps:

https://stackoverflow.com/a/24843914/5916535

I did the opposite of most. I am using Force IDE Luna Java EE and I placed my Beans.xml file within the package; however, I preceded the Beans.xml string - for the ClassPathXMLApplicationContext argument - with the relative path. So in my main application - the one which accesses the Beans.xml file - I have:

    ApplicationContext context = 
         new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("com/tutorialspoin/Beans.xml");

I also noticed that as soon as I moved the Beans.xml file into the package from the src folder, there was a Bean image at the lower left side of the XML file icon which was not there when this xml file was outside the package. That is a good indicator in letting me know that now the beans xml file is accessible by ClassPathXMLAppllicationsContext.

use it ApplicationContext context = new FileSystemXmlApplicationContext("Beans.xml");

In Spring all source files are inside src/main/java. Similarly, the resources are generally kept inside src/main/resources. So keep your spring configuration file inside resources folder.

Make sure you have the ClassPath entry for your files inside src/main/resources as well.

In .classpath check for the following 2 lines. If they are missing add them.

<classpathentry path="src/main/java" kind="src"/>
<classpathentry path="src/main/resources" kind="src" />

So, if you have everything in place the below code should work.

ApplicationContext ctx = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("Spring-Module.xml");

I have stuck in this issue for a while and I have came to the following solution

1. Create an ApplicationContextAware class (which is a class that implements the ApplicationContextAware)

2. In ApplicationContextAware we have to implement the one method only

   public void setApplicationContext(ApplicationContext context) throws BeansException

3. Tell the spring context about this new bean (I call it SpringContext)

   bean id="springContext" class="packe.of.SpringContext" />
   

Here is the code snippet

import org.springframework.beans.BeansException;
import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextAware;

public class SpringContext implements ApplicationContextAware {
  private static ApplicationContext context;

  @Override
  public void setApplicationContext(ApplicationContext context) throws BeansException {
    this.context = context;
  }
  public static ApplicationContext getApplicationContext() {
    return context;
  }
}

4. Then you can call any method of application context outside the spring context for example

   
   SomeServiceClassOrComponent utilityService SpringContext.getApplicationContext().getBean(SomeServiceClassOrComponent .class);
   

I hope this will solve the problem for many users

I was not sure to write it but maybe someone save a few hours:

mvn clean

may do the job if your whole configuration is already perfect!

src/main/resources is a source directory, you should not be referencing it directly. When you build/package the project the contents will be copied into the correct place for your classpath. You should then load it like this

new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("beans.xml")

Or like this

new GenericXmlApplicationContext("classpath:beans.xml");

Try this:

new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("file:src/main/resources/beans.xml");

file: preffix point to file system resources, not classpath.

file path can be relative or system (/home/user/Work/src...)

I was experiencing this issue and it was driving me nuts; I ultimately found the following lying in my POM.xml, which was the cause of the problem:

<resources>
    <resource>
        <directory>src/main/resources</directory>
        <filtering>true</filtering>
        <includes>
            <include>**/*.properties</include>
        </includes>
    </resource>
</resources>

This is because applicationContect.xml or any_filename.XML is not placed under proper path.

Trouble shooting Steps

1: Add the XML file under the resource folder.

2: If you don't have a resource folder. Create one by navigating new by Right click on the project new > Source Folder, name it as resource and place your XML file under it.

Note that the first applicationContext is loaded as part of web.xml; which is mentioned with the below.

<context-param>
    <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
    <param-value>META-INF/spring/applicationContext.xml</param-value>
</context-param>

<servlet>
    <servlet-name>myOwn-controller</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet</servlet-class>
    <init-param>
        <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
        <param-value>META-INF/spring/applicationContext.xml</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

Where as below code will also tries to create one more applicationContext.

private static final ApplicationContext context = 
               new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("beans.xml");

See the difference between beans.xml and applicationContext.xml

And if appliationContext.xml under <META-INF/spring/> has declared with <import resource="beans.xml"/> then this appliationContext.xml is loading the beans.xml under the same location META-INF/spring of appliationContext.xml.

Where as; in the code; if it is declared like below

ApplicationContext context = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("beans.xml");

This is looking the beans.xml at WEB-INF/classes OR in eclipse src/main/resources.

[If you have added beans.xml at src/main/resources then it might be placed at WEB-INF/classes while creating the WAR.]

So totally TWO files are looked up.

I have resolved this issue by adding classpath lookup while importing at applicationContext.xml like below

<import resource="classpath*:beans.xml" />

and removed the the line ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("beans.xml") in java code, so that there will be only one ApplicationContext loaded.

This is what worked for me:

  new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("classpath:beans.xml");

Beans.xml or file.XML is not placed under proper path. You should add the XML file under the resource folder, if you have a Maven project. src -> main -> java -> resources

I also had a similar problem but because of a bit different cause so sharing here in case it can help anybody.

My file location

How I was using

ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("beans.xml");

There are two solutions

1. Take the beans.xml out of package and put in default package.
2. Specify package name while using it viz.

ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("com/mypackage/beans.xml");

You have looked at src directory. The xml file indeed exist there. But look at class or bin/build directory where all your output classes are set. I suspect you will need only resources/beans.xml path to use.

Gradle : v4.10.3

IDE : IntelliJ

I was facing this issue when using gradle to run my build and test. Copying the applicationContext.xml all over the place did not help. Even specifying the complete path as below did not help !

context = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("C:\\...\\applicationContext.xml");

The solution (for gradle at least) lies in the way gradle processes resources. For my gradle project I had laid out the workspace as defined at https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/java_plugin.html#sec:java_project_layout

When running a test using default gradle set of tasks includes a "processTestResources" step, which looks for test resources at C:\.....\src\test\resources (Gradle helpfully provides the complete path).

Your .properties file and applicationContext.xml need to be in this directory. If the resources directory is not present (as it was in my case), you need to create it copy the file(s) there. After this, simply specifying the file name worked just fine.

context = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("applicationContext.xml");