[java] org.springframework.beans.factory.CannotLoadBeanClassException: Cannot find class

I replaced j2ee.jar with servle-api.com from my tomcat 6.0 installation directory: And that yields the error below. I'm presently trying to figure out the cause. What might the problem be.

I have a the bean defined in a configuration file: Sempedia-service.xml as follows

<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="sempediaSearchService"
        class="com.service.SempediaSearchManager" />


</beans>

my web.xml specifies the following beans:

<context-param>
    <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
    <param-value>/WEB-INF/Sempedia-service.xml,/WEB-INF/Sempedia-persistence.xml</param-value>
</context-param>

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

Stack Trace

SEVERE: Exception sending context initialized event to listener instance of class org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener
org.springframework.beans.factory.CannotLoadBeanClassException: Cannot find class [com.service.SempediaSearchManager] for bean with name 'sempediaSearchService' defined in ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/Sempedia-service.xml]; nested exception is java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.service.SempediaSearchManager
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.resolveBeanClass(AbstractBeanFactory.java:1141)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.predictBeanType(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:524)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.isFactoryBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:1177)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.isFactoryBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:758)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:422)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:728)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:380)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.createWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:255)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:199)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:45)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:3934)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4429)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1045)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start(StandardHost.java:722)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1045)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.start(StandardEngine.java:443)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.start(StandardService.java:516)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.start(StandardServer.java:710)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:583)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:288)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:413)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.service.SempediaSearchManager
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1387)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1233)
    at org.springframework.util.ClassUtils.forName(ClassUtils.java:211)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinition.resolveBeanClass(AbstractBeanDefinition.java:385)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.resolveBeanClass(AbstractBeanFactory.java:1138)
    ... 24 more

I have faced similar problem

So

I just do

1.update Maven Project

2.install maven.

Check your dependencies.

<?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">
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <groupId>SchoolApp</groupId>
  <artifactId>SchoolApp</artifactId>
  <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
  <packaging>war</packaging>

  <properties>
    <hibernate.version>4.2.0.Final</hibernate.version>
    <mysql.connector.version>5.1.21</mysql.connector.version>
    <spring.version>3.2.2.RELEASE</spring.version>
  </properties>

  <dependencies>
    <!-- DB related dependencies -->
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
      <artifactId>hibernate-core</artifactId>
      <version>${hibernate.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
      <artifactId>hibernate-entitymanager</artifactId>
      <version>${hibernate.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>mysql</groupId>
      <artifactId>mysql-connector-java</artifactId>
      <version>${mysql.connector.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>commons-dbcp</groupId>
      <artifactId>commons-dbcp</artifactId>
      <version>1.4</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>javassist</groupId>
      <artifactId>javassist</artifactId>
      <version>3.12.1.GA</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- SPRING -->
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
      <version>${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-tx</artifactId>
      <version>${spring.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-jdbc</artifactId>
      <version>${spring.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-orm</artifactId>
      <version>${spring.version}</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- Spring Security  -->
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-security-core</artifactId>
      <version>3.1.3.RELEASE</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-security-web</artifactId>
      <version>3.1.3.RELEASE</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-security-config</artifactId>
      <version>3.1.3.RELEASE</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-security-taglibs</artifactId>
      <version>3.1.3.RELEASE</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- CGLIB is required to process @Configuration classes -->
    <dependency>
      <groupId>cglib</groupId>
      <artifactId>cglib</artifactId>
      <version>2.2.2</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- Servlet API and JSTL -->
    <dependency>
      <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
      <artifactId>javax.servlet-api</artifactId>
      <version>3.0.1</version>
      <scope>provided</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>jstl</groupId>
      <artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
      <version>1.2</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- Test -->
    <dependency>
      <groupId>junit</groupId>
      <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
      <version>4.7</version>
      <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-test</artifactId>
      <version>${spring.version}</version>
      <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-test-mvc</artifactId>
      <version>1.0.0.M1</version>
      <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>

  <repositories>
    <repository>
      <id>spring-maven-milestone</id>
      <name>Spring Maven Milestone Repository</name>
      <url>http://maven.springframework.org/milestone</url>
    </repository>
  </repositories>

  <build>
    <finalName>spr-mvc-hib</finalName>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
        <version>2.3.2</version>
        <configuration>
          <source>1.7</source>
          <target>1.7</target>
        </configuration>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
  </build>
</project>

i recently experienced this issue when i was trying to build and suddenly the laptop battery ran out of charge. I just removed all the servers from eclipse and then restore it. after doing that, i re-built the war file and it worked.

I got the same error and the cause was the directory:

U:.....WEB\WebRoot\WEB-INF\classes\com\yourcompany\cc\dao

was corrupted(directory or file not readable or damaged).. solved with

• renaming the directory WEB-INF\classes as WEB-INF\classes_old
• Eclipse's Project menu--> Clean (to recreate directories)
• redeploy --> restart server.

Just leaving this here for future visitors:

In my case the /WEB-INF/classes directory was missing. If you are using Eclipse, make sure the .settings/org.eclipse.wst.common.component is correct (Deployment Assembly in the project settings).

In my case it was missing

    <wb-resource deploy-path="/WEB-INF/classes" source-path="/src/main/resources"/>
    <wb-resource deploy-path="/WEB-INF/classes" source-path="/src/test/resources"/>

This file is also a common source of errors as mentioned by Anuj (missing dependencies of other projects).

Otherwise, hopefully the other answers (or the "Problems" tab) will help you.

I have the same problem. I checked my /WEB-INF/classes based on Stephen's recommendation:

the class is not in your webapp's /WEB-INF/classes directory tree or a JAR file in the /WEB-INF/lib directory.

I discovered I have an outdated jar file. Replacing it with the latest jar file solved the issue.

i dont know whether it is relevant to your issue, i got similar issue which i got solved by

1) In eclipse right click server and clean

if it still didnt work

2) export the project and delete the project create the project with same name and import the project and add the project to server and run.