IllegalStateException: null in HttpServlet.service

Question

I'm simply trying to send back an error to the client when a request fails. Here's what my code looks like:

response.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_BAD_REQUEST, 
        "Email and username are required fields.");

This code throws the following error:

java.lang.IllegalStateException: null
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.ResponseFacade.sendError(ResponseFacade.java:407) ~[catalina-6.0.26.jar:6.0.26]
    at com.****.****.****.*********Servlet.service(********Servlet.java:68) ~[********Servlet.class:na]
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:717) ~[javaee-api-5.1.2.jar:5.1.2]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290) ~[catalina-6.0.26.jar:6.0.26]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206) ~[catalina-6.0.26.jar:6.0.26]
    at org.red5.logging.LoggerContextFilter.doFilter(LoggerContextFilter.java:78) ~[red5.jar:na]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235) ~[catalina-6.0.26.jar:6.0.26]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206) ~[catalina-6.0.26.jar:6.0.26]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:233) ~[catalina-6.0.26.jar:6.0.26]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191) [catalina-6.0.26.jar:6.0.26]
    at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:465) [catalina-6.0.26.jar:6.0.26]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:127) [catalina-6.0.26.jar:6.0.26]
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102) [catalina-6.0.26.jar:6.0.26]
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve.invoke(AccessLogValve.java:555) [catalina-6.0.26.jar:6.0.26]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109) [catalina-6.0.26.jar:6.0.26]
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:298) [catalina-6.0.26.jar:6.0.26]
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:852) [tomcat-coyote-6.0.26.jar:6.0.26]
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:588) [tomcat-coyote-6.0.26.jar:6.0.26]
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$Worker.run(JIoEndpoint.java:489) [tomcat-coyote-6.0.26.jar:6.0.26]

Why is this being thrown here? I'm not doing anything before this call that has anything at all to do with the response object, I'm not even touching it until this error is sent in an if clause. Why am I getting this error?

Did you send any other data to the client before calling `sendError`? — Jack Edmonds, Jun 26 '12 at 19:57
Nope. No data whatsoever, I'm not even touching the `response` object. — Naftuli Kay, Jun 26 '12 at 19:58

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 26 '12 at 20:52

2

The only reason for HttpServletResponse (implemented by ResponseFacade) to throw an IllegalStateException is that the response was already committed before. It must have been touched by someone before already.

answered Jun 26 '12 at 20:52

Tom

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 27 '12 at 05:12

If your ResponseFacade does not override response.sendError() or it leads to forwarding to the error page, it is happening because the response is getting committed before forwarding to the error page.

To resolve this issue,

make sure you are not flushing the response
If the response is committing automatically because the max buffer size has reached, try increasing the buffer size.

IllegalStateException: null in HttpServlet.service

2 Answers2