Spring 4 + metadata-complete="false" + tiles 3

Question

I am facing very specific problem with Spring. If I keep metadata-complete="true" in my web.xml, my application works lie a charm. But if I make it false, spring is not able to find tiles definitions.

My code base versions are as follows: Spring MVC: 4.3.4.RELEASE Tiles: 3.0.7 web-app: 3.0

Application Structure: An EAR project with 4 web fragment jars inside main web application and 1 EJB.

My web.xml is as follows

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_3_0.xsd"
         version="3.0" metadata-complete="true">

    <description>
    Web Module</description>
    <display-name>Web</display-name>
    <context-param>
        <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
        <param-value> 
          <!--   classpath:/applicationContext.xml
            classpath:/applicationContext-dao-enterprise.xml  -->        
            classpath:META-INF/resources
            classpath:META-INF/resources/jsp/web1/common/
            classpath:META-INF/resources/jsp/web2/common/
        </param-value>
    </context-param>

    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>dispatcher</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>
            org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet
        </servlet-class>
        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>


    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>dispatcher</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

My Dispatcher servlet xml is as follows

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
    xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
    xmlns:mvc="http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:p="http://www.springframework.org/schema/p" xmlns:tx="http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx"
    xsi:schemaLocation="
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans     
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-4.0.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx 
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx/spring-tx-4.0.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/context
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-4.0.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc/spring-mvc-4.0.xsd">



    <context:annotation-config />

    <mvc:annotation-driven />
    <mvc:default-servlet-handler />

    <tx:annotation-driven transaction-manager="txManager" />

    <mvc:resources mapping="/styles/**" location="/WEB-INF/../styles/" />
    <mvc:resources mapping="/js/**" location="/WEB-INF/../js/" />
    <mvc:resources mapping="/font-awesome/**" location="/WEB-INF/../font-awesome/" />



    <bean id="messageSource"
        class="org.springframework.context.support.ReloadableResourceBundleMessageSource">
        <property name="basenames">
            <list>
                <value>classpath:global-messages</value>
                <value>classpath:global-resources</value>
            </list>
        </property>
    </bean>
    <bean id="localeResolver"
        class="org.springframework.web.servlet.i18n.SessionLocaleResolver">
        <property name="defaultLocale" value="en_US" />
    </bean>
    <!-- Datasource bean created using Driver -->

    <bean id="dataSource" class="org.springframework.jndi.JndiObjectFactoryBean">
        <property name="jndiName" value="jdbc/myDatasource" />
    </bean>
    <bean id="jdbcTemplate" class="org.springframework.jdbc.core.JdbcTemplate">
        <constructor-arg ref="dataSource" />
        <!--<property name="maxRows" value="${jdbcTemplate.maxRows}"/> <property 
            name="fetchSize" value="${jdbcTemplate.fetchSize}"/> -->
    </bean>
    <bean id="txManager"
        class="org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.DataSourceTransactionManager">
        <property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource" />
    </bean>

    <context:component-scan base-package="com.co" />

    <bean id="viewResolver" class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.tiles3.TilesViewResolver"/>

    <bean id="tilesConfigurer"
        class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.tiles3.TilesConfigurer">
        <property name="definitions">
            <list>
                <value>/WEB-INF/tiles.xml</value>
                <value>/WEB-INF/tiles-i.xml</value>
                <value>/WEB-INF/tiles-f.xml</value>
            </list>
        </property>
    </bean>

    <bean id="multipartResolver"
        class="org.springframework.web.multipart.commons.CommonsMultipartResolver" />

</beans>

My Tiles definition is as follows

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE tiles-definitions PUBLIC "-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Tiles Configuration 3.0//EN" "http://tiles.apache.org/dtds/tiles-config_3_0.dtd">


<tiles-definitions>
    <!--====================================  Master Page====================================================================  -->
     <definition name="tiles_basic_template" template="/jsp/ent/tiles/basic_template.jsp">
        <put-attribute name="title" value="Application" />
        <put-attribute name="sidemenu" value="/jsp/e/tiles/sidemenu.jsp" />
        <put-attribute name="header" value="/jsp/e/tiles/header.jsp" />
        <put-attribute name="body" value="/jsp/e/tiles/blank_body.jsp" />
        <put-attribute name="footer" value="/jsp/e/tiles/footer.jsp" />
    </definition> 

        <definition name="tiles_sign_on" template="/jsp/e/tiles/basic_template_no_header_sidebar.jsp">
        <put-attribute name="body" value="/jsp/e/common/sign_on_form.jsp" />
     </definition>

The controller code for calling is as follows

modelView.addObject("signOnForm", signOnForm);
modelView.addObject("buttonName", buttonName);
modelView.setViewName("tiles_sign_on");

The exception stack trace is as follows:

    [12/9/16 10:42:56:432 MST] 0000008c ServletWrappe E com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper service SRVE0014E: Uncaught service() exception root cause dispatcher: javax.servlet.ServletException: Could not resolve view with name 'tiles_sign_on' in servlet with name 'dispatcher'
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.render(DispatcherServlet.java:1237)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.processDispatchResult(DispatcherServlet.java:1037)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doDispatch(DispatcherServlet.java:980)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doService(DispatcherServlet.java:897)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:970)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doGet(FrameworkServlet.java:861)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:575)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.service(FrameworkServlet.java:846)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:668)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.service(ServletWrapper.java:1232)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:781)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:480)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapperImpl.handleRequest(ServletWrapperImpl.java:178)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.invokeTarget(WebAppFilterChain.java:136)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.doFilter(WebAppFilterChain.java:79)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.doFilter(WebAppFilterManager.java:967)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.invokeFilters(WebAppFilterManager.java:1107)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppRequestDispatcher.dispatch(WebAppRequestDispatcher.java:1385)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppRequestDispatcher.forward(WebAppRequestDispatcher.java:194)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.extension.DefaultExtensionProcessor.handleRequest(DefaultExtensionProcessor.java:681)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.extension.DefaultExtensionProcessor.service(DefaultExtensionProcessor.java:1483)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.service(ServletWrapper.java:1232)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:781)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:480)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapperImpl.handleRequest(ServletWrapperImpl.java:178)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.invokeTarget(WebAppFilterChain.java:136)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.doFilter(WebAppFilterChain.java:79)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.doFilter(WebAppFilterManager.java:967)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.invokeFilters(WebAppFilterManager.java:1107)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppRequestDispatcher.dispatch(WebAppRequestDispatcher.java:1385)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppRequestDispatcher.forward(WebAppRequestDispatcher.java:194)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.resource.DefaultServletHttpRequestHandler.handleRequest(DefaultServletHttpRequestHandler.java:122)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.HttpRequestHandlerAdapter.handle(HttpRequestHandlerAdapter.java:51)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doDispatch(DispatcherServlet.java:963)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doService(DispatcherServlet.java:897)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:970)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doGet(FrameworkServlet.java:861)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:575)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.service(FrameworkServlet.java:846)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:668)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.service(ServletWrapper.java:1232)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:781)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:480)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapperImpl.handleRequest(ServletWrapperImpl.java:178)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.invokeTarget(WebAppFilterChain.java:136)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.doFilter(WebAppFilterChain.java:79)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.doFilter(WebAppFilterManager.java:967)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.invokeFilters(WebAppFilterManager.java:1107)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.CacheServletWrapper.handleRequest(CacheServletWrapper.java:87)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.WebContainer.handleRequest(WebContainer.java:948)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.WSWebContainer.handleRequest(WSWebContainer.java:1817)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.channel.WCChannelLink.ready(WCChannelLink.java:200)
    at com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpInboundLink.handleDiscrimination(HttpInboundLink.java:463)
    at com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpInboundLink.handleNewRequest(HttpInboundLink.java:530)
    at com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpInboundLink.processRequest(HttpInboundLink.java:316)
    at com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpInboundLink.ready(HttpInboundLink.java:287)
    at com.ibm.ws.tcp.channel.impl.NewConnectionInitialReadCallback.sendToDiscriminators(NewConnectionInitialReadCallback.java:214)
    at com.ibm.ws.tcp.channel.impl.NewConnectionInitialReadCallback.complete(NewConnectionInitialReadCallback.java:113)
    at com.ibm.ws.tcp.channel.impl.AioReadCompletionListener.futureCompleted(AioReadCompletionListener.java:175)
    at com.ibm.io.async.AbstractAsyncFuture.invokeCallback(AbstractAsyncFuture.java:217)
    at com.ibm.io.async.AsyncChannelFuture.fireCompletionActions(AsyncChannelFuture.java:161)
    at com.ibm.io.async.AsyncFuture.completed(AsyncFuture.java:138)
    at com.ibm.io.async.ResultHandler.complete(ResultHandler.java:204)
    at com.ibm.io.async.ResultHandler.runEventProcessingLoop(ResultHandler.java:775)
    at com.ibm.io.async.ResultHandler$2.run(ResultHandler.java:905)
    at com.ibm.ws.util.ThreadPool$Worker.run(ThreadPool.java:1892)

[12/9/16 10:42:56:432 MST] 0000008c ServletWrappe E com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper service SRVE0014E: Uncaught service() exception root cause SimpleFileServlet: javax.servlet.ServletException: javax.servlet.ServletException: Could not resolve view with name 'tiles_sign_on' in servlet with name 'dispatcher'
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.extension.DefaultExtensionProcessor.service(DefaultExtensionProcessor.java:1486)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.service(ServletWrapper.java:1232)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:781)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:480)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapperImpl.handleRequest(ServletWrapperImpl.java:178)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.invokeTarget(WebAppFilterChain.java:136)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.doFilter(WebAppFilterChain.java:79)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.doFilter(WebAppFilterManager.java:967)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.invokeFilters(WebAppFilterManager.java:1107)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppRequestDispatcher.dispatch(WebAppRequestDispatcher.java:1385)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppRequestDispatcher.forward(WebAppRequestDispatcher.java:194)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.resource.DefaultServletHttpRequestHandler.handleRequest(DefaultServletHttpRequestHandler.java:122)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.HttpRequestHandlerAdapter.handle(HttpRequestHandlerAdapter.java:51)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doDispatch(DispatcherServlet.java:963)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doService(DispatcherServlet.java:897)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:970)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doGet(FrameworkServlet.java:861)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:575)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.service(FrameworkServlet.java:846)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:668)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.service(ServletWrapper.java:1232)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:781)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:480)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapperImpl.handleRequest(ServletWrapperImpl.java:178)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.invokeTarget(WebAppFilterChain.java:136)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.doFilter(WebAppFilterChain.java:79)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.doFilter(WebAppFilterManager.java:967)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.invokeFilters(WebAppFilterManager.java:1107)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.CacheServletWrapper.handleRequest(CacheServletWrapper.java:87)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.WebContainer.handleRequest(WebContainer.java:948)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.WSWebContainer.handleRequest(WSWebContainer.java:1817)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.channel.WCChannelLink.ready(WCChannelLink.java:200)
    at com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpInboundLink.handleDiscrimination(HttpInboundLink.java:463)
    at com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpInboundLink.handleNewRequest(HttpInboundLink.java:530)
    at com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpInboundLink.processRequest(HttpInboundLink.java:316)
    at com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpInboundLink.ready(HttpInboundLink.java:287)
    at com.ibm.ws.tcp.channel.impl.NewConnectionInitialReadCallback.sendToDiscriminators(NewConnectionInitialReadCallback.java:214)
    at com.ibm.ws.tcp.channel.impl.NewConnectionInitialReadCallback.complete(NewConnectionInitialReadCallback.java:113)
    at com.ibm.ws.tcp.channel.impl.AioReadCompletionListener.futureCompleted(AioReadCompletionListener.java:175)
    at com.ibm.io.async.AbstractAsyncFuture.invokeCallback(AbstractAsyncFuture.java:217)
    at com.ibm.io.async.AsyncChannelFuture.fireCompletionActions(AsyncChannelFuture.java:161)
    at com.ibm.io.async.AsyncFuture.completed(AsyncFuture.java:138)
    at com.ibm.io.async.ResultHandler.complete(ResultHandler.java:204)
    at com.ibm.io.async.ResultHandler.runEventProcessingLoop(ResultHandler.java:775)
    at com.ibm.io.async.ResultHandler$2.run(ResultHandler.java:905)
    at com.ibm.ws.util.ThreadPool$Worker.run(ThreadPool.java:1892)
Caused by: javax.servlet.ServletException: Could not resolve view with name 'tiles_sign_on' in servlet with name 'dispatcher'
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.render(DispatcherServlet.java:1237)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.processDispatchResult(DispatcherServlet.java:1037)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doDispatch(DispatcherServlet.java:980)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doService(DispatcherServlet.java:897)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:970)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doGet(FrameworkServlet.java:861)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:575)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.service(FrameworkServlet.java:846)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:668)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.service(ServletWrapper.java:1232)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:781)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:480)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapperImpl.handleRequest(ServletWrapperImpl.java:178)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.invokeTarget(WebAppFilterChain.java:136)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.doFilter(WebAppFilterChain.java:79)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.doFilter(WebAppFilterManager.java:967)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.invokeFilters(WebAppFilterManager.java:1107)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppRequestDispatcher.dispatch(WebAppRequestDispatcher.java:1385)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppRequestDispatcher.forward(WebAppRequestDispatcher.java:194)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.extension.DefaultExtensionProcessor.handleRequest(DefaultExtensionProcessor.java:681)
    at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.extension.DefaultExtensionProcessor.service(DefaultExtensionProcessor.java:1483)
    ... 45 more

Nirav · Answer 1 · 2016-12-21T16:53:10.857

Finally I got the answer after debugging the spring source and tiles source files.

The problem was with fragmented project structure. Due to fragmented project structure we had spring Dispatcher servlet xml in each fragment. Now spring has one bug: When web.xml has "metadata-complete="false"", spring is also searching it's dispatcher servlet xml in fragment projects. But the tiles definition is getting overridden from the last dispatcher servlet's configuration. So, the last fragment's tiles definition files are loaded. All previous definition files are dropped.

Quick Solution: Keep all tiles definition files in parent dispatcher servlet xml and all fragment project should not contain it's own configuration.

long term solution: It need to be done by Spring community. Instead of replacing the configuration, spring should merge all of them and create one master despatcher before initializing the application.

Spring 4 + metadata-complete="false" + tiles 3

1 Answers1