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?

Thanks, but that was not the solution. I found it out why it wasn't working for me.

Since I'd done a declaration:

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

I thought I would refer to root directory of the project when beans.xml file was there. Then I put the configuration file to src/main/resources and changed initialization to:

ApplicationContext context = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("src/main/resources/beans.xml");

it still was an IO Exception.

Then the file was left in src/main/resources/ but I changed declaration to:

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

and it solved the problem - maybe it will be helpful for someone.

thanks and cheers!

Edit:

Since I get many people thumbs up for the solution and had had first experience with Spring as student few years ago, I feel desire to explain shortly why it works.

When the project is being compiled and packaged, all the files and subdirs from 'src/main/java' in the project goes to the root directory of the packaged jar (the artifact we want to create). The same rule applies to 'src/main/resources'.

This is a convention respected by many tools like maven or sbt in process of building project (note: as a default configuration!). When code (from the post) was in running mode, it couldn't find nothing like "src/main/resources/beans.xml" due to the fact, that beans.xml was in the root of jar (copied to /beans.xml in created jar/ear/war).

When using ClassPathXmlApplicationContext, the proper location declaration for beans xml definitions, in this case, was "/beans.xml", since this is path where it belongs in jar and later on in classpath.

It can be verified by unpacking a jar with an archiver (i.e. rar) and see its content with the directories structure.

I would recommend reading articles about classpath as supplementary.

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 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");

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.

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");

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

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.

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.

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.

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");

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");

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.

This is what worked for me:

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

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 ][1]

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)

[1]: https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=494937 "Resources files from quot;src/main/resourcesquot; are not correctly included in classpath"

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>

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!

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

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 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