Why did Servlet.service() for servlet jsp throw this exception?

user_270875 0
Viewed 299248

I get the following error, what could be the problem?

My context descriptor:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee" xmlns:web="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd" xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd" id="WebApp_ID" version="2.5">
   <servlet>
    <servlet-name>UploadServlet</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>controller.UploadServlet</servlet-class>
  </servlet>
   <servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>UploadServlet</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/UploadServlet</url-pattern>
  </servlet-mapping>
  <welcome-file-list>
    <welcome-file>index.jsp</welcome-file>
  </welcome-file-list>
</web-app>

SEVERE: Servlet.service() for servlet jsp threw exception
java.lang.NullPointerException
    at org.apache.jsp.index_jsp._jspInit(index_jsp.java:22)
    at org.apache.jasper.runtime.HttpJspBase.init(HttpJspBase.java:52)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.getServlet(JspServletWrapper.java:159)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(JspServletWrapper.java:329)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:342)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:267)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:717)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:233)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:128)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:293)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:849)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:583)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$Worker.run(JIoEndpoint.java:454)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Feb 23, 2010 11:35:28 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve invoke
SEVERE: Servlet.service() for servlet jsp threw exception
java.lang.NullPointerException
    at org.apache.jsp.index_jsp._jspInit(index_jsp.java:22)
    at org.apache.jasper.runtime.HttpJspBase.init(HttpJspBase.java:52)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.getServlet(JspServletWrapper.java:159)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(JspServletWrapper.java:329)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:342)
    at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:267)
    at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:717)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:233)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:128)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:293)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:849)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:583)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$Worker.run(JIoEndpoint.java:454)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
jsp java
5 Answers

It can be caused by a classpath contamination. Check that you /WEB-INF/lib doesn't contain something like jsp-api-*.jar.

user_1031540

If your project is Maven-based, remember to set scope to provided for such dependencies as servlet-api, jsp-api. Otherwise, these jars will be exported to WEB-INF/lib and hence contaminate with those in Tomcat server. That causes painful problems.

<dependency>
  <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
  <artifactId>servlet-api</artifactId>
  <version>2.5</version>
  <scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
  <groupId>javax.servlet.jsp</groupId>
  <artifactId>jsp-api</artifactId>
  <version>2.1</version>
  <scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>
user_11962850

The problem is in your JSP, most likely you are calling a method on an object that is null at runtime.

It is happening in the _jspInit() call, which is a little more unusual... the problem code is probably a method declaration like <%! %>

Update: I've only reproduced this by overriding the _jspInit() method. Is that what you're doing? If so, it's not recommended - that's why it starts with an _.

Brabster_23620
Related