Newbie: Build error running Struts2 on JBoss from Eclipse

Question

I've been a .NET developer for over 8 years now and I've been placed on a Java project and I'm trying to get up to speed. I'm using Eclipse EE 3.5.1, JBoss 5.1, and Struts 2.1.8.1 (all the latest versions as AFAIK).

I'm trying to create a new project with a simple login and home page. But when I run my project from Eclipse I get the following build error:

Exception starting filter struts2    
java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ng.filter.StrutsPrepareAndExecuteFilter  
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)  
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)  
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(Unknown Source)  
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)  
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)  
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.TomcatInjectionContainer.newInstance(TomcatInjectionContainer.java:262)  
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.TomcatInjectionContainer.newInstance(TomcatInjectionContainer.java:256)  
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterConfig.getFilter(ApplicationFilterConfig.java:220)  
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterConfig.setFilterDef(ApplicationFilterConfig.java:332)  
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterConfig.<init>(ApplicationFilterConfig.java:90)  
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.filterStart(StandardContext.java:3783)  
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4413)  
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.deployers.TomcatDeployment.performDeployInternal(TomcatDeployment.java:310)  
    at org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.deployers.TomcatDeployment.performDeploy(TomcatDeployment.java:142)  
    at org.jboss.web.deployers.AbstractWarDeployment.start(AbstractWarDeployment.java:461)  
    at org.jboss.web.deployers.WebModule.startModule(WebModule.java:118)  
    at org.jboss.web.deployers.WebModule.start(WebModule.java:97)  
    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.jboss.mx.interceptor.ReflectedDispatcher.invoke(ReflectedDispatcher.java:157)  
    at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.dispatch(Invocation.java:96)  
    at org.jboss.mx.server.Invocation.invoke(Invocation.java:88)  
    at org.jboss.mx.server.AbstractMBeanInvoker.invoke(AbstractMBeanInvoker.java:264)  
    at org.jboss.mx.server.MBeanServerImpl.invoke(MBeanServerImpl.java:668)  
    at org.jboss.system.microcontainer.ServiceProxy.invoke(ServiceProxy.java:206)  
    at $Proxy38.start(Unknown Source)  
    at org.jboss.system.microcontainer.StartStopLifecycleAction.installAction(StartStopLifecycleAction.java:42)  
    at org.jboss.system.microcontainer.StartStopLifecycleAction.installAction(StartStopLifecycleAction.java:37)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.action.SimpleControllerContextAction.simpleInstallAction(SimpleControllerContextAction.java:62)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.action.AccessControllerContextAction.install(AccessControllerContextAction.java:71)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractControllerContextActions.install(AbstractControllerContextActions.java:51)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractControllerContext.install(AbstractControllerContext.java:348)  
    at org.jboss.system.microcontainer.ServiceControllerContext.install(ServiceControllerContext.java:286)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.install(AbstractController.java:1631)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.incrementState(AbstractController.java:934)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.resolveContexts(AbstractController.java:1082)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.resolveContexts(AbstractController.java:984)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.change(AbstractController.java:822)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.change(AbstractController.java:553)  
    at org.jboss.system.ServiceController.doChange(ServiceController.java:688)  
    at org.jboss.system.ServiceController.start(ServiceController.java:460)  
    at org.jboss.system.deployers.ServiceDeployer.start(ServiceDeployer.java:163)  
    at org.jboss.system.deployers.ServiceDeployer.deploy(ServiceDeployer.java:99) 
    at org.jboss.system.deployers.ServiceDeployer.deploy(ServiceDeployer.java:46)  
    at org.jboss.deployers.spi.deployer.helpers.AbstractSimpleRealDeployer.internalDeploy(AbstractSimpleRealDeployer.java:62)  
    at org.jboss.deployers.spi.deployer.helpers.AbstractRealDeployer.deploy(AbstractRealDeployer.java:50)  
    at org.jboss.deployers.plugins.deployers.DeployerWrapper.deploy(DeployerWrapper.java:171)  
    at org.jboss.deployers.plugins.deployers.DeployersImpl.doDeploy(DeployersImpl.java:1439)  
    at org.jboss.deployers.plugins.deployers.DeployersImpl.doInstallParentFirst(DeployersImpl.java:1157)  
    at org.jboss.deployers.plugins.deployers.DeployersImpl.doInstallParentFirst(DeployersImpl.java:1178)  
    at org.jboss.deployers.plugins.deployers.DeployersImpl.install(DeployersImpl.java:1098)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractControllerContext.install(AbstractControllerContext.java:348)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.install(AbstractController.java:1631)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.incrementState(AbstractController.java:934)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.resolveContexts(AbstractController.java:1082)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.resolveContexts(AbstractController.java:984)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.change(AbstractController.java:822)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.change(AbstractController.java:553)  
    at org.jboss.deployers.plugins.deployers.DeployersImpl.process(DeployersImpl.java:781)  
    at org.jboss.deployers.plugins.main.MainDeployerImpl.process(MainDeployerImpl.java:702)  
    at org.jboss.system.server.profileservice.repository.MainDeployerAdapter.process(MainDeployerAdapter.java:117)  
    at org.jboss.system.server.profileservice.repository.ProfileDeployAction.install(ProfileDeployAction.java:70)  
    at org.jboss.system.server.profileservice.repository.AbstractProfileAction.install(AbstractProfileAction.java:53)  
    at org.jboss.system.server.profileservice.repository.AbstractProfileService.install(AbstractProfileService.java:361)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractControllerContext.install(AbstractControllerContext.java:348)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.install(AbstractController.java:1631)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.incrementState(AbstractController.java:934)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.resolveContexts(AbstractController.java:1082)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.resolveContexts(AbstractController.java:984)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.change(AbstractController.java:822)  
    at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.change(AbstractController.java:553)  
    at org.jboss.system.server.profileservice.repository.AbstractProfileService.activateProfile(AbstractProfileService.java:306)  
    at org.jboss.system.server.profileservice.ProfileServiceBootstrap.start(ProfileServiceBootstrap.java:271)  
    at org.jboss.bootstrap.AbstractServerImpl.start(AbstractServerImpl.java:461)  
    at org.jboss.Main.boot(Main.java:221)  
    at org.jboss.Main$1.run(Main.java:556)  
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)  

Here's my project structure:

• /src/struts.xml
• /src/struts2demo/login/action/Login.java
• /WebContent/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
• /WebContent/WEB-INF/web.xml
• /WebContent/home.jsp
• /WebContent/login.jsp

Here's my config files: web.xml:

<?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">  
    <display-name>struts2demo</display-name>  
    <filter>  
        <filter-name>struts2</filter-name>  
        <filter-class>org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ng.filter.StrutsPrepareAndExecuteFilter</filter-class>  
    </filter>  
    <filter-mapping>  
        <filter-name>struts2</filter-name>  
        <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>  
    </filter-mapping>  
    <welcome-file-list>  
        <welcome-file>login.jsp</welcome-file>  
    </welcome-file-list>  
</web-app>  

NOTE: I get a similar error when my filter-class is org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.FilterDispatcher.

struts.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>  
<!DOCTYPE struts PUBLIC  
    "-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Struts Configuration 2.0//EN"  
    "http://struts.apache.org/dtds/struts-2.0.dtd"&gt;   
<struts>  
    <package name="struts2demo" extends="struts-default">  
        <action name="Login"  
            class="struts2demo.login.action.Login">  
            <result>/home.jsp</result>  
            <result name="error">/login.jsp</result>  
        </action>  
    </package>  
</struts>  

.classpath:

Answer 1

Could you compare your web.xml and struts.xml files to this tutorial (although it uses apache-tomcat 6 Server and not JBoss)

Even if this error has been reported in the comment, the tutorial does work.

---

I do find your class in thisStruts-2.1.8.tgz (see docjar), if the relevant jar in struts download is referenced in Struts download, this should be ok.

WEB-INF
  lib
    struts-core2.1.8.jar

Answer 2

Sounds like you may not have the Struts 2 JAR files in your classpath. Go to your project properties -> Java Build Path -> Libraries and make sure the necessary Struts 2 JAR files are all listed under Web App Libraries.