MyFaces 1.1.2 installation, configuration, and setup.

[David Ramsey]

I am attempting to use MyFaces 1.1.2 with Tomcat 5.5.15. I have a few simple JSF pages up using the Sun JSF RI and a web.xml that works with those.

I have attempted to create a new web.xml, replacing the Sun JSF RI jars out for the MyFaces jars, but this does not work. The latest examples I can find are for 1.0.9. I cannot find any links anywhere on the MyFaces site that go to any 1.1.2 examples. The installation instructions at the Apache website refer to jars and zips that do not exist in the 1.1.2 implementation. The WOW Wiki is just as out of date.

Consequently, when I attempt to start the simple web app I get the following in the Catalina log file:

SEVERE: Context [/sample_jsf] startup failed due to previous errors
May 15, 2006 3:41:28 PM org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader loadClass
INFO: Illegal access: this web application instance has been stopped already.  Could not load org.apache.xerces.impl.dtd.XMLDTDDescription.  The eventual following stack trace is caused by an error thrown for debugging purposes as well as to attempt to terminate the thread which caused the illegal access, and has no functional impact.
java.lang.IllegalStateException
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1238)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1198)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClassInternal(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.dtd.XMLDTDValidator.doctypeDecl(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLDocumentScannerImpl.scanDoctypeDecl(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLDocumentScannerImpl$PrologDispatcher.dispatch(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanDocument(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse (Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.XMLParser.parse(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.parse (Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.parse(Digester.java:1561)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.applicationWebConfig(ContextConfig.java:350)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.start (ContextConfig.java:1055)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.lifecycleEvent(ContextConfig.java:261)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:119)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4111)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:759)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild (ContainerBase.java:739)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:524)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDescriptor(HostConfig.java:603)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDescriptors (HostConfig.java:535)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:470)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.start(HostConfig.java:1118)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.lifecycleEvent (HostConfig.java:310)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:119)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1020)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start (StandardHost.java:718)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1012)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.start(StandardEngine.java:442)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.start (StandardService.java:450)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.start(StandardServer.java:700)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:551)
    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.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:275)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:413)
May 15, 2006 3:41:28 PM org.apache.commons.modeler.Registry registerComponent
SEVERE: Null component Catalina:type=JspMonitor,name=jsp,WebModule=//localhost/host-manager,J2EEApplication=none,J2EEServer=none
May 15, 2006 3:41:28 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDescriptor
SEVERE: Error deploying configuration descriptor host-manager.xml
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/apache/xerces/impl/dtd/XMLDTDDescription
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.dtd.XMLDTDValidator.doctypeDecl(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLDocumentScannerImpl.scanDoctypeDecl (Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLDocumentScannerImpl$PrologDispatcher.dispatch(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanDocument(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse (Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.XMLParser.parse(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.parse (Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.parse(Digester.java:1561)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.applicationWebConfig(ContextConfig.java:350)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.start (ContextConfig.java:1055)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.lifecycleEvent(ContextConfig.java:261)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:119)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4111)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:759)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild (ContainerBase.java:739)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:524)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDescriptor(HostConfig.java:603)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDescriptors (HostConfig.java:535)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:470)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.start(HostConfig.java:1118)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.lifecycleEvent (HostConfig.java:310)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:119)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1020)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start (StandardHost.java:718)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1012)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.start(StandardEngine.java:442)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.start (StandardService.java:450)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.start(StandardServer.java:700)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:551)
    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.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:275)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:413)


When reviewing this I note that this is an INFO message and that the webapp has already fatally errored during startup but nothing is recorded in my Catalina log files indicating the error.

Here is my web.xml contents:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app version="2.4" xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee " xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee/web-app_2_4.xsd"
  xmlns:xsd="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee/web-app_2_4.xsd ">
    <context-param>
        <param-name>javax.faces.CONFIG_FILES</param-name>
        <param-value>
            /WEB-INF/faces-config.xml
        </param-value>
        <description>
            Comma separated list of URIs of (additional) faces config files.
            (e.g. /WEB-INF/my-config.xml)
            See JSF 1.0 PRD2, 10.3.2
        </description>
    </context-param>

    <context-param>
        <param-name>javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD</param-name>
        <param-value>client</param-value>
        <description>
            State saving method: "client" or "server" (= default)
            See JSF Specification 2.5.2
        </description>
    </context-param>

    <context-param>
        <param-name>org.apache.myfaces.ALLOW_JAVASCRIPT</param-name>
        <param-value>true</param-value>
        <description>
            This parameter tells MyFaces if _javascript_ code should be allowed in the
            rendered HTML output.
            If _javascript_ is allowed, command_link anchors will have _javascript_ code
            that submits the corresponding form.
            If _javascript_ is not allowed, the state saving info and nested parameters
            will be added as url parameters.
            Default: "true"
        </description>
    </context-param>

    <context-param>
        <param-name>org.apache.myfaces.PRETTY_HTML </param-name>
        <param-value>true</param-value>
        <description>
            If true, rendered HTML code will be formatted, so that it is "human readable".
            i.e. additional line separators and whitespace will be written, that do not
            influence the HTML code.
            Default: "true"
        </description>
    </context-param>

    <context-param>
        <param-name>org.apache.myfaces.DETECT_JAVASCRIPT</param-name>
        <param-value>false</param-value>
    </context-param>

    <context-param>
        <param-name>org.apache.myfaces.AUTO_SCROLL</param-name>
        <param-value>true</param-value>
        <description>
            If true, a _javascript_ function will be rendered that is able to restore the
            former vertical scroll on every request. Convenient feature if you have pages
            with long lists and you do not want the browser page to always jump to the top
            if you trigger a link or button action that stays on the same page.
            Default: "false"
        </description>
    </context-param>

    <!-- Listener, that does all the startup work (configuration, init). -->
    <listener>
        <listener-class>org.apache.myfaces.webapp.StartupServletContextListener</listener-class>
    </listener>

    <!-- Faces Servlet -->
    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet</servlet-class>
        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>

    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>*.faces</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>
</web-app>

The jars in my WEB-INF/lib directory are:

commons-beanutils-1.7.0.jar
commons-codec-1.3.jar
commons-collections-3.1.jar
commons-digester-1.6.jar
commons-fileupload-1.0.jar
commons-httpclient.jar
commons-lang-2.1.jar
commons-logging-1.0.4.jar
jstl-1.1.0.jar
log4j-1.2.13.jar
myfaces-api-1.1.3.jar
myfaces-impl-1.1.3.jar


The above error in the Catalina log file repeats periodically with the log file rapidly growing to excessive sizes even though the webapp has failed initialization and is "offline".


I have gone back and gotten the RI setup working. My web.xml for that is:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app version="2.4" xmlns=" http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation=" http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee/web-app_2_4.xsd"
  xmlns:xsd=" http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee/web-app_2_4.xsd">
  <servlet>
    <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet</servlet-class>
    <load-on-startup>0</load-on-startup>
  </servlet>
  <servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>*.faces</url-pattern>
  </servlet-mapping>
  <servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/faces/*</url-pattern>
  </servlet-mapping>

  <context-param>
    <param-name>javax.faces.CONFIG_FILES</param-name>
    <param-value>/WEB-INF/faces-config.xml</param-value>
  </context-param>

  <context-param>
    <param-name> javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD</param-name>
    <param-value>client</param-value>
  </context-param>
</web-app>

My faces-config.xml file is currently empty to start:
<?xml version=" 1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!-- DOCTYPE faces-config PUBLIC "-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD JavaServer Faces Config 1.1//EN" "http://java.sun.com/dtd/web-facesconfig_1_1.dtd " -->
<faces-config>
  <!-- Navigation rules -->
  <!-- Managed beans -->
</faces-config>



I am new to JSF and the lack of any meaningful error messages has me stumped as to why this is not installing and starting. Can anyone point me to 1.1.2 specific installation hints, tips, etc.? At the current time I find myself unable to use 1.1.2. Should I roll back to a previous version? Note that the error above does not occur with the Sun JSF RI installed and that I can then at least get to the barebones webapp and begin learning more about JSF controls in JSPs.

Thanks in advance for any assistance here.