Run-time error with useBean

[Ajem Jehi]

When I tried to follow J2SE tutorial on JSP and instantiated a bean on line 28 with

<jsp:useBean id="classId" scope="application" class="packagename.ejbClassName"/>

the project (consisting of ejb and web app) compiled, but I got a run time error.
When I used NetBeans code completion to build the above command, it saw the packagebame package, ejbClassName within that package, and even saw the property under classId variable.
Then it threw the error, like I said:

org.apache.jasper.JasperException: PWC6033: Error in Javac compilation for JSP

PWC6197: An error occurred at line: 28 in the jsp file: /index.jsp
PWC6199: Generated servlet error:
package packagename does not exist

PWC6197: An error occurred at line: 28 in the jsp file: /index.jsp
PWC6199: Generated servlet error:
package packagename does not exist

PWC6197: An error occurred at line: 28 in the jsp file: /index.jsp
PWC6199: Generated servlet error:
package packagename does not exist

What am I doing wrong?

[Ajem Jehi]

Actually, it seems to me that the error is run-time. But being new to JSP I might be mistaken.
The error is thrown when I access JSP in the browser.

[Frits Walraven]

Hi Ajem!

Welcome to Javaranch!!

Can you tell us how the structure of you war file looks like?

When you start studying web components it is advisable to build you war files by hand. This way you will learn and understand where to put files in the standard war structure. When you use an IDE like Netbeans or Eclipse a lot of details are hidden from you.

Just have a look at How to create a Web Application without an IDE.

Regards,
Frits

[Ajem Jehi]

Someone told me that in order for the package to be found, it has to be under WEB-INF/classes
I created WEB-INF/classes/packagename directory and copied over the *.class files (or simply copied entire package directory over).
Was still getting error instantiating EJB.
What I found was that both

<%@page import="packagename.ejbClassName" %>

and

<jsp:useBean id="blconfig" scope="application" class="packagename.ejbClassName"/>

were required for the class to be instantiated while package folder was under WEB-INF.
Everything is working now even though I am getting annoying errors from NetBeans about WAR deployment failing.
Those can be solved by Clean/Build on the whole app and re-copying the package folder. What a mess!

[Frits Walraven]

Someone told me that in order for the package to be found, it has to be under WEB-INF/classes

That is correct, and you don't have to import them in your jsp.

Things get messy if you interfere (by copying the class files yourself) with the normal NetBeans setup. Just follow my advice and build your war by hand by using notepad and tomcat.

Regards,
Frits

[Ajem Jehi]

Frits Walraven wrote:
Things get messy if you interfere (by copying the class files yourself) with the normal NetBeans setup. Just follow my advice and build your war by hand by using notepad and tomcat.

Quite amazingly, once I added a servlet to the web application of that project, I no longer need to copy over the package directory with the EJB classes and everything works without them under WEB-INF. The project just requires clean/build every time I change something (i.e. autodeploy does not work).

[Frits Walraven]

I guess by adding the Servlet, NetBeans decided that it had to be deployed as a war file...

Regards,
Frits