tomcat error - HTTP Status 500 - Unable to compile class for JSP

[W Khan]

Hi all,
I have Windows 2000 professional installed with IIS 5.0.

Java installed locations of J2SE, J2EE, Tomcat and JRE
-----------------------------------------------------
C:\j2sdk1.4.1
C:\j2sdkee1.3.1
C:\Tomcat 4.1
C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.1

environment variables are set in "System variables" section
-----------------------------------------------------------
JAVA_HOMEC:\j2sdk1.4.1
J2EE_HOMEC:\j2sdkee1.3.1
CATALINA_HOMEC:\Tomcat 4.1
CLASSPATH%JAVA_HOME%\lib;%JAVA_HOME%\jre;%J2EE_HOME%\lib;%CATALINA_HOME%\common\lib\tools.jar;%CATALINA_HOME%\common\lib\servlet.jar;
and in
PATH%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;C:\PROGRA~1\ULTRAE~1;C:\MSSQL7\BINN;%JAVA_HOME%\bin;%J2EE_HOME%\bin;
tomcat will start fine, sevlets are working fine but i'm getting errors with jsp pages. by putting "http://localhost:8080/index.jsp" url in the browser, i will get the following error, could someone please help me out with this problem. thanks!!!

HTTP Status 500 -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type Exception report
message
description The server encountered an internal error () that prevented it from fulfilling this request.
exception
org.apache.jasper.JasperException: Unable to compile class for JSP
An error occurred at line: -1 in the jsp file: null
Generated servlet error:
[javac] Compiling 1 source file
C:\Tomcat 4.1\work\Standalone\localhost\_\index_jsp.java:266: handlePageException(java.lang.Exception) in javax.servlet.jsp.PageContext cannot be applied to (java.lang.Throwable)
if (pageContext != null) pageContext.handlePageException(t);
^
1 error

at org.apache.jasper.compiler.DefaultErrorHandler.javacError(DefaultErrorHandler.java:120)
at org.apache.jasper.compiler.ErrorDispatcher.javacError(ErrorDispatcher.java:293)
at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.generateClass(Compiler.java:313)
at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.compile(Compiler.java:324)
at org.apache.jasper.JspCompilationContext.compile(JspCompilationContext.java:474)
at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(JspServletWrapper.java:184)
at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:289)
at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:240)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:853)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:247)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:260)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.invoke(StandardContext.java:2396)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:180)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorDispatcherValve.invoke(ErrorDispatcherValve.java:170)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:641)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:172)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:641)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:174)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline$StandardPipelineValveContext.invokeNext(StandardPipeline.java:643)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:480)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:995)
at org.apache.coyote.tomcat4.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:223)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:405)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.processConnection(Http11Protocol.java:380)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.TcpWorkerThread.runIt(PoolTcpEndpoint.java:508)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.ThreadPool$ControlRunnable.run(ThreadPool.java:533)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:536)

[Tim Holloway]

I believe this can happen if you have custom-tag problems, such as unterminated tags. You might find further info in your logfiles.

[srinivasan ganesan]

I got the same error although I have ME on my machine. I'm able to run servlets but I'm getting this error for any JSP that I call from the browser either standalone or called by a servlet.
Any help would be appreciated.

[Mike Curwen]

It's always a good idea to make sure there are no spaces in both JAVA_HOME and CATALINA_HOME (or TOMCAT_HOME).

Rename your 'Tomcat 4.1' directory to 'Tomcat41' for example.

[srinivasan ganesan]

I have figured out what the problem is, atleast on my machine. I had an older version of j2ee SDK in which the handlePageException was only accepting an arguments of type java.lang.Exception but the new spec accepts a Throwable. So you may have to download the latest version which may fix this problem.