Changing location of dispatcher-servlet.xml not working

Question

Already defined in the web.xml the location for dispatcher servlet as [/WEB-INF/config/dispatcher-servlet.xml] in the context-param, still why it is looking for [/WEB-INF/dispatcher-servlet.xml].

This will work when putiing the dipatcher-servlet at [/WEB-INF/config/dispatcher-servlet.xml] as well as at [/WEB-INF/dispatcher-servlet.xml] then only it is working.

How it is behaving in such a way ? If changing its current location to [/WEB-INF/config/dispatcher-servlet.xml] why it search at this [/WEB-INF/dispatcher-servlet.xml] location also ?

web.xml

<servlet>
        <servlet-name>dispatcher</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet</servlet-class>
        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>  

    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>dispatcher</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

    <listener>
        <listener-class>org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener</listener-class>
    </listener>

    <context-param>
        <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
        <param-value>
            /WEB-INF/config/dispatcher-servlet.xml,
            /WEB-INF/config/spring-security.xml,
            /WEB-INF/config/database-config.xml
        </param-value>
    </context-param>

Error:

May 01, 2016 3:55:49 AM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: Initializing Spring FrameworkServlet 'dispatcher'
2016-05-01 03:55:49 INFO  DispatcherServlet:488 - FrameworkServlet 'dispatcher': initialization started
2016-05-01 03:55:49 INFO  XmlWebApplicationContext:578 - Refreshing WebApplicationContext for namespace 'dispatcher-servlet': startup date [Sun May 01 03:55:49 IST 2016]; parent: Root WebApplicationContext
2016-05-01 03:55:49 INFO  XmlBeanDefinitionReader:317 - Loading XML bean definitions from ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/dispatcher-servlet.xml]
May 01, 2016 3:55:49 AM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
SEVERE: StandardWrapper.Throwable
org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: IOException parsing XML document from ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/dispatcher-servlet.xml]; nested exception is java.io.FileNotFoundException: Could not open ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/dispatcher-servlet.xml]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:344)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:304)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:181)

asg asg · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-01T03:41:54

You have defined your Dispatcher servlet like this:

<servlet>
   <servlet-name>dispatcher</servlet-name>
   <servlet-class>org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet</servlet-class>
   <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

So by default, it will look for the dispatcher servlet file (dispatcher-servlet.xml) in your classpath (Your servlet name appended by '-servlet.xml').

You have defined dispatcher-servlet.xml but you have kept it under the location /WEB-INF/config/. So provide this location for your dispatcher servlet xml file. Following configuration should work for you.

<servlet>
    <servlet-name>dispatcher</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>
        org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet
    </servlet-class>
    <init-param>
        <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
        <param-value>
            /WEB-INF/conf/dispatcher-servlet.xml
        </param-value>
    </init-param>
    <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

Changing location of dispatcher-servlet.xml not working

2 Answers