Getting java.lang.NoSuchMethodException: Property 'xx' has no setter method in class 'class xx' while using PropertyUtils.setSimpleProperty function

Question

I am using PropertyUtils.setSimpleProperty to invoke my setter method dynamically, but for some reason I keep on getting error. Need your assistance to figure out the root cause. Here is my code:

class FileDt {
    String reportName=null;
    String reportLocation=null;

    public String getReportName() {
        return reportName;
    }
    public void setReportName(String reportName) {
        this.reportName = reportName;
    }
    public String getReportLocation() {
        return reportLocation;
    }
    public void setReportLocation(String reportLocation) {
        this.reportLocation = reportLocation;
    }
}

class Foo {
    public static void main (String... args) {
        FileDt dt = newFileDt();
        // #1
        PropertyUtilsBean.setSimpleProperty(dt, "reportName", "abc.html");
        // #2
        PropertyUtilsBean.setSimpleProperty(dt, "reportLocation", "c://");
    }
}

Both of these methods throw exception

1. Caused by: java.lang.NoSuchMethodException: Property 'reportName' has no setter method in class 'class FileDt' at org.apache.commons.beanutils.PropertyUtilsBean.setSimpleProperty(PropertyUtilsBean.java:2096)

2. Caused by: java.lang.NoSuchMethodException: Property 'reportLocation' has no setter method in class 'class FileDt' at org.apache.commons.beanutils.PropertyUtilsBean.setSimpleProperty(PropertyUtilsBean.java:2096)

Answer 1

PropertyUtilsBean.setSimpleProperty(Object bean, String name, Object value)) works with public methods only. It looks like your class uses package scope (missing public keyword in class definition).

Running following example:

import org.apache.commons.beanutils.PropertyUtils;

import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;

class FileDt {
    String reportName;
    String reportLocation;

    public String getReportName() {
        return reportName;
    }

    public void setReportName(String reportName) {
        this.reportName = reportName;
    }

    public String getReportLocation() {
        return reportLocation;
    }

    public void setReportLocation(String reportLocation) {
        this.reportLocation = reportLocation;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IllegalAccessException, NoSuchMethodException, InvocationTargetException {
        FileDt dt = new FileDt();
        // #1
        PropertyUtils.setSimpleProperty(dt, "reportName", "abc.html");
        // #2
        PropertyUtils.setSimpleProperty(dt, "reportLocation", "c://");
    }
}

throws an exception you have described:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoSuchMethodException: Property 'reportName' has no setter method in class 'class FileDt'
    at org.apache.commons.beanutils.PropertyUtilsBean.setSimpleProperty(PropertyUtilsBean.java:2096)
    at org.apache.commons.beanutils.PropertyUtils.setSimpleProperty(PropertyUtils.java:928)
    at FileDt.main(FileDt.java:28)

Making your class public solves the problem:

import org.apache.commons.beanutils.PropertyUtils;

import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;

public class FileDt {
    String reportName;
    String reportLocation;

    public String getReportName() {
        return reportName;
    }

    public void setReportName(String reportName) {
        this.reportName = reportName;
    }

    public String getReportLocation() {
        return reportLocation;
    }

    public void setReportLocation(String reportLocation) {
        this.reportLocation = reportLocation;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IllegalAccessException, NoSuchMethodException, InvocationTargetException {
        FileDt dt = new FileDt();
        // #1
        PropertyUtils.setSimpleProperty(dt, "reportName", "abc.html");
        // #2
        PropertyUtils.setSimpleProperty(dt, "reportLocation", "c://");
    }
}