java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/faces/FacesException

Question

I'm trying to deploy a web application which I have imported from Eclipse workspace to NetBeans. But it's not getting deployed, instead it's giving me the below exception.

15 Jul, 2011 5:59:04 AM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext listenerStart
SEVERE: Exception sending context initialized event to listener instance of class org.apache.myfaces.component.html.util.StreamingDestroyerListener
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/faces/FacesException
        at org.apache.myfaces.shared_tomahawk.config.MyfacesConfig.<clinit>(MyfacesConfig.java:80)
        at org.apache.myfaces.component.html.util.StreamingDestroyerListener.contextInitialized(StreamingDestroyerListener.java:32)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:3972)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4467)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:791)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:771)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:546)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDescriptor(HostConfig.java:637)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:521)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.check(HostConfig.java:1359)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
        **at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)**
        at org.apache.tomcat.util.modeler.BaseModelMBean.invoke(BaseModelMBean.java:297)
        **at com.sun.jmx.interceptor.DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.invoke(DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.java:836)
        at com.sun.jmx.mbeanserver.JmxMBeanServer.invoke(JmxMBeanServer.java:761)**
        at org.apache.catalina.manager.ManagerServlet.check(ManagerServlet.java:1500)
        at org.apache.catalina.manager.ManagerServlet.deploy(ManagerServlet.java:849)
        at org.apache.catalina.manager.ManagerServlet.doGet(ManagerServlet.java:351)
        at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:617)
        at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:717)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
        at org.netbeans.modules.web.monitor.server.MonitorFilter.doFilter(MonitorFilter.java:199)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:233)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191)
        at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:558)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:127)
        at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
        at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:298)
        at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11AprProcessor.process(Http11AprProcessor.java:859)
        at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11AprProtocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11AprProtocol.java:579)
        at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.AprEndpoint$Worker.run(AprEndpoint.java:1555)
        **at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)**

Am I missing some JARs?

Answer 1

The NoClassDefFoundError means that the class was present in the classpath during compiletime. Tomahawk has somewhere an import javax.faces.FacesException; line in the codebase. That is one of the classes of the core JSF API.

This means that the JSF libraries are missing in the webapp's classpath. The project was in Netbeans apparently associated with a server which is already bundled with JSF such as Glassfish, JBoss AS, etc. The project in Eclipse is seemingly not properly associated with the server, or the server in question does not have JSF bundled such as Tomcat, Jetty, etc.

The stacktrace hints that you're using Tomcat. You need to download JSF separately and drop the JAR files in webapp's /WEB-INF/lib (there where your Tomahawk libraries also are).

Answer 2

Yes, CNF exception always means missing JARs. The class loader can't find this:

javax.faces.FacesException

You find it by cutting & pasting the class name into findjar.com, like this:

http://www.findjar.com/index.x?query=javax.faces.FacesException