Spring: nested exception is java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/aopalliance/aop/Advice

Question

Stack trace:

Oct 24, 2014 8:12:04 AM org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext prepareRefresh
INFO: Refreshing org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext@50df2e: startup date [Fri Oct 24 08:12:04 IST 2014]; root of context hierarchy
Oct 24, 2014 8:12:05 AM org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader loadBeanDefinitions
INFO: Loading XML bean definitions from class path resource [knights-aop.xml]
Exception in thread "main" org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: Unexpected exception parsing XML document from class path resource [knights-aop.xml]; nested exception is java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/aopalliance/aop/Advice
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.doLoadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:412)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:334)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:302)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:174)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:209)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:180)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractBeanDefinitionReader.java:243)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractXmlApplicationContext.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractXmlApplicationContext.java:127)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractXmlApplicationContext.loadBeanDefinitions(AbstractXmlApplicationContext.java:93)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.refreshBeanFactory(AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext.java:130)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.obtainFreshBeanFactory(AbstractApplicationContext.java:537)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:451)
    at org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.<init>(ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.java:139)
    at org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.<init>(ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.java:83)
    at com.java.spring.SpringDemo.main(SpringDemo.java:12)
Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/aopalliance/aop/Advice
    at org.springframework.aop.config.ConfigBeanDefinitionParser.getAdviceClass(ConfigBeanDefinitionParser.java:410)
    at org.springframework.aop.config.ConfigBeanDefinitionParser.createAdviceDefinition(ConfigBeanDefinitionParser.java:366)
    at org.springframework.aop.config.ConfigBeanDefinitionParser.parseAdvice(ConfigBeanDefinitionParser.java:332)
    at org.springframework.aop.config.ConfigBeanDefinitionParser.parseAspect(ConfigBeanDefinitionParser.java:227)
    at org.springframework.aop.config.ConfigBeanDefinitionParser.parse(ConfigBeanDefinitionParser.java:115)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.NamespaceHandlerSupport.parse(NamespaceHandlerSupport.java:73)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.parseCustomElement(BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.java:1438)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.parseCustomElement(BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.java:1428)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.parseBeanDefinitions(DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java:195)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.doRegisterBeanDefinitions(DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java:139)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.registerBeanDefinitions(DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java:108)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.registerBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:493)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.doLoadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:390)
    ... 14 more

config xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
 xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
 xmlns:aop="http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop"
 xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans 
    http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.0.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop 
    http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop-3.0.xsd">

  <bean id="knight" class="com.java.spring.BraveKnight">
    <constructor-arg ref="quest" />
  </bean>

  <bean id="quest" class="com.java.spring.ResqueDamselQuest" />

  <bean id="minstrel" 
     class="com.java.spring.Minstrel" /> <!--<co id="co_minstrel_bean"/>-->

  <aop:config>
    <aop:aspect ref="minstrel">

      <aop:pointcut id="embark" 
          expression="execution(* *.embarkOnQuest(..))" /> <!--<co id="co_define_pointcut"/>-->

      <aop:before pointcut-ref="embark"
                  method="singBeforeQuest"/>    <!--<co id="co_minstrel_before_advice"/>-->

      <aop:after pointcut-ref="embark"
                 method="singAfterQuest"/>     <!--<co id="co_minstrel_after_advice"/>-->

    </aop:aspect>
  </aop:config>
</beans>

My main class:

public class SpringDemo {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        final ApplicationContext applicationContext = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("knights-aop.xml");
        final Knight braveKnight = (Knight) applicationContext.getBean("knight");
        braveKnight.embarkOnQuest();
    }
}

I also tried adding: aopalliance.jar & aopalliance-alpha1.jar individually and together but the error won't go away.

There are similar questions here on SO: spring nested exception is java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/aopalliance/aop/Advice

###########EDIT###########Update: Other classes in the project##
Minstrel.java

package com.java.spring;

    public class Minstrel {
        public void singBeforeQuest(){
            System.out.println("Fa la la Theknight is so brave!");
        }
        public void singAfterQuest(){
            System.out.println(
                    "Tee hee he The brave knight did embark on a quest!");
        }
    }

BraveKnight.java

package com.java.spring;

public class BraveKnight implements Knight {
    private Quest quest;

    BraveKnight(Quest quest) {
        this.quest = quest;
    }

    @Override
    public void embarkOnQuest() {
        quest.embark();
    }
}

RescueDamselQuest.java

package com.java.spring;

    public class RescueDamselQuest implements Quest {

        @Override
        public void embark() {
            System.out.println("Damsel rescue quest is on.");
        }
    }

I am using Spring 3.2
##################EDIT2##################
I am not using Maven. Please don't provide Maven related solution unless Spring AOP is impossible without it.
Project Snap:

Inside SPRING LIBRARY I have all the jar that got downloaded with Spring. Is it possible that some spring specific jar conflicting with aopalliance jar?

If anyone has some similar & simple working example without Maven, please provide it.

Thanks
~Mohit

Answer 1

It looks like you only add the aopalliance jar to the build classpath of your IDE (Eclipse ?). That explains that the IDE shows no error and accepts to build the application. But in fact, you must also add it to the run classpath.

Depending on the IDE you use, another menu may allow to configure it. But if you want to run it outside the IDE, you must put the jar in your normal classpath, either by putting it along with other existing jars, or (would be better) by changing you user or system classpath to include the folder that contains the jar.

I could elaborate on that if you need and if I know your system ...