ClassNotFoundException: javax.validation.ValidatorFactory

Question

I am trying to run a Spring MVC application in my local machine through Tomcat, but I am seeing:

NoClassDefFoundError: javax/validation/ValidatorFactory

I have validation-api-1.0.0.GA.jar in webapp's lib folder. I am using Tomcat 7. Any guidance would be appreciated.

org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: Unexpected exception parsing XML document from ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/dispatcher-servlet.xml]; nested exception is java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/validation/ValidatorFactory
    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.web.context.support.XmlWebApplicationContext.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlWebApplicationContext.java:124)
    at org.springframework.web.context.support.XmlWebApplicationContext.loadBeanDefinitions(XmlWebApplicationContext.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.web.context.ContextLoader.createWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:276)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:197)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:47)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:4887)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5381)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1559)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1549)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:303)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:138)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:886)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:908)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)
Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/validation/ValidatorFactory
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClassCond(ClassLoader.java:631)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:615)
    at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:141)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:283)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$000(URLClassLoader.java:58)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:197)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:190)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:306)
    at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:301)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:247)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1629)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1559)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.config.AnnotationDrivenBeanDefinitionParser.getValidator(AnnotationDrivenBeanDefinitionParser.java:159)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.config.AnnotationDrivenBeanDefinitionParser.parse(AnnotationDrivenBeanDefinitionParser.java:106)
    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:184)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.doRegisterBeanDefinitions(DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java:140)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.registerBeanDefinitions(DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java:111)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.registerBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:493)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader.doLoadBeanDefinitions(XmlBeanDefinitionReader.java:390)
    ... 23 more
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: javax.validation.ValidatorFactory
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:202)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:190)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:306)
    at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:301)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:247)

Complete set of jar files I am using is

antlr-2.7.6.jar
antlr-runtime-3.0.jar
aopalliance-1.0.jar
asm-3.3.1.jar
aspectjrt.jar
aspectjweaver-1.6.6.jar
cglib-2.2.2.jar
commons-beanutils-1.8.0.jar
commons-collections-3.2.1.jar
commons-digester-2.0.jar
commons-lang-2.3.jar
commons-logging-1.1.1.jar
displaytag-1.2.jar
dom.jar
dom4j.jar
hibernate-validator-4.2.0.Final.jar
hibernate-validator-annotation-processor-4.2.0.Final.jar
jackson-all-1.8.10.jar
jaxp-api.jar
jaxp-ri.jar
jaxrpc.jar
jdom.jar
jstl-1.2.jar
log4j-1.2.15.jar
ojdbc6.jar
org.springframework.aop-3.0.5.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.asm-3.0.5.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.aspects-3.0.5.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.beans-3.0.5.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.context-3.0.5.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.context.support-3.0.5.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.core-3.0.5.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.expression-3.0.5.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.jdbc-3.0.5.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.transaction-3.0.5.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.web-3.0.5.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.web.servlet-3.0.5.RELEASE.jar
org.springframework.web.struts-3.0.5.RELEASE.jar
sax.jar
SecurityFilter.jar
slf4j-api-1.6.4.jar
slf4j-log4j12-1.6.4.jar
tiles-api-2.2.2.jar
tiles-core-2.2.2.jar
tiles-extras-2.2.2.jar
tiles-jsp-2.2.2.jar
tiles-servlet-2.2.2.jar
tiles-servlet-wildcard-2.2.2.jar
tiles-template-2.2.2.jar
validation-api-1.0.0.GA.jar

Answer 1

You have the necessary jar file you need in hibernate-validator. This jar includes the javax.validation.ValidatorFactoryvalidation-api. So if you are including validation-api explicitly, you might have dependency conflicts. If not, you might just be having class reloading issues. Try cleaning your tomcat and restarting your IDE.