Cannot JUnit test using Spring

Question

My test is defined as follows:

package com.mytest;

@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
@ContextConfiguration
public class SpringTestCase { 

    @Test
    public void testSave_success() {
        fail("Not implemented");
    }
}

My intention is to just run this test and fail!

My test's spring configuration file is located in:

 /com/mytest/SpringTestCase-context.xml

The contents of my spring configuration file are as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans" 
       xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
       xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans 
           http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.5.xsd">

</beans>

When i run my test i get the following exception:

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/springframework/core/AttributeAccessorSupport
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:634)
    at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:142)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:277)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$000(URLClassLoader.java:73)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:212)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:205)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:321)
    at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:294)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:266)
    at org.springframework.test.context.TestContextManager.<init>(TestContextManager.java:117)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.createTestContextManager(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:119)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.<init>(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:108)
    at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)
    at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:532)
    at org.junit.internal.builders.AnnotatedBuilder.buildRunner(AnnotatedBuilder.java:31)
    at org.junit.internal.builders.AnnotatedBuilder.runnerForClass(AnnotatedBuilder.java:24)
    at org.junit.runners.model.RunnerBuilder.safeRunnerForClass(RunnerBuilder.java:57)
    at org.junit.internal.builders.AllDefaultPossibilitiesBuilder.runnerForClass(AllDefaultPossibilitiesBuilder.java:29)
    at org.junit.runners.model.RunnerBuilder.safeRunnerForClass(RunnerBuilder.java:57)
    at org.junit.internal.requests.ClassRequest.getRunner(ClassRequest.java:24)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.junit4.JUnit4TestSet.execute(JUnit4TestSet.java:51)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.junit4.JUnit4Provider.executeTestSet(JUnit4Provider.java:123)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.junit4.JUnit4Provider.invoke(JUnit4Provider.java:104)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:616)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.util.ReflectionUtils.invokeMethodWithArray(ReflectionUtils.java:164)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.booter.ProviderFactory$ProviderProxy.invoke(ProviderFactory.java:110)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.booter.SurefireStarter.invokeProvider(SurefireStarter.java:175)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.booter.SurefireStarter.runSuitesInProcessWhenForked(SurefireStarter.java:107)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.booter.ForkedBooter.main(ForkedBooter.java:68)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.springframework.core.AttributeAccessorSupport
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:217)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:205)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:321)
    at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:294)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:266)
    ... 36 more

I am using maven with the following spring version set:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-test</artifactId>
    <version>3.1.1.RELEASE</version>
    <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>junit</groupId>
    <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
    <version>4.10</version>
    <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>

I would be grateful for any help on this.

EDIT:

Someone suggested adding spring-core dependency as well. Although i doubt if it would make a difference, i did add it and here's what the exception looks like:

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/springframework/beans/BeanUtils
    at org.springframework.test.context.ContextLoaderUtils.resolveContextLoader(ContextLoaderUtils.java:87)
    at org.springframework.test.context.ContextLoaderUtils.buildMergedContextConfiguration(ContextLoaderUtils.java:298)
    at org.springframework.test.context.TestContext.<init>(TestContext.java:100)
    at org.springframework.test.context.TestContextManager.<init>(TestContextManager.java:117)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.createTestContextManager(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:119)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.<init>(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:108)
    at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)
    at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:532)
    at org.junit.internal.builders.AnnotatedBuilder.buildRunner(AnnotatedBuilder.java:31)
    at org.junit.internal.builders.AnnotatedBuilder.runnerForClass(AnnotatedBuilder.java:24)
    at org.junit.runners.model.RunnerBuilder.safeRunnerForClass(RunnerBuilder.java:57)
    at org.junit.internal.builders.AllDefaultPossibilitiesBuilder.runnerForClass(AllDefaultPossibilitiesBuilder.java:29)
    at org.junit.runners.model.RunnerBuilder.safeRunnerForClass(RunnerBuilder.java:57)
    at org.junit.internal.requests.ClassRequest.getRunner(ClassRequest.java:24)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.junit4.JUnit4TestSet.execute(JUnit4TestSet.java:51)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.junit4.JUnit4Provider.executeTestSet(JUnit4Provider.java:123)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.junit4.JUnit4Provider.invoke(JUnit4Provider.java:104)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:616)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.util.ReflectionUtils.invokeMethodWithArray(ReflectionUtils.java:164)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.booter.ProviderFactory$ProviderProxy.invoke(ProviderFactory.java:110)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.booter.SurefireStarter.invokeProvider(SurefireStarter.java:175)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.booter.SurefireStarter.runSuitesInProcessWhenForked(SurefireStarter.java:107)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.booter.ForkedBooter.main(ForkedBooter.java:68)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.springframework.beans.BeanUtils
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:217)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:205)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:321)
    at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:294)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:266)
    ... 28 more

Solution

Is that your whole pom? if not you need to include spring-core, as spring-test only has it as an optional dependency

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
  <artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
  <version>${project.version}</version>
  <optional>true</optional>
</dependency>

What optional means in the context of maven:

Indicates the dependency is optional for use of this library. While the version of the dependency will be taken into account for dependency calculation if the library is used elsewhere, it will not be passed on transitively.

You may need to include other spring libraries depending upon what you end up testing.

I was able to get your test running including the following Spring dependencies along with spring-test:

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
        <version>3.1.1.RELEASE</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-test</artifactId>
        <version>3.1.1.RELEASE</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-beans</artifactId>
        <version>3.1.1.RELEASE</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
        <version>3.1.1.RELEASE</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>

Comments

[Lefteris Laskaridis]

Many thanks. I already tried that and worked but you deserve the answer nevertheless.

[RHE]

The issue I had was I missed the 'spring-test' dependency. As I was using spring-boot I thought it was already included. Thanks a lot!