Returning an entity via remote EJB results in - java.lang.NullPointerException at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.orbutil.ClassInfoCache$ClassInfo.<init>

Question

I'm trying to create an enterprise web application in the following environment.

• NetBeans 7.2.1
• Glassfish Server 3.1.2 (containing the Servlet 3.0 API)
• EJB 3.1
• JPA 2.0
• JSF 2.1
• jdk 1.7
• Oracle 10g

I have created a Class Library (New Project -> Java -> Java Class Library) to place remote (javax.ejb.Remote) interface(s) which is to be implemented by a stateless session bean. The Class Library has been added to the class path of both of the modules (EJB and WAR).

I have placed the remote interface and all the entity classes in the Class Library (I don't know this is the way).

This works fine with interfaces annotated with @Local. It even works with @Remote but fails with the following exception when JPA involves, when I try to return a list of objects of an entity.

java.rmi.MarshalException: CORBA MARSHAL 1330446347 Maybe; nested exception is: org.omg.CORBA.MARSHAL: WARNING: IOP00810011: Exception from readValue on ValueHandler in CDRInputStream vmcid: OMG minor code: 11 completed: Maybe

The full stacktrace.

javax.ejb.EJBException: java.rmi.MarshalException: CORBA MARSHAL 1330446347 Maybe; nested exception is: 
    org.omg.CORBA.MARSHAL: WARNING: IOP00810011: Exception from readValue on ValueHandler in CDRInputStream  vmcid: OMG  minor code: 11 completed: Maybe
    at remote.admin.sessionbeans._AdminRemoteSessionBeanRemote_Wrapper.getZones(remote/admin/sessionbeans/_AdminRemoteSessionBeanRemote_Wrapper.java)
    at managedbeans.ZoneBean.getZones(ZoneBean.java:27)
    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:601)
    at javax.el.BeanELResolver.getValue(BeanELResolver.java:363)
    at com.sun.faces.el.DemuxCompositeELResolver._getValue(DemuxCompositeELResolver.java:176)
    at com.sun.faces.el.DemuxCompositeELResolver.getValue(DemuxCompositeELResolver.java:203)
    at com.sun.el.parser.AstValue.getValue(AstValue.java:138)
    at com.sun.el.parser.AstValue.getValue(AstValue.java:183)
    at com.sun.el.ValueExpressionImpl.getValue(ValueExpressionImpl.java:224)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.el.TagValueExpression.getValue(TagValueExpression.java:109)
    at javax.faces.component.ComponentStateHelper.eval(ComponentStateHelper.java:194)
    at javax.faces.component.ComponentStateHelper.eval(ComponentStateHelper.java:182)
    at javax.faces.component.UIData.getValue(UIData.java:731)
    at javax.faces.component.UIData.getDataModel(UIData.java:1798)
    at javax.faces.component.UIData.setRowIndexWithoutRowStatePreserved(UIData.java:484)
    at javax.faces.component.UIData.setRowIndex(UIData.java:473)
    at com.sun.faces.renderkit.html_basic.TableRenderer.encodeBegin(TableRenderer.java:81)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.encodeBegin(UIComponentBase.java:820)
    at javax.faces.component.UIData.encodeBegin(UIData.java:1118)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1755)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1760)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1760)
    at com.sun.faces.application.view.FaceletViewHandlingStrategy.renderView(FaceletViewHandlingStrategy.java:402)
    at com.sun.faces.application.view.MultiViewHandler.renderView(MultiViewHandler.java:131)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RenderResponsePhase.execute(RenderResponsePhase.java:121)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.Phase.doPhase(Phase.java:101)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.render(LifecycleImpl.java:139)
    at javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:594)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.service(StandardWrapper.java:1550)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:281)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:175)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.doInvoke(StandardPipeline.java:655)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:595)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:161)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.doService(CoyoteAdapter.java:331)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:231)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ContainerMapper$AdapterCallable.call(ContainerMapper.java:317)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ContainerMapper.service(ContainerMapper.java:195)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.invokeAdapter(ProcessorTask.java:860)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.doProcess(ProcessorTask.java:757)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.process(ProcessorTask.java:1056)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.DefaultProtocolFilter.execute(DefaultProtocolFilter.java:229)
    at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.executeProtocolFilter(DefaultProtocolChain.java:137)
    at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.execute(DefaultProtocolChain.java:104)
    at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.execute(DefaultProtocolChain.java:90)
    at com.sun.grizzly.http.HttpProtocolChain.execute(HttpProtocolChain.java:79)
    at com.sun.grizzly.ProtocolChainContextTask.doCall(ProtocolChainContextTask.java:54)
    at com.sun.grizzly.SelectionKeyContextTask.call(SelectionKeyContextTask.java:59)
    at com.sun.grizzly.ContextTask.run(ContextTask.java:71)
    at com.sun.grizzly.util.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.doWork(AbstractThreadPool.java:532)
    at com.sun.grizzly.util.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.run(AbstractThreadPool.java:513)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722)
Caused by: java.rmi.MarshalException: CORBA MARSHAL 1330446347 Maybe; nested exception is: 
    org.omg.CORBA.MARSHAL: WARNING: IOP00810011: Exception from readValue on ValueHandler in CDRInputStream  vmcid: OMG  minor code: 11 completed: Maybe
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.javax.rmi.CORBA.Util.mapSystemException(Util.java:267)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.javax.rmi.CORBA.Util.wrapException(Util.java:696)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.presentation.rmi.StubInvocationHandlerImpl.privateInvoke(StubInvocationHandlerImpl.java:259)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.presentation.rmi.StubInvocationHandlerImpl.invoke(StubInvocationHandlerImpl.java:152)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.presentation.rmi.codegen.CodegenStubBase.invoke(CodegenStubBase.java:227)
    at remote.admin.sessionbeans.__AdminRemoteSessionBeanRemote_Remote_DynamicStub.getZones(remote/admin/sessionbeans/__AdminRemoteSessionBeanRemote_Remote_DynamicStub.java)
    ... 55 more
Caused by: org.omg.CORBA.MARSHAL: WARNING: IOP00810011: Exception from readValue on ValueHandler in CDRInputStream  vmcid: OMG  minor code: 11 completed: Maybe
    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:525)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.spi.orbutil.logex.corba.CorbaExtension.makeException(CorbaExtension.java:248)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.spi.orbutil.logex.corba.CorbaExtension.makeException(CorbaExtension.java:95)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.spi.orbutil.logex.WrapperGenerator.handleFullLogging(WrapperGenerator.java:387)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.spi.orbutil.logex.WrapperGenerator.access$400(WrapperGenerator.java:107)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.spi.orbutil.logex.WrapperGenerator$2.invoke(WrapperGenerator.java:511)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.spi.orbutil.proxy.CompositeInvocationHandlerImpl.invoke(CompositeInvocationHandlerImpl.java:99)
    at $Proxy193.valuehandlerReadException(Unknown Source)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.encoding.CDRInputStream_1_0.readRMIIIOPValueType(CDRInputStream_1_0.java:1022)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.encoding.CDRInputStream_1_0.read_value(CDRInputStream_1_0.java:1123)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.encoding.CDRInputObject.read_value(CDRInputObject.java:531)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.io.IIOPInputStream.inputObjectField(IIOPInputStream.java:2162)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.io.IIOPInputStream.inputClassFields(IIOPInputStream.java:2404)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.io.IIOPInputStream.inputObject(IIOPInputStream.java:1224)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.io.IIOPInputStream.simpleReadObject(IIOPInputStream.java:425)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.io.ValueHandlerImpl.readValueInternal(ValueHandlerImpl.java:308)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.io.ValueHandlerImpl.readValue(ValueHandlerImpl.java:274)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.encoding.CDRInputStream_1_0.readRMIIIOPValueType(CDRInputStream_1_0.java:1015)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.encoding.CDRInputStream_1_0.read_value(CDRInputStream_1_0.java:1123)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.encoding.CDRInputStream_1_0.read_value(CDRInputStream_1_0.java:935)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.encoding.CDRInputObject.read_value(CDRInputObject.java:525)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.copyobject.ORBStreamObjectCopierImpl.copy(ORBStreamObjectCopierImpl.java:78)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.copyobject.ORBStreamObjectCopierImpl.copy(ORBStreamObjectCopierImpl.java:65)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.orbutil.copyobject.FallbackObjectCopierImpl.copy(FallbackObjectCopierImpl.java:69)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.orbutil.copyobject.FallbackObjectCopierImpl.copy(FallbackObjectCopierImpl.java:59)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.javax.rmi.CORBA.Util.copyObject(Util.java:771)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.presentation.rmi.DynamicMethodMarshallerImpl.copyResult(DynamicMethodMarshallerImpl.java:473)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.presentation.rmi.StubInvocationHandlerImpl.privateInvoke(StubInvocationHandlerImpl.java:243)
    ... 58 more
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.orbutil.ClassInfoCache$ClassInfo.<init>(ClassInfoCache.java:156)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.orbutil.ClassInfoCache.get(ClassInfoCache.java:281)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.encoding.CDRInputStream_1_0.read_value(CDRInputStream_1_0.java:1097)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.encoding.CDRInputStream_1_0.read_value(CDRInputStream_1_0.java:935)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.encoding.CDRInputObject.read_value(CDRInputObject.java:525)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.corba.TCUtility.unmarshalIn(TCUtility.java:289)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.corba.AnyImpl.read_value(AnyImpl.java:605)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.encoding.CDRInputStream_1_0.read_any(CDRInputStream_1_0.java:775)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.encoding.CDRInputObject.read_any(CDRInputObject.java:482)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.javax.rmi.CORBA.Util.readAny(Util.java:452)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.io.ValueHandlerImpl.read_Array(ValueHandlerImpl.java:639)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.io.ValueHandlerImpl.readValueInternal(ValueHandlerImpl.java:305)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.io.ValueHandlerImpl.readValue(ValueHandlerImpl.java:274)
    at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.encoding.CDRInputStream_1_0.readRMIIIOPValueType(CDRInputStream_1_0.java:1015)
    ... 77 more

---

The remote interface:

@Remote
public interface AdminRemoteSessionBeanRemote {
    public List<Zone>getZones();
    public int sum(int a, int b);
}

The stateless session bean implementing the above interface:

@Stateless
public class AdminRemoteSessionBean implements AdminRemoteSessionBeanRemote {
    @PersistenceContext(unitName="unit-name")
    private EntityManager entityManager;

    @Override
    public List<Zone> getZones() {
        return entityManager.createNamedQuery("Zone.findAll").getResultList();
    }

    @Override
    public int sum(int a, int b) {
        return a + b;
    }
}

The JSF managed bean:

@ManagedBean
@RequestScoped
public class ZoneBean {
    @EJB//(mappedName="remote.admin.sessionbeans.AdminRemoteSessionBeanRemote")
    private AdminRemoteSessionBeanRemote adminRemoteSessionBeanRemote;
    private List<Zone>zones;
    private int sum;

    public ZoneBean(){}

    public List<Zone> getZones() {
        zones=adminRemoteSessionBeanRemote.getZones();
        return zones;
    }

    public void setZones(List<Zone> zones) {
        this.zones = zones;
    }

    public int getSum() {
        sum=adminRemoteSessionBeanRemote.sum(10, 15);
        return sum;
    }

    public void setSum(int sum) {
        this.sum = sum;
    }
}

The sum() method which just returns an int is just for demonstration. It works as it is.

The problem occurs when an entity is involved as can be seen in the public List<Zone> getZones() method in the EJB that causes the exception as mentioned above.

AdminClassLibrary (the highlighted node in the snapshot) is the Class Library containing the remote interface and entity classes.

How to return java.util.List<entities.Zone> via the getZones() method in the EJB session bean?

I have clicked all the links shown by Google about this exception but couldn't come across the solution.

---

The Zone entity.

@Entity
@Table(name = "ZONE", catalog = "", schema = "PROJECTDB")
@XmlRootElement
@NamedQueries({
    @NamedQuery(name = "Zone.findAll", query = "SELECT z FROM Zone z ORDER BY z.zoneId DESC"),
    @NamedQuery(name = "Zone.findByZoneId", query = "SELECT z FROM Zone z WHERE z.zoneId = :zoneId"),
    @NamedQuery(name = "Zone.findByZone", query = "SELECT z FROM Zone z WHERE z.zone = :zone")})
public class Zone implements Serializable {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
    // @Max(value=?)  @Min(value=?)//if you know range of your decimal fields consider using these annotations to enforce field validation
    @Id
    @Basic(optional = false)
    @NotNull
    @Column(name = "ZONE_ID")
    private BigDecimal zoneId;
    @Size(max = 50)
    @Column(name = "ZONE")
    private String zone;
    @OneToMany(mappedBy = "zoneId", fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
    private List<Country> countryList;
    @OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL, mappedBy = "zone", fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
    private List<ZoneCharge> zoneChargeList;
    @JoinColumn(name = "TRANSPORTER_ID", referencedColumnName = "TRANSPORTER_ID")
    @ManyToOne(fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
    private Transporter transporterId;

    //Getters and setters + constructor(s) + equals() + hashcode()
}

Solution 1

The problem is with the de-serialization of the Zone class instance. It should be Serializable and should be present at both the client and server (local and remote). This will impose a dependency to add persistence libraries to remote server as well. Hence its better not to send a persistence entity.

Solution 2

I just had an instance of this problem. The remote method I was calling threw an exception (a PSQLException, actually). I think the PSQLException was wrapped and ultimately serialised and sent to my client. My client doesn't have PSQLException in its classpath which seems to not be handled nicely in the guts of CORBA.

I diagnosed this by hooking a debugger in to the client application and putting break points on the constructors to NullPointerException. I was then able to see which class was being deserialised at the time the exception was thrown.

Good luck!

Comments

[Tiny]

Thank you. The Zone entity already implements the java.io.Serializable interface. Hence, it should be serialized, I think. In my case, the client is the web module (WAR). The remote interface is present in the WAR and the EJB modules as well as in the Class Library. Sorry I didn't get.

[Uday Shankar]

What i meant to say is that the entity Zone should be present in the WAR also. And to include entity Zone in WAR you have to place all the dependent jars too in WEB-INF/lib.

[Tiny]

I have copied the package containing the Zone entity in the web - war module but I got the same exception as mentioned in the question. It works with NetBeans 6.9.1, I have tried that doesn't mandate to place the remote interface(s) in a separate Class Library. I don't know how to build such applications with NetBeans 7.x. Thanks.

[Uday Shankar]

Also check for the WAR if it contains the dependencies for Zone class such as ejb persistence jar.

[Tiny]

I'm still unable to solve the problem in question. I'm awarding the bounty to your answer but leaving it to unaccepted right now so that it is available in the unanswered question list and I might have better luck later to solve the problem, if someone could still expose something that I might be missing. Thank you very much for your effort.

[Tiny]

The question itself makes no sense at all. It already works fine. The problem was that I was deploying the EJB and the WAR modules alternatively. I was accustomed to doing this prior to NetBeans 7.x. Later on, I came to know the fact that only the application (denoted by a triangle) needs to be deployed. In which case it works fine with no modification to the application at all. Please clarify me once more though. We only need to deploy the application and not the EJB and the WAR modules (unless both the EJB and the client are separate). Is it correct?