Spring Boot: Unable to start EmbeddedWebApplicationContext due to missing EmbeddedServletContainerFactory bean

Spring Boot: Unable to start EmbeddedWebApplicationContext due to missing EmbeddedServletContainerFactory bean 🌐‍🏭

Are you new to Spring and encountering an issue with starting the EmbeddedWebApplicationContext due to a missing EmbeddedServletContainerFactory bean? Don't worry, we've got you covered! In this blog post, we'll address this common issue and provide you with easy solutions to get your application up and running.

But first, let's understand the context behind this question. The user encountered this problem while following the official Spring guides and specifically the "Scheduling Tasks" guide. They were unable to start their application and received an exception indicating the missing EmbeddedServletContainerFactory bean.

Here's the code snippet provided by the user:

@ComponentScan
@EnableAutoConfiguration
public class Application {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(ScheduledTasks.class, args);
    }
}

@EnableScheduling
public class ScheduledTasks {
    private static final SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("HH:mm:ss");

    @Scheduled(fixedRate = 5000)
    public void reportCurrentTime() {
        System.out.println("The time is now " + dateFormat.format(new Date()));
    }
}

Understanding the Issue 🕵️‍♀️

The issue you're facing is due to the missing EmbeddedServletContainerFactory bean. This bean is responsible for creating and configuring an embedded servlet container, which is required for running Spring Boot applications.

Solution 🛠️

To resolve this issue, you can follow these steps:

1. Ensure that your project has the necessary dependencies. In your pom.xml file, make sure you have the spring-boot-starter-web dependency. This provides the required libraries and configurations for running a web application.

   <dependency> <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId> <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId> </dependency>

2. Check your project's classpath to ensure that all the required libraries are available.

   The user provided their classpath in the exception message, which helps us determine if the necessary dependencies are present. If any dependencies are missing or conflicting, it can cause issues with the EmbeddedWebApplicationContext startup.

   [classpath: (list of all jar files in the classpath)]

3. Verify that your project structure is correct. Make sure that your main application class (Application in this case) is located in the correct package. The @ComponentScan annotation within Application scans for other components in the same or sub-packages.

   For example, if you have the following structure:

   └── com └── example └── myapplication ├── Application.java └── ScheduledTasks.java

   Then ensure that your Application class has the correct package declaration at the top:

   package com.example.myapplication;

4. Clean and rebuild your project. Sometimes, stale or outdated files can cause issues when starting the application. By cleaning and rebuilding your project, you ensure that you have the latest dependencies and configurations.

   In Eclipse, you can go to Project > Clean to clean your project. Then, rebuild it by running Project > Build All.

   :dizzy: Pro Tip: If you're using an IDE like IntelliJ IDEA or Eclipse, try restarting it to solve any underlying issues.

Call to Action ✨

We hope that this guide helped you resolve the issue with starting your Spring Boot application. If you have any further questions or encounter any other problems, feel free to reach out to us in the comments below. Share your experience and let us know if there are any other topics you'd like us to cover in future blog posts. Happy coding! 👩‍💻👨‍💻