Google App Engine + Simple Stripes web-app

[James Elsey]

Hello,

I have a very basic web application that uses the Stripes framework. I've set this up in Netbeans, and it runs perfectly fine locally on Glassfish v3.

My app consists of a few JSPs and a few actions that navigate through the various pages, nothing fancy at the moment.

I've followed the GAE documentation as provided on the google site, I have successfully run my application locally using the GAE server as included in the SDK, this works fine I can access my application on port 8080 no problem.

I've checked in my app to GAE (once again following their documentation) however this fails to run, I'm able to get the following from their logs

  #
11-21 05:40AM 31.495

net.sourceforge.stripes.util.Log warn: No MultipartWrapper implementation could be loaded

#
W 11-21 05:40AM 31.498

failed StripesFilter
net.sourceforge.stripes.exception.StripesRuntimeException: Problem instantiating default configuration objects.
	at net.sourceforge.stripes.config.DefaultConfiguration.init(DefaultConfiguration.java:220)
	at net.sourceforge.stripes.config.RuntimeConfiguration.init(RuntimeConfiguration.java:272)
	at net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.StripesFilter.init(StripesFilter.java:125)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.FilterHolder.doStart(FilterHolder.java:99)
	at org.mortbay.component.AbstractLifeCycle.start(AbstractLifeCycle.java:40)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler.initialize(ServletHandler.java:589)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.Context.startContext(Context.java:139)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.webapp.WebAppContext.startContext(WebAppContext.java:1218)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.ContextHandler.doStart(ContextHandler.java:500)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.webapp.WebAppContext.doStart(WebAppContext.java:448)
	at org.mortbay.component.AbstractLifeCycle.start(AbstractLifeCycle.java:40)
	at com.google.apphosting.runtime.jetty.AppVersionHandlerMap.createHandler(AppVersionHandlerMap.java:191)
	at com.google.apphosting.runtime.jetty.AppVersionHandlerMap.getHandler(AppVersionHandlerMap.java:168)
	at com.google.apphosting.runtime.jetty.JettyServletEngineAdapter.serviceRequest(JettyServletEngineAdapter.java:127)
	at com.google.apphosting.runtime.JavaRuntime.handleRequest(JavaRuntime.java:239)
	at com.google.apphosting.base.RuntimePb$EvaluationRuntime$6.handleBlockingRequest(RuntimePb.java:5135)
	at com.google.apphosting.base.RuntimePb$EvaluationRuntime$6.handleBlockingRequest(RuntimePb.java:5133)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.BlockingApplicationHandler.handleRequest(BlockingApplicationHandler.java:24)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.RpcUtil.runRpcInApplication(RpcUtil.java:363)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.Server$2.run(Server.java:814)
	at com.google.tracing.LocalTraceSpanRunnable.run(LocalTraceSpanRunnable.java:56)
	at com.google.tracing.LocalTraceSpanBuilder.internalContinueSpan(LocalTraceSpanBuilder.java:516)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.Server.startRpc(Server.java:769)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.Server.processRequest(Server.java:351)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.ServerConnection.messageReceived(ServerConnection.java:437)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.RpcConnection.parseMessages(RpcConnection.java:319)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.RpcConnection.dataReceived(RpcConnection.java:290)
	at com.google.net.async.Connection.handleReadEvent(Connection.java:436)
	at com.google.net.async.EventDispatcher.processNetworkEvents(EventDispatcher.java:762)
	at com.google.net.async.EventDispatcher.internalLoop(EventDispatcher.java:207)
	at com.google.net.async.EventDispatcher.loop(EventDispatcher.java:101)
	at com.google.net.rpc.RpcService.runUntilServerShutdown(RpcService.java:251)
	at com.google.apphosting.runtime.JavaRuntime$RpcRunnable.run(JavaRuntime.java:396)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
	at java.io.File.<init>(File.java:276)
	at net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.multipart.DefaultMultipartWrapperFactory.init(DefaultMultipartWrapperFactory.java:101)
	at net.sourceforge.stripes.config.DefaultConfiguration.init(DefaultConfiguration.java:181)
	... 33 more

#
W 11-21 05:40AM 31.499

Failed startup of context com.google.apphosting.utils.jetty.RuntimeAppEngineWebAppContext@189f854{/,/base/data/home/apps/sales-tracker/1.337909454605455204}
net.sourceforge.stripes.exception.StripesRuntimeException: Problem instantiating default configuration objects.
	at net.sourceforge.stripes.config.DefaultConfiguration.init(DefaultConfiguration.java:220)
	at net.sourceforge.stripes.config.RuntimeConfiguration.init(RuntimeConfiguration.java:272)
	at net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.StripesFilter.init(StripesFilter.java:125)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.FilterHolder.doStart(FilterHolder.java:99)
	at org.mortbay.component.AbstractLifeCycle.start(AbstractLifeCycle.java:40)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler.initialize(ServletHandler.java:589)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.Context.startContext(Context.java:139)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.webapp.WebAppContext.startContext(WebAppContext.java:1218)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.ContextHandler.doStart(ContextHandler.java:500)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.webapp.WebAppContext.doStart(WebAppContext.java:448)
	at org.mortbay.component.AbstractLifeCycle.start(AbstractLifeCycle.java:40)
	at com.google.apphosting.runtime.jetty.AppVersionHandlerMap.createHandler(AppVersionHandlerMap.java:191)
	at com.google.apphosting.runtime.jetty.AppVersionHandlerMap.getHandler(AppVersionHandlerMap.java:168)
	at com.google.apphosting.runtime.jetty.JettyServletEngineAdapter.serviceRequest(JettyServletEngineAdapter.java:127)
	at com.google.apphosting.runtime.JavaRuntime.handleRequest(JavaRuntime.java:239)
	at com.google.apphosting.base.RuntimePb$EvaluationRuntime$6.handleBlockingRequest(RuntimePb.java:5135)
	at com.google.apphosting.base.RuntimePb$EvaluationRuntime$6.handleBlockingRequest(RuntimePb.java:5133)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.BlockingApplicationHandler.handleRequest(BlockingApplicationHandler.java:24)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.RpcUtil.runRpcInApplication(RpcUtil.java:363)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.Server$2.run(Server.java:814)
	at com.google.tracing.LocalTraceSpanRunnable.run(LocalTraceSpanRunnable.java:56)
	at com.google.tracing.LocalTraceSpanBuilder.internalContinueSpan(LocalTraceSpanBuilder.java:516)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.Server.startRpc(Server.java:769)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.Server.processRequest(Server.java:351)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.ServerConnection.messageReceived(ServerConnection.java:437)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.RpcConnection.parseMessages(RpcConnection.java:319)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.RpcConnection.dataReceived(RpcConnection.java:290)
	at com.google.net.async.Connection.handleReadEvent(Connection.java:436)
	at com.google.net.async.EventDispatcher.processNetworkEvents(EventDispatcher.java:762)
	at com.google.net.async.EventDispatcher.internalLoop(EventDispatcher.java:207)
	at com.google.net.async.EventDispatcher.loop(EventDispatcher.java:101)
	at com.google.net.rpc.RpcService.runUntilServerShutdown(RpcService.java:251)
	at com.google.apphosting.runtime.JavaRuntime$RpcRunnable.run(JavaRuntime.java:396)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
	at java.io.File.<init>(File.java:276)
	at net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.multipart.DefaultMultipartWrapperFactory.init(DefaultMultipartWrapperFactory.java:101)
	at net.sourceforge.stripes.config.DefaultConfiguration.init(DefaultConfiguration.java:181)
	... 33 more

#
C 11-21 05:40AM 31.509

Uncaught exception from servlet
javax.servlet.UnavailableException: Initialization failed.
	at com.google.apphosting.runtime.jetty.AppVersionHandlerMap.createHandler(AppVersionHandlerMap.java:200)
	at com.google.apphosting.runtime.jetty.AppVersionHandlerMap.getHandler(AppVersionHandlerMap.java:168)
	at com.google.apphosting.runtime.jetty.JettyServletEngineAdapter.serviceRequest(JettyServletEngineAdapter.java:127)
	at com.google.apphosting.runtime.JavaRuntime.handleRequest(JavaRuntime.java:239)
	at com.google.apphosting.base.RuntimePb$EvaluationRuntime$6.handleBlockingRequest(RuntimePb.java:5135)
	at com.google.apphosting.base.RuntimePb$EvaluationRuntime$6.handleBlockingRequest(RuntimePb.java:5133)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.BlockingApplicationHandler.handleRequest(BlockingApplicationHandler.java:24)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.RpcUtil.runRpcInApplication(RpcUtil.java:363)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.Server$2.run(Server.java:814)
	at com.google.tracing.LocalTraceSpanRunnable.run(LocalTraceSpanRunnable.java:56)
	at com.google.tracing.LocalTraceSpanBuilder.internalContinueSpan(LocalTraceSpanBuilder.java:516)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.Server.startRpc(Server.java:769)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.Server.processRequest(Server.java:351)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.ServerConnection.messageReceived(ServerConnection.java:437)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.RpcConnection.parseMessages(RpcConnection.java:319)
	at com.google.net.rpc.impl.RpcConnection.dataReceived(RpcConnection.java:290)
	at com.google.net.async.Connection.handleReadEvent(Connection.java:436)
	at com.google.net.async.EventDispatcher.processNetworkEvents(EventDispatcher.java:762)
	at com.google.net.async.EventDispatcher.internalLoop(EventDispatcher.java:207)
	at com.google.net.async.EventDispatcher.loop(EventDispatcher.java:101)
	at com.google.net.rpc.RpcService.runUntilServerShutdown(RpcService.java:251)
	at com.google.apphosting.runtime.JavaRuntime$RpcRunnable.run(JavaRuntime.java:396)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

  

Am I missing something completely obvious? Could there be an issue with my code? It runs fine on the GAE server I have running locally, so I'm unsure of what would change

Many thanks

[James Elsey]

After some more searching, it appears there is one common issue with GAE and stripes

Stripes Framework
Version(s): ?
Status: COMPATIBLE

* The default multipartwrapper implementation needs a temporary directory on the local file system for file uploads, which App Engine doesn't allow. The workaround is to create your own implementation -- more details at http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine-java/browse_thread/thread/81dbcf7cf2281014.

source

This leads onto some discussions of initialising the multipartWrapper : http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine-java/browse_thread/thread/81dbcf7cf2281014

I'm not sure how to do that, can anyone please advise? I will continue to research and post any solutions I find

Thanks

[Ulf Dittmer]

If you don't need file uploads, then proceed as described in the last section of http://www.stripesframework.org/display/stripes/File+Uploads: implement MultipartWrapperFactory with an implementation that does nothing at all.

If you do need file uploads, then you'd also implement MultipartWrapperFactory (maybe by subclasssing DefaultMultipartWrapperFactory), but with an implementation that does not use temp directories. In that case you should use the Apache Commons FileUpload library, since that can be configured to not use files, but hold everything in memory. Or you can configure it to use a directory that does exist, and to which GAE allows access.

[James Elsey]

Just for the record, I had to provide an empty implementation of MultipartWrapper and update my web.xml, as follows

   <init-param>
            <param-name>MultipartWrapperFactory.Class</param-name>
            <param-value>com.jameselsey.salestracker.util.EmptyMultipartWrapper</param-value>
        </init-param> 

   package com.jameselsey.salestracker.util;

import java.io.IOException;

import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;

import net.sourceforge.stripes.config.Configuration;
import net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.FileUploadLimitExceededException;
import net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.multipart.MultipartWrapper;
import net.sourceforge.stripes.config.ConfigurableComponent;
import net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.multipart.MultipartWrapperFactory;

/**
 * GAE has no support for uploading of files, so we use this to disable that part of Stripes
 *
 * @author james.elsey
 */
public class EmptyMultipartWrapper implements ConfigurableComponent, MultipartWrapperFactory
{

    /**
     * @see net.sourceforge.stripes.config.ConfigurableComponent#init(net.sourceforge.stripes.config.Configuration)
     */
    public void init(Configuration conf) throws Exception
    {
    }

    /**
     * @see net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.multipart.MultipartWrapperFactory#wrap(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest)
     */
    public MultipartWrapper wrap(HttpServletRequest request) throws IOException, FileUploadLimitExceededException
    {
        return null;
    }
}
 

I also wrote up what I had to do on my blog

Hopefully this will help others in the future ;)

[Ulf Dittmer]

GAE has no support for uploading of files, so we use this to disable that part of Stripes

I'm fairly certain that's not correct. The way it looks to me is that GAE doesn't support file uploads the way they work by default in Stripes. But that can apparently be changed in the way I described.

[James Elsey]

Sorry got that comment wrong, cheers for pointing it out I'll make a note to update my code

thanks Ulf,

J