java - Why is my loginService null?

Question

I have a LoginService class like this:

@Service("loginService")
public class LoginService {

public boolean isValidUser(CustomerDTO customerDTO){
    if(customerDTO.getUsername().equals("admin") && 
            customerDTO.getPassword().equals("admin")){
                return true;
            }
    return false;
   }
}

And a LoginAction class like this:

@Controller
public class LoginAction{

private CustomerDTO customerDTO;
@Autowired
private LoginService loginService;

public CustomerDTO getCustomerDTO() {
    return customerDTO;
}

public void setCustomerDTO(CustomerDTO customerDTO) {
    this.customerDTO = customerDTO;
}

public String execute(){
    if(loginService.isValidUser(this.getCustomerDTO())){
        return "success";           
    }
    return "failure";
  }
}

I get a null pointer exception when I try to call the method isValidUser from LoginAction class. That is because my loginService object is null. What am I doing wrong?

This is my exception stack:

java.lang.NullPointerException 
com.sc.web.LoginAction.execute(LoginAction.java:26)
sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:483)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invokeAction(DefaultActionInvocation.java:450)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invokeActionOnly(DefaultActionInvocation.java:289)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:252)
org.apache.struts2.interceptor.DeprecationInterceptor.intercept(DeprecationInterceptor.java:41)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:246)
org.apache.struts2.interceptor.debugging.DebuggingInterceptor.intercept(DebuggingInterceptor.java:256)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:246)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.DefaultWorkflowInterceptor.doIntercept(DefaultWorkflowInterceptor.java:167)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.MethodFilterInterceptor.intercept(MethodFilterInterceptor.java:98)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:246)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.validator.ValidationInterceptor.doIntercept(ValidationInterceptor.java:265)
org.apache.struts2.interceptor.validation.AnnotationValidationInterceptor.doIntercept(AnnotationValidationInterceptor.java:68)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.MethodFilterInterceptor.intercept(MethodFilterInterceptor.java:98)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:246)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.ConversionErrorInterceptor.intercept(ConversionErrorInterceptor.java:138)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:246)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.ParametersInterceptor.doIntercept(ParametersInterceptor.java:249)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.MethodFilterInterceptor.intercept(MethodFilterInterceptor.java:98)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:246)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.ParametersInterceptor.doIntercept(ParametersInterceptor.java:249)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.MethodFilterInterceptor.intercept(MethodFilterInterceptor.java:98)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:246)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.StaticParametersInterceptor.intercept(StaticParametersInterceptor.java:191)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:246)
org.apache.struts2.interceptor.MultiselectInterceptor.intercept(MultiselectInterceptor.java:73)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:246)
org.apache.struts2.interceptor.CheckboxInterceptor.intercept(CheckboxInterceptor.java:91)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:246)
org.apache.struts2.interceptor.FileUploadInterceptor.intercept(FileUploadInterceptor.java:252)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:246)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.ModelDrivenInterceptor.intercept(ModelDrivenInterceptor.java:100)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:246)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.ScopedModelDrivenInterceptor.intercept(ScopedModelDrivenInterceptor.java:141)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:246)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.ChainingInterceptor.intercept(ChainingInterceptor.java:145)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:246)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.PrepareInterceptor.doIntercept(PrepareInterceptor.java:171)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.MethodFilterInterceptor.intercept(MethodFilterInterceptor.java:98)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:246)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.I18nInterceptor.intercept(I18nInterceptor.java:139)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:246)
org.apache.struts2.interceptor.ServletConfigInterceptor.intercept(ServletConfigInterceptor.java:164)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:246)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.AliasInterceptor.intercept(AliasInterceptor.java:193)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:246)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.ExceptionMappingInterceptor.intercept(ExceptionMappingInterceptor.java:189)
com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:246)
org.apache.struts2.impl.StrutsActionProxy.execute(StrutsActionProxy.java:54)
org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.Dispatcher.serviceAction(Dispatcher.java:562)
org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ng.ExecuteOperations.executeAction(ExecuteOperations.java:77)
org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ng.filter.StrutsPrepareAndExecuteFilter.doFilter(StrutsPrepareAndExecuteFilter.java:99)
org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:243)
org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:210)
org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:222)
org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:123)
org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:502)
org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:171)
org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:99)
org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve.invoke(AccessLogValve.java:953)
org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:118)
org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:408)
org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Processor.process(AbstractHttp11Processor.java:1023)
org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$AbstractConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:589)
org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(JIoEndpoint.java:310)
java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)

Answer 1

From the stacktrace it's seen that you didn't use a struts-spring integration. Struts and spring are integrated via spring plugin. Struts by default autowires by name.

The Spring Plugin works by overriding the Struts ObjectFactory to enhance the creation of core framework objects. When an object is to be created, it uses the class attribute in the Struts configuration to correspond to the id attribute in the Spring configuration. If not found, the class will try to be created as usual, then be autowired by Spring. In the case of Actions, Spring 2's bean scope feature can be used to scope an Action instance to the session, application, or a custom scope, providing advanced customization above the default per-request scoping.

To use a plugin just add it to the classpath.

To enable Spring integration, simply include struts2-spring-plugin-x-x-x.jar in your application.