NoInitialContextException in simple EJB Project on Wildfly 8 - ejb

Question

I am trying to write a client for a simple EJB Project that I have deployed locally on my Wildfly 8 running in Eclipse.
My Interface:
package com.jwt.ejb.business;
import javax.ejb.Remote;
#Remote
public interface Hello {
public String sayHello();
}
My Implementation:
package com.jwt.ejb.businesslogic;
import javax.ejb.Stateless;
import com.jwt.ejb.business.Hello;
#Stateless
public class HelloBean implements Hello {
public HelloBean() {
}
public String sayHello() {
return "Hello Boss Welcome to EJB";
}
}
My client:
package com.jwt.ejb.test;
import java.util.Hashtable;
import javax.naming.Context;
import javax.naming.InitialContext;
import javax.naming.NamingException;
import com.jwt.ejb.business.Hello;
import com.jwt.ejb.businesslogic.HelloBean;
public class Client {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Hello bean = doLookup();
if (bean != null)
System.out.println(bean.sayHello());
}
private static Hello doLookup() {
Context context = null;
Hello bean = null;
try {
final Hashtable jndiProperties = new Hashtable();
jndiProperties.put(Context.URL_PKG_PREFIXES, "org.jboss.ejb.client.naming");
context = new InitialContext(jndiProperties);
bean = (Hello) context.lookup(getLookupString());
} catch (NamingException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return bean;
}
private static String getLookupString() throws NamingException {
final String appName = "";
final String moduleName = "EJBTest";
final String distinctName = "";
final String beanName = HelloBean.class.getSimpleName();
final String viewClassName = Hello.class.getName();
return "ejb:" + appName + "/" + moduleName + "/" + distinctName + "/" + beanName + "!" + viewClassName;
}
}
When I run it, I get this Exception:
javax.naming.NoInitialContextException: Need to specify class name in environment or system property, or as an applet parameter, or in an application resource file: java.naming.factory.initial
at javax.naming.spi.NamingManager.getInitialContext(Unknown Source)
at javax.naming.InitialContext.getDefaultInitCtx(Unknown Source)
at javax.naming.InitialContext.getURLOrDefaultInitCtx(Unknown Source)
at javax.naming.InitialContext.lookup(Unknown Source)
at com.jwt.ejb.test.Client.doLookup(Client.java:26)
at com.jwt.ejb.test.Client.main(Client.java:15)
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.jwt.ejb.test.Client.main(Client.java:16)
The official documentation does it like this too:
https://docs.jboss.org/author/display/AS71/EJB+invocations+from+a+remote+client+using+JNDI
Where is the problem ?
I came accross posts talking about boss-ejb-client.properties, but I am not sure what to put in it. As I understood it, I could either have this properties file, or declare the porperties programmatically, like I did.

Answer 1

Besides the fact that you are using Wildfly 8 and referencing JBoss AS 7.1's documentation, you're missing the InitialContextFactory on your JNDI properties.
Wildfly's documentation on EJB invocations via JNDI is here. Therefore you should do the following:
void doBeanLookup() {
Properties jndiProperties = new Properties();
jndiProperties.put(Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY, "org.jboss.naming.remote.client.InitialContextFactory");
jndiProperties.put(Context.PROVIDER_URL, "http-remoting://localhost:8080");
// This is an important property to set if you want to do EJB invocations via the remote-naming project
jndiProps.put("jboss.naming.client.ejb.context", true);
// create a context passing these properties
Context ctx = new InitialContext(jndiProps);
// lookup the bean Hello
Hello bean = (Hello) ctx.lookup(getLookupString());
}
In your pom.xml you should have the following:
<dependency>
<groupId>org.wildfly</groupId>
<artifactId>wildfly-ejb-client-bom</artifactId>
<version>8.0.0.Final</version>
<type>pom</type>
</dependency>
If you want to use the http-remoting protocol, on your getLookupString method, you should remove the ejb: and have present that
http-remoting client assumes JNDI names in remote lookups are relative to java:jboss/exported namespace, a lookup of an absolute JNDI name will fail.
Further information can be found on Wildfly 8 Remote JNDI Reference Update Draft.