java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/itextpdf/text/DocumentException

Question

I am trying to generate a dynamic PDF file through the following servlet.

import java.io.*;
import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
// Document Object
import com.itextpdf.text.Document;
//For adding content into PDF document
import com.itextpdf.text.Paragraph;
import com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfWriter;
import com.itextpdf.text.DocumentException;

public class CreatePDFExample extends HttpServlet {

    //invoked from doGet method to create PDF through servlet 
protected void processRequest(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
        throws ServletException, IOException {
    //Set content type to application / pdf
    //browser will open the document only if this is set
    response.setContentType("application/pdf");
    //Get the output stream for writing PDF object        
    OutputStream out=response.getOutputStream();
    try {
        Document document = new Document();
        /* Basic PDF Creation inside servlet */
        PdfWriter.getInstance(document, out);
        document.open();
        document.add(new Paragraph("Tutorial to Generate PDF using Servlet"));
        document.add(new Paragraph("PDF Created Using Servlet, iText Example Works"));
        document.close();
    }
            catch (DocumentException exc){
            throw new IOException(exc.getMessage());
            }
    finally {            
        out.close();
    }
}
@Override
protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
        throws ServletException, IOException {
    processRequest(request, response);
}
@Override
protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
        throws ServletException, IOException {
    processRequest(request, response);
}

@Override
public String getServletInfo() {
    return "This Servlet Generates PDF Using iText Library";
}
}

but I receive the following error:

Error 500--Internal Server Error

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/itextpdf/text/DocumentException
at CreatePDFExample.processRequest(CreatePDFExample.java:24)
at CreatePDFExample.doPost(CreatePDFExample.java:47)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:760)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:853)
at weblogic.servlet.internal.ServletStubImpl$ServletInvocationAction.run(ServletStubImpl.java:1053)
at weblogic.servlet.internal.ServletStubImpl.invokeServlet(ServletStubImpl.java:387)
at weblogic.servlet.internal.ServletStubImpl.invokeServlet(ServletStubImpl.java:305)
at weblogic.servlet.internal.WebAppServletContext$ServletInvocationAction.run(WebAppServletContext.java:6310)
at weblogic.security.acl.internal.AuthenticatedSubject.doAs(AuthenticatedSubject.java:317)
at weblogic.security.service.SecurityManager.runAs(SecurityManager.java:118)
at weblogic.servlet.internal.WebAppServletContext.invokeServlet(WebAppServletContext.java:3622)
at weblogic.servlet.internal.ServletRequestImpl.execute(ServletRequestImpl.java:2569)
at weblogic.kernel.ExecuteThread.execute(ExecuteThread.java:197)
at weblogic.kernel.ExecuteThread.run(ExecuteThread.java:170)

I am using weblogic application server 8.1.... I am using iTextPDF. so I have set the CLASSPATH for the jar files.

CLASSPATH:
D:\itextpdf-5.3.4.jar;D:\servlet-2-3.jar;.;

PATH:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.6.0_14\bin;.;

Please tell me why I am getting this error????I have spent a lot of time for this.Not getting the small problem.Please help me in this.

Thank you

After doing the suggested things.I get the following error

 Error 500--Internal Server Error

 java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
at com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfWriter.(PdfWriter.java:1403)
at CreatePDFExample.processRequest(CreatePDFExample.java:26)
at CreatePDFExample.doPost(CreatePDFExample.java:47)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:760)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:853)
at weblogic.servlet.internal.ServletStubImpl$ServletInvocationAction.run(ServletStubImpl.java:1053)
at weblogic.servlet.internal.ServletStubImpl.invokeServlet(ServletStubImpl.java:387)
at weblogic.servlet.internal.ServletStubImpl.invokeServlet(ServletStubImpl.java:305)
at weblogic.servlet.internal.WebAppServletContext$ServletInvocationAction.run(WebAppServletContext.java:6310)
at weblogic.security.acl.internal.AuthenticatedSubject.doAs(AuthenticatedSubject.java:317)
at weblogic.security.service.SecurityManager.runAs(SecurityManager.java:118)
at weblogic.servlet.internal.WebAppServletContext.invokeServlet(WebAppServletContext.java:3622)
at weblogic.servlet.internal.ServletRequestImpl.execute(ServletRequestImpl.java:2569)
at weblogic.kernel.ExecuteThread.execute(ExecuteThread.java:197)
at weblogic.kernel.ExecuteThread.run(ExecuteThread.java:170)
 Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
at java.lang.Class.privateGetDeclaredFields(Class.java:1488)
at java.lang.Class.getDeclaredFields(Class.java:1073) 

Answer 1

The previous answer told you that a jar was missing, which was not a bad guess because the error message clearly says one of the iText classes couldn't be found.

Unfortunately, that error message is misleading. Java also says it can't find a class if there's any ambiguity. This is the case if you have more than one iText jar in your CLASSPATH.

You've made the problem worse by adding yet another iText jar to your CLASSPATH. Now you have a problem that is caused by having two different versions of iText available for the JVM in your weblogic instance.

Search all the CLASSPATHs, don't forget the server CLASSPATH, and you'll discover that D:\itextpdf-5.3.4.jar isn't the only place where weblogic goes looking for the PdfWriter class. Remove all iText jars from your CLASSPATH until you have only one left.