Hi,

While using HibernateValidator (4.0.0.GA) and statically initializing ValidatorFactory, i get following error at deployment time in Weblogic11g:
java.lang.ClassCastException: org.hibernate.validator.HibernateValidator cannot be cast to javax.validation.spi.ValidationProvider

Code excerpt:

public class BaseBusinessObject implements BusinessObject {
protected static ValidatorFactory factory = Validation.byDefaultProvider().configure().buildValidatorFactory();
protected Validator validator = null;

....
}

This BaseBusinessObject is being used in a stateless EJB 3.0 which is in turn used by Struts2 actions.

When i move factory initialization to an instance method everything goes fine and works as desired. Any clues why its happening?

Full Stacktrace:

java.lang.ClassCastException: org.hibernate.validator.HibernateValidator cannot be cast to javax.validation.spi.ValidationProvider
at javax.validation.Validation$DefaultValidationProviderResolver.getValidationProviders(Validation.java:332)
at javax.validation.Validation$GenericBootstrapImpl.configure(Validation.java:256)
at com.warid.campaign.businessobject.BaseBusinessObject.initValidator(BaseBusinessObject.java:94)
at com.warid.campaign.businessobject.BaseBusinessObject.<clinit>(BaseBusinessObject.java:26)
at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:247)
at org.eclipse.persistence.internal.security.PrivilegedAccessHelper.getClassForName(PrivilegedAccessHelper.java:86)
at org.eclipse.persistence.internal.weaving.TransformerFactory.storeAttributeMappings(TransformerFactory.java:475)
at org.eclipse.persistence.internal.weaving.TransformerFactory.buildClassDetailsAndModifyProject(TransformerFactory.java:161)
at org.eclipse.persistence.internal.weaving.TransformerFactory.createTransformerAndModifyProject(TransformerFactory.java:80)
at org.eclipse.persistence.internal.jpa.EntityManagerSetupImpl.predeploy(EntityManagerSetupImpl.java:849)
at org.eclipse.persistence.jpa.PersistenceProvider.createContainerEntityManagerFactory(PersistenceProvider.java:216)
at weblogic.deployment.PersistenceUnitInfoImpl.createEntityManagerFactory(PersistenceUnitInfoImpl.java:343)
at weblogic.deployment.PersistenceUnitInfoImpl.createEntityManagerFactory(PersistenceUnitInfoImpl.java:323)
at weblogic.deployment.PersistenceUnitInfoImpl.<init>(PersistenceUnitInfoImpl.java:125)
at weblogic.deployment.AbstractPersistenceUnitRegistry.storeDescriptors(AbstractPersistenceUnitRegistry.java:336)
at weblogic.deployment.AbstractPersistenceUnitRegistry.loadPersistenceDescriptor(AbstractPersistenceUnitRegistry.java:250)
at weblogic.deployment.ModulePersistenceUnitRegistry.<init>(ModulePersistenceUnitRegistry.java:63)
at weblogic.ejb.container.deployer.EJBModule.setupPersistenceUnitRegistry(EJBModule.java:210)
at weblogic.ejb.container.deployer.EJBModule$1.execute(EJBModule.java:311)
at weblogic.deployment.PersistenceUnitRegistryInitializer.setupPersistenceUnitRegistries(PersistenceUnitRegistryInitializer.java:62)
at weblogic.servlet.internal.WebAppModule.prepare(WebAppModule.java:362)
at weblogic.application.internal.flow.ScopedModuleDriver.prepare(ScopedModuleDriver.java:176)
at weblogic.application.internal.flow.ModuleListenerInvoker.prepare(ModuleListenerInvoker.java:93)
at weblogic.application.internal.flow.DeploymentCallbackFlow$1.next(DeploymentCallbackFlow.java:387)
at weblogic.application.utils.StateMachineDriver.nextState(StateMachineDriver.java:37)
at weblogic.application.internal.flow.DeploymentCallbackFlow.prepare(DeploymentCallbackFlow.java:58)
at weblogic.application.internal.flow.DeploymentCallbackFlow.prepare(DeploymentCallbackFlow.java:42)
at weblogic.application.internal.BaseDeployment$1.next(BaseDeployment.java:609)
at weblogic.application.utils.StateMachineDriver.nextState(StateMachineDriver.java:37)
at weblogic.application.internal.BaseDeployment.prepare(BaseDeployment.java:185)
at weblogic.application.internal.EarDeployment.prepare(EarDeployment.java:53)
at weblogic.application.internal.DeploymentStateChecker.prepare(DeploymentStateChecker.java:154)
at weblogic.deploy.internal.targetserver.AppContainerInvoker.prepare(AppContainerInvoker.java:60)
at weblogic.deploy.internal.targetserver.operations.RedeployOperation.createAndPrepareContainer(RedeployOperation.java:98)
at weblogic.deploy.internal.targetserver.operations.RedeployOperation.doPrepare(RedeployOperation.java:122)
at weblogic.deploy.internal.targetserver.operations.AbstractOperation.prepare(AbstractOperation.java:217)
at weblogic.deploy.internal.targetserver.DeploymentManager.handleDeploymentPrepare(DeploymentManager.java:747)
at weblogic.deploy.internal.targetserver.DeploymentManager.prepareDeploymentList(DeploymentManager.java:1216)
at weblogic.deploy.internal.targetserver.DeploymentManager.handlePrepare(DeploymentManager.java:250)
at weblogic.deploy.internal.targetserver.DeploymentServiceDispatcher.prepare(DeploymentServiceDispatcher.java:159)
at weblogic.deploy.service.internal.targetserver.DeploymentReceiverCallbackDeliverer.doPrepareCallback(DeploymentReceiverCallbackDeliverer.java:157)
at weblogic.deploy.service.internal.targetserver.DeploymentReceiverCallbackDeliverer.access$000(DeploymentReceiverCallbackDeliverer.java:12)
at weblogic.deploy.service.internal.targetserver.DeploymentReceiverCallbackDeliverer$1.run(DeploymentReceiverCallbackDeliverer.java:45)
at weblogic.work.SelfTuningWorkManagerImpl$WorkAdapterImpl.run(SelfTuningWorkManagerImpl.java:516)
at weblogic.work.ExecuteThread.execute(ExecuteThread.java:201)
at weblogic.work.ExecuteThread.run(ExecuteThread.java:173)

I was using weblogic 10.3.0 i did following change in weblogic-application.xml in application ear

<prefer-application-packages>
<package-name>javax.validation.*</package-name>
<package-name>org.hibernate.validator.*</package-name>
</prefer-application-packages>

And now i can instantiate validator factory in static class. It was a class loading issue. And above lines enable weblogic filter class loader.
Do not forget to add validation.jar and hibernate-validator.jar in manifest of ejb.jar.