Java.lang.InstantiationException when using Action class with constructor

Question

Hi everyone,
I'm using the insertNewNode() method from this class in another action class, which works fine. But when this action itself is called, I get an infinite java.lang.InstantiationException (until the stack is overflowed). I'm initiating the fields required in every method in a constructor. If there is no constructor, this action works fine again. What's wrong?
public class GliederungNewAction implements Action {
     private final String DEFAULT_DESCRIPTION = "Neuer Punkt";
     private OracleConnection connection;
     private String username;
     private String catalogue;
     private String attribute;
     private String parent_attr;
     private int parent_sequenceNr;
     private int requiredSequenceNumber;
     public GliederungNewAction(OracleConnection connection, String username, String catalogue) {
          this.connection = connection;
          this.username = username;
          this.catalogue = catalogue;
     public String perform(ActionMapping mapping, HttpServletRequest request,
               HttpServletResponse response) {
          HttpSession session = request.getSession();
          // fetch the necessary parameters from the JSP site
          // the parent attribute is the selected attribute!
          parent_attr = request.getParameter("attr");
          catalogue = request.getParameter("catalogue");
          parent_sequenceNr = Integer.parseInt(request.getParameter("sort_sequence"));
          username = session.getAttribute("username").toString().toUpperCase();
          // connect to database    
          db.SessionConnection sessConn = (db.SessionConnection) session.getAttribute("connection");
          if (sessConn != null) {
               try {
                    sessConn.setAutoCommit(false);
                    connection = (OracleConnection)sessConn.getConnection();
                    // insert the new node into DB
                    insertNewNode(DEFAULT_DESCRIPTION, parent_attr, parent_sequenceNr);               
                    connection.commit();
                    // set attributes for JSP post-action operations
                    request.setAttribute("attr", attribute);
                    request.setAttribute("parent_attr", parent_attr);
               } catch(SQLException ex) {
                    if ( ex.getErrorCode() == 20001 ) {
                         return "error_edit.do";
                    } else { // for all other error codes, rollback and return general error page
                         try {
                              connection.rollback();
                              ex.printStackTrace();
                              return "error_general.do";
                         } catch (SQLException e) {
                              System.err.println("Rollback failed!");
                              e.printStackTrace();
                              return "error_general.do";
                         } // end of catch     
                    } // end of else
               } // end of catch
          return mapping.getForward();
        // sample method
      * Creates, fills and executes a prepared statement to insert a new entry into the specified table, representing
      * a new node in the catalogue.
      * @param parent_attr TODO
      * @param parent_sequenceNr TODO
      * @throws SQLException
     public void insertNewNode(String description, String parent_attr, int parent_sequenceNr) throws SQLException {
               requiredSequenceNumber = getRequiredSequenceNumber(parent_attr, parent_sequenceNr);
               int freeSequenceNumber = getFreeSequenceNumber(requiredSequenceNumber);
               int lastPosition = getLastNodePosition( getLastChildAttribute(parent_attr) );
               attribute = createNewNodeAttribute(parent_attr, lastPosition);
               String callAddNode = "{ call package.addNode(:1, :2, :3, :4, :5, :6, :7) }";
               CallableStatement cst;
               cst = connection.prepareCall(callAddNode);
               cst.setString(1, username );
               cst.setString(2, catalogue);
               cst.setString(3, attribute);
               cst.setString(4, parent_attr);
               cst.setString(5, description);
               cst.setInt(6, requiredSequenceNumber);
               cst.setInt(7, freeSequenceNumber);
               cst.execute();
               cst.close();
java.lang.InstantiationException: action.GliederungNewAction
     at java.lang.Class.newInstance0(Unknown Source)
     at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Unknown Source)
     at action.ActionMapping.perform(ActionMapping.java:54)
     at ControllerServlet.doResponse(ControllerServlet.java:92)
     at ControllerServlet.doPost(ControllerServlet.java:50)
     at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:760)
     at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:853)
     at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.invoke(ApplicationDispatcher.java:679)
     at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.doForward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:431)
     at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.forward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:355)
     at ControllerServlet.doResponse(ControllerServlet.java:103)
     at ControllerServlet.doPost(ControllerServlet.java:50)
     at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:760)
     at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:853)
     .......

Answer 1

You're welcome.
Still, I would report this as a bug at the Struts mailinglist/issuetracker. This silly behaviour shouldn't happen. Once an InstantiationException, okay, but in an infinite loop?!? That's definately a bug. Also the detail message may be more informative, e.g. "No default constructor found" or so.