Java.io.NotSerializableException: javax.naming.InitialContext

Question

I am using Workshop to create a Stateful session bean and i just have a simple member variable in the bean of type string. I didnt override the ejbCreate and setSessionContext methods and i get the following error when it is trying to passivate the bean.
Passivate Called
<Nov 17, 2004 2:51:06 PM PST> <Error> <EJB> <BEA-010024> <Error occurred during
passivation: java.io.NotSerializableException: javax.naming.InitialContext
at java.io.ObjectOutputStream.writeObject0(ObjectOutputStream.java:1054)
at java.io.ObjectOutputStream.defaultWriteFields(ObjectOutputStream.java
:1330)
at java.io.ObjectOutputStream.writeSerialData(ObjectOutputStream.java:13
02)
at java.io.ObjectOutputStream.writeOrdinaryObject(ObjectOutputStream.jav
a:1245)
at java.io.ObjectOutputStream.writeObject0(ObjectOutputStream.java:1052)
at java.io.ObjectOutputStream.writeObject(ObjectOutputStream.java:278)
at weblogic.ejb20.swap.PassivationUtils.write(PassivationUtils.java:94)
at weblogic.ejb20.swap.DiskSwap.write(DiskSwap.java:214)
at weblogic.ejb20.manager.StatefulSessionManager.swapOut(StatefulSession
Manager.java:1051)
at weblogic.ejb20.cache.NRUCache.moveInActiveToFree(NRUCache.java:550)
at weblogic.ejb20.cache.NRUCache.reclaimNodes(NRUCache.java:578)
at weblogic.ejb20.cache.NRUCache.getFreeNode(NRUCache.java:238)
at weblogic.ejb20.cache.NRUCache.put(NRUCache.java:318)
at weblogic.ejb20.manager.StatefulSessionManager.create(StatefulSessionM
anager.java:844)
at weblogic.ejb20.manager.StatefulSessionManager.remoteCreate(StatefulSe
ssionManager.java:880)
at weblogic.ejb20.internal.StatefulEJBHome.create(StatefulEJBHome.java:1
33)
at filenet.wfqa.tests.ejb.beans.StatefulSession_us0wxs_HomeImpl.create(S
tatefulSession_us0wxs_HomeImpl.java:75)
at filenet.wfqa.tests.ejb.beans.StatefulSession_us0wxs_HomeImpl_WLSkel.i
nvoke(Unknown Source)
at weblogic.rmi.internal.BasicServerRef.invoke(BasicServerRef.java:477)
at weblogic.rmi.cluster.ReplicaAwareServerRef.invoke(ReplicaAwareServerR
ef.java:108)
at weblogic.rmi.internal.BasicServerRef$1.run(BasicServerRef.java:420)
at weblogic.security.acl.internal.AuthenticatedSubject.doAs(Authenticate
dSubject.java:353)
at weblogic.security.service.SecurityManager.runAs(SecurityManager.java:
144)
at weblogic.rmi.internal.BasicServerRef.handleRequest(BasicServerRef.jav
a:415)
at weblogic.rmi.internal.BasicExecuteRequest.execute(BasicExecuteRequest
.java:30)
at weblogic.kernel.ExecuteThread.execute(ExecuteThread.java:197)
at weblogic.kernel.ExecuteThread.run(ExecuteThread.java:170)
The stack trace sesms to tell me that it is something internal to the workshop generated EJBHome class since i do not see any reference to InitialContext in my bean class.
Is it some bug with workshop. Or is it something wrong i am doing.
Thanks
sriram

Answer 1

Page 325 (paragraph 5) of O”Reilly Enterprise Java Beans (4th Edition) states:
“During the lifetime of a stateful session bean, there may be periods of inactivity when the bean instance is not servcing mentod from the client. To conseve resources, the container can passivate the bean instance by preserving its conversation state and evicitin the bean instance from memory. A ben’s convesatin stat may consist of primitive values, object that are serializable, and the following special types:
javax.ejb.SessionContext
javax.ejb EJBHome
javax.ejb EJNObject
javax.ejb Jta.UserTRansaction
javax.ejb Naming.Context(only when it references the JNDI ENC)
…”