Problem in loading Context.xml file

Question

Hi,
I just tried to create datasource from context.xml. i did the following steps
1. i added context.xml file in webapps/META-INF/
2. I added the below values to that xml file.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Context antiJARLocking="true" path="/myApp" >
    <Resource name="jdbc/dbtest" type="javax.sql.DataSource" driverClassName="oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver" password="test_dev" minIdle="1" maxIdle="1" maxActive="10" maxWait="5000" username="test_dev" url="jdbc:oracle:thin:@22.4.55.6:1521:TEST"/>
</Context>3.
public class TestDB {
     private static Logger log = Logger.getLogger(TestDB.class.getName());
     private final static String JNDI_PATH_DB            = "java:comp/env/jdbc/dbtest";
     public javax.sql.DataSource getCatalogDS() throws NamingException
          try
               InitialContext initCtx = new InitialContext();
               return (DataSource)initCtx.lookup(JNDI_PATH_DB);
          catch (NamingException ex)
               log.info("NamingException: " + ex.getMessage());
               throw ex;
     public Connection getConnection() throws Exception
          try
              DataSource catalogDS = getCatalogDS();
               return catalogDS.getConnection();
          catch(Exception ex)
               log.info(ex.getMessage());
               throw ex;
     public static void main (String args[]){
               try {
                    TestDB obj = new TestDB();
                    System.out.println("before lookup");
                    System.out.println("Datasource is "+obj.getConnection());
               } catch( NamingException ne ) {
                    throw new RuntimeException( "Unable to aquire data source", ne );
     catch (Exception e)
          String st = StringUtils.StackTraceToString( e );
}4. i run this class to get connection.
i am getting an error
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to aquire data source
     at it.sscenter.escape.admintools.TestDB.main(TestDB.java:51)
Caused by: 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(NamingManager.java:645)
     at javax.naming.InitialContext.getDefaultInitCtx(InitialContext.java:288)
     at javax.naming.InitialContext.getURLOrDefaultInitCtx(InitialContext.java:325)
     at javax.naming.InitialContext.lookup(InitialContext.java:392)
     at it.sscenter.escape.admintools.TestDB.getCatalogDS(TestDB.java:22)
     at it.sscenter.escape.admintools.TestDB.getConnection(TestDB.java:35)
     at it.sscenter.escape.admintools.TestDB.main(TestDB.java:49)Is that right way or do i need to configure the context file in somewhere OR do i need to create an properties file?
Kindly help to resolve this issue.
Thanks
Jasmin

Answer 1

EJP wrote:
You need to give the InitialContext some properties, there's no magical way it'll configure itself (outside of a Java EE container).If you lookup a URL with a known protocol, e.g. ldap: or in this case java:, it will configure itself in any environment that has a factory for the protocol.Is this a recent change? Last time I was accessing Ldap, it did require me to specify the com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory separately.