Tomcat 5.5.20 / Oracle JDBC connection error

Question

Hi All,
I am using Eclipse 3.2/ Tomcat 5.5.20/ Oracle 8i
Inside my java class; right after finding the context, it gives error on line:
conn = dataSource.getConnection();
my server.xml <Resource> settings are proper within one tag...
I am loosing my hair faster... please someone help me..
Error Stack:
javax.servlet.ServletException
     org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.processException(RequestProcessor.java:545)
     org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.processActionPerform(RequestProcessor.java:486)
     org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.process(RequestProcessor.java:274)
     org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.process(ActionServlet.java:1482)
     org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.doPost(ActionServlet.java:525)
     javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:709)
     javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:802)
root cause
java.lang.NullPointerException
     com.nibtt.beans.ConnectionBean.getConnection(ConnectionBean.java:80)
     com.nibtt.actions.LoginAction.execute(LoginAction.java:44)
     org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.processActionPerform(RequestProcessor.java:484)
     org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.process(RequestProcessor.java:274)
     org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.process(ActionServlet.java:1482)
     org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.doPost(ActionServlet.java:525)
     javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:709)
     javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:802)
Regards
Hepzi

Answer 1

Hi Zadok,
I am going insane. Thank God you replied. I am pasting my code here.
I have setup Tomcat5.5.20 <resource> tag as follows: for connection pooling
<Resource      name="jdbc/TestStrutsDB" auth="Container"
          type="javax.sql.DataSource" factory="org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSourceFactory"
          username="SCOTT" password="TIGER"
          driverClassName="oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver" url="jdbc:oracle:thin:@111.1.1.1:1521:TEST"
          maxActive="8" maxIdle="4"/>
my application web.xml code:
<resource-ref>
<description>Oracle DB Connection</description>
<res-ref-name>jdbc/TestStrutsDB</res-ref-name>
<res-type>javax.sql.DataSource</res-type>
<res-auth>Container</res-auth>
</resource-ref>
my java code:
public Connection getConnection() throws Exception{
          Context ctx = new InitialContext();
Context envContext = (Context)ctx.lookup("java:/comp/env");
javax.sql.DataSource dataSource = null;
     ResultSet rst = null;
     Statement stmt = null;
     try {
          if(envContext == null ) {
     System.out.println( "context is NULL");
          } else
     System.out.println( "context is NOT NULL");
dataSource = (javax.sql.DataSource)envContext.lookup("jdbc/TestStrutsDB");
          if (dataSource != null) {
               System.out.println( "before actual connection to database: "+dataSource.toString() );
               try {
                    conn = dataSource.getConnection();
               } catch (Exception connEx) {
                    System.out.println( connEx.getStackTrace());
          if(conn != null) {
     System.out.println( "Got Connection "+conn.toString());
     stmt=conn.createStatement();
     rst=stmt.executeQuery("select username from testTomcat");
     while(rst.next()){
          System.out.println("User Name is: " + rst.getString("username"));
     rst.close();
     rst = null;
     stmt.close();
stmt = null;
conn.close();
     conn = null;
     // do what you wish with Connection
     } catch (SQLException e) {
          while((e = e.getNextException()) != null) {
                    System.out.println("SQLException: " + e.getMessage());
                    System.out.println("SQLState: " + e.getSQLState());
                    System.out.println("VendorError: " + e.getErrorCode());
                    System.out.println(e.getStackTrace());
     } finally {
     try {
     conn.close();
     } catch (SQLException ex) {
          System.out.println(ex.getStackTrace());
          return conn;
     } //End of Connection function
Please let me know if had gone wrong somewhere
Thanks in advance
Regards
Hepzi