[FIXED] Unable to start spring-boot application in IntelliJ Idea

Issue

Overview

I can run the application by using maven plugin of spring-boot but not run it with the IDE. The following lines give some detail about my program.

The application class is as follows:

package com.blss.retailServices.dataExportRouter;

import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.EnableAutoConfiguration;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.velocity.VelocityAutoConfiguration;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.ComponentScan;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;

@Configuration
@ComponentScan
@EnableAutoConfiguration(exclude = { VelocityAutoConfiguration.class })
public class DataExportRouterApplication {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        SpringApplication.run(DataExportRouterApplication.class, args);
    }
}

The exception stack trace is as follows:

org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextException: Unable to start embedded container; nested exception is org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextException: Unable to start EmbeddedWebApplicationContext due to missing EmbeddedServletContainerFactory bean.
    at org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.onRefresh(EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.java:133) ~[spring-boot-1.3.3.RELEASE.jar:1.3.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:532) ~[spring-context-4.2.5.RELEASE.jar:4.2.5.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.refresh(EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.java:118) ~[spring-boot-1.3.3.RELEASE.jar:1.3.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refresh(SpringApplication.java:766) [spring-boot-1.3.3.RELEASE.jar:1.3.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.createAndRefreshContext(SpringApplication.java:361) [spring-boot-1.3.3.RELEASE.jar:1.3.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:307) [spring-boot-1.3.3.RELEASE.jar:1.3.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1191) [spring-boot-1.3.3.RELEASE.jar:1.3.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1180) [spring-boot-1.3.3.RELEASE.jar:1.3.3.RELEASE]
    at com.blss.retailServices.dataExportRouter.DataExportRouterApplication.main(DataExportRouterApplication.java:14) [classes/:na]
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) ~[na:1.8.0_74]
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62) ~[na:1.8.0_74]
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[na:1.8.0_74]
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498) ~[na:1.8.0_74]
    at com.intellij.rt.execution.application.AppMain.main(AppMain.java:147) [idea_rt.jar:na]
Caused by: org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextException: Unable to start EmbeddedWebApplicationContext due to missing EmbeddedServletContainerFactory bean.
    at org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.getEmbeddedServletContainerFactory(EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.java:185) ~[spring-boot-1.3.3.RELEASE.jar:1.3.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.createEmbeddedServletContainer(EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.java:158) ~[spring-boot-1.3.3.RELEASE.jar:1.3.3.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.onRefresh(EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.java:130) ~[spring-boot-1.3.3.RELEASE.jar:1.3.3.RELEASE]
    ... 13 common frames omitted

I used @SpringbootApplication but to no avail.

Question

So I would appreciate it if anyone could help me solve this issue.

Solution

I am guessing you have a war packaging project with Maven and you've flagged your servlet engine (tomcat) as provided.

Unfortunately, IntellIJ IDEA does not add provided dependencies in the runtime classpath, that's why your project does not work when you run it from the IDE.

UPDATE 7/30/2019

As per Giorgio:

They have added a checkbox in the Application Run Configuration to "Include dependencies with 'Provided' scope"

Answered By - Stephane Nicoll
Answer Checked By - Dawn Plyler (JavaFixing Volunteer)