IllegalStateException: No context holder available for step scope

[raysuliteanu]

I have XML-based beans defined as

<bean class = "org.springframework.batch.core.scope.StepScope"/>

<bean id = "genericStep" class = "org.springframework.batch.core.step.item.SimpleStepFactoryBean" abstract = "true">
...

<bean id = "myStep" parent = "genericStep" scope = "step">
...

When the application context is loaded, I get the following exception.

Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'scopedTarget.myStep': Scope 'step' is not active for the current thread; consider defining a scoped proxy for this bean if you intend to refer to it from a singleton; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalStateException: No context holder available for step scope
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:339)
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:190)
	at org.springframework.aop.target.SimpleBeanTargetSource.getTarget(SimpleBeanTargetSource.java:33)
	at org.springframework.aop.framework.JdkDynamicAopProxy.invoke(JdkDynamicAopProxy.java:182)
	at $Proxy18.getName(Unknown Source)
	at org.springframework.batch.core.job.flow.support.state.StepState.<init>(StepState.java:40)
	at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
	at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:39)
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:27)
	at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:513)
	at org.springframework.beans.BeanUtils.instantiateClass(BeanUtils.java:126)
	... 87 more
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: No context holder available for step scope
	at org.springframework.batch.core.scope.StepScope.getContext(StepScope.java:197)
	at org.springframework.batch.core.scope.StepScope.get(StepScope.java:139)
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:325)

So it appears that the system expects the bean to be a prototype, which makes sense. But I can't figure out how to force that. I tried configuring SimpleStepFactoryBean to have singleton=true. That didn't work.

Anyone have suggestions? Thanks.

[raysuliteanu]

In case it helps, the job containing this step, defined in a separate XML file, is configured as

<job id = "standard" parent = "defaultJob">
    <flow id = "standard-flow" parent = "standardFlow"/>
</job>

<flow id = "standardFlow" abstract = "true">
    <step id = "standardOutput" parent = "myStep">
        <fail on = "FAILED" exit-code = "1"/>
        <end on = "*"/>
    </step>
</flow>

<job id = "defaultJob" abstract = "true" incrementer = "parametersIncrementer">
    <listeners>
        <listener ref = "jobExecutionListener"/>
    </listeners>
</job>

[Dave Syer]

A Step is not allowed to have scope="step" (the context for the scope is created by the step itself).

[raysuliteanu]

Duh. [palm smacking forehead]. That was dumb of me. Sometimes you get too close. Trees and forest. Anyway, thanks.