PersistenceContext EntityManager injection NullPointerException

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An entity manager can only be injected in classes running inside a transaction. In other words, it can only be injected in a EJB. Other classe must use an EntityManagerFactory to create and destroy an EntityManager.

Since your TestService is not an EJB, the annotation @PersistenceContext is simply ignored. Not only that, in JavaEE 5, it’s not possible to inject an EntityManager nor an EntityManagerFactory in a JAX-RS Service. You have to go with a JavaEE 6 server (JBoss 6, Glassfish 3, etc).

Here’s an example of injecting an EntityManagerFactory:

package com.test.service;

import java.util.*;
import javax.persistence.*;
import javax.ws.rs.*;

@Path("/service")
public class TestService {

    @PersistenceUnit(unitName = "test")
    private EntityManagerFactory entityManagerFactory;

    @GET
    @Path("/get")
    @Produces("application/json")
    public List get() {
        EntityManager entityManager = entityManagerFactory.createEntityManager();
        try {
            return entityManager.createQuery("from TestEntity").getResultList();
        } finally {
            entityManager.close();
        }
    }
}

The easiest way to go here is to declare your service as a EJB 3.1, assuming you’re using a JavaEE 6 server.

Related question:
Inject an EJB into JAX-RS (RESTful service)

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