@ManagedProperty throws javax.el.ELException: Cannot convert bean of type class java.lang.String to class com.example.Bean

I'm injecting a managed bean as managed property of another managed bean.

package com.books.beans;

import javax.faces.bean.ManagedBean;
import javax.faces.bean.ManagedProperty;
import javax.faces.bean.RequestScoped;

@ManagedBean(name="book")
@RequestScoped
public class Book {

    @ManagedProperty(value = "page")
    private Page pages;

    // Getter/setter
}

package com.books.beans;

import javax.faces.bean.ManagedBean;
import javax.faces.bean.RequestScoped;

@ManagedBean(name="page")
@RequestScoped
public class Page {
    // ...
}

However, it throws the below EL exception:

SEVERE: Servlet.service() for servlet [Faces Servlet] in context with path [/JSFTraining] threw exception [Unable to set property pages for managed bean book] with root cause
javax.el.ELException: Cannot convert page of type class java.lang.String to class com.books.beans.Page
    at org.apache.el.lang.ELSupport.coerceToType(ELSupport.java:416)
    at org.apache.el.ExpressionFactoryImpl.coerceToType(ExpressionFactoryImpl.java:46)
    at com.sun.faces.el.ELUtils.coerce(ELUtils.java:565)
    at com.sun.faces.mgbean.BeanBuilder$Expression.evaluate(BeanBuilder.java:562)
    at com.sun.faces.mgbean.ManagedBeanBuilder$BakedBeanProperty.set(ManagedBeanBuilder.java:606)
    at com.sun.faces.mgbean.ManagedBeanBuilder.buildBean(ManagedBeanBuilder.java:133)
    at com.sun.faces.mgbean.BeanBuilder.build(BeanBuilder.java:102)
    at com.sun.faces.mgbean.BeanManager.createAndPush(BeanManager.java:409)
    at com.sun.faces.mgbean.BeanManager.create(BeanManager.java:269)
    at com.sun.faces.el.ManagedBeanELResolver.resolveBean(ManagedBeanELResolver.java:244)
    at com.sun.faces.el.ManagedBeanELResolver.getValue(ManagedBeanELResolver.java:116)
    at com.sun.faces.el.DemuxCompositeELResolver._getValue(DemuxCompositeELResolver.java:176)
    at com.sun.faces.el.DemuxCompositeELResolver.getValue(DemuxCompositeELResolver.java:203)
    at org.apache.el.parser.AstIdentifier.getValue(AstIdentifier.java:71)
    at org.apache.el.parser.AstValue.getValue(AstValue.java:160)
    at org.apache.el.ValueExpressionImpl.getValue(ValueExpressionImpl.java:184)
    at com.sun.faces.facelets.el.TagValueExpression.getValue(TagValueExpression.java:109)
    at javax.faces.component.ComponentStateHelper.eval(ComponentStateHelper.java:194)
    at javax.faces.component.ComponentStateHelper.eval(ComponentStateHelper.java:182)
    at javax.faces.component.UIOutput.getValue(UIOutput.java:174)
    at javax.faces.component.UIInput.getValue(UIInput.java:291)
    at com.sun.faces.renderkit.html_basic.HtmlBasicInputRenderer.getValue(HtmlBasicInputRenderer.java:205)
    at com.sun.faces.renderkit.html_basic.HtmlBasicRenderer.getCurrentValue(HtmlBasicRenderer.java:355)
    at com.sun.faces.renderkit.html_basic.HtmlBasicRenderer.encodeEnd(HtmlBasicRenderer.java:164)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.encodeEnd(UIComponentBase.java:924)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1863)
    at javax.faces.render.Renderer.encodeChildren(Renderer.java:176)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.encodeChildren(UIComponentBase.java:894)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1856)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1859)
    at javax.faces.component.UIComponent.encodeAll(UIComponent.java:1859)
    at com.sun.faces.application.view.FaceletViewHandlingStrategy.renderView(FaceletViewHandlingStrategy.java:443)
    at com.sun.faces.application.view.MultiViewHandler.renderView(MultiViewHandler.java:131)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RenderResponsePhase.execute(RenderResponsePhase.java:120)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.Phase.doPhase(Phase.java:101)
    at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.render(LifecycleImpl.java:219)
    at javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:647)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:303)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:208)
    at org.apache.tomcat.websocket.server.WsFilter.doFilter(WsFilter.java:52)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:241)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:208)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:220)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:122)
    at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:505)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:170)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:103)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve.invoke(AccessLogValve.java:957)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:116)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:423)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Processor.process(AbstractHttp11Processor.java:1079)
    at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$AbstractConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:620)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(JIoEndpoint.java:316)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

How is this caused and how can I solve it?

Solution

It's because you injected a string value of page instead of the physical bean instance as available by #{page}.

Fix it accordingly by replacing

@ManagedProperty(value = "page")

with

@ManagedProperty(value = "#{page}")

or, better

@ManagedProperty("#{page}")