I have a problem with a managed bean in a JSF app deployed on JBoss 4.0.3. When I refer to it in a jsp like:

<h:outputText value="#{correspondor.newCorrespondence}"/> <% /* for side effect */%>

this exception is thrown:

javax.servlet.ServletException: javax.servlet.jsp.JspException: javax.faces.FacesException: javax.faces.FacesException: Can't instantiate class: 'uk.gov.brightonhove.adaptability.CorrespondenceBean'.. class uk.gov.brightonhove.adaptability.CorrespondenceBean : java.lang.NullPointerException
 org.apache.jasper.runtime.PageContextImpl.doHandlePageException(PageContextImpl.java:844)
 org.apache.jasper.runtime.PageContextImpl.handlePageException(PageContextImpl.java:781)
 org.apache.jsp.jsp.formLetter_jsp._jspService(org.apache.jsp.jsp.formLetter_jsp:202)
 org.apache.jasper.runtime.HttpJspBase.service(HttpJspBase.java:97)
 javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:810)
 org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(JspServletWrapper.java:322)
 org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:314)
 org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:264)
 javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:810)
 com.sun.faces.context.ExternalContextImpl.dispatch(ExternalContextImpl.java:322)
 com.sun.faces.application.ViewHandlerImpl.renderView(ViewHandlerImpl.java:130)
 com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RenderResponsePhase.execute(RenderResponsePhase.java:87)
 com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.phase(LifecycleImpl.java:200)
 com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.render(LifecycleImpl.java:117)
 javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:198)
 uk.gov.brightonhove.FilterLogin.doFilter(FilterLogin.java:48)
 org.apache.myfaces.component.html.util.ExtensionsFilter.doFilter(ExtensionsFilter.java:122)
 org.jboss.web.tomcat.filters.ReplyHeaderFilter.doFilter(ReplyHeaderFilter.java:81)

The bean compiles fine and is in the classpath of the war file when it's deployed. It is referenced in faces-config like:

<managed-bean>
 <managed-bean-name>correspondor</managed-bean-name> <managed-bean-class>uk.gov.brightonhove.adaptability.CorrespondenceBean</managed-bean-class>
 <managed-bean-scope>request</managed-bean-scope>
 </managed-bean>

the bean looks like

package uk.gov.brightonhove.adaptability;

import java.util.Date;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.List;

import javax.faces.application.FacesMessage;
import javax.faces.context.FacesContext;
import javax.faces.model.SelectItem;

import uk.gov.brightonhove.adaptability.dao.CorrespondenceDao;
import uk.gov.brightonhove.adaptability.dao.ProjectTaskDao;
import uk.gov.brightonhove.adaptability.dao.TaskTemplateDao;
import uk.gov.brightonhove.adaptability.pojo.Correspondence;
import uk.gov.brightonhove.adaptability.pojo.ProjectA;
import uk.gov.brightonhove.adaptability.pojo.ProjectTask;
import uk.gov.brightonhove.adaptability.pojo.TaskTemplate;

public class CorrespondenceBean extends BaseBean {

 private Correspondence correspondence;
 private ProjectTask task;
 private boolean disabled;
 private HomeBean home;
 private ProjectA project;

 public CorrespondenceBean() {
 home = (HomeBean)getAdaptBeanBinding("#{homer}");
 newCorrespondence();
 }

 protected void newCorrespondence() {
 disabled = false;
 correspondence = new Correspondence();
 task = home.getChosenTask();
 project = task.getProject();
 getFormLettersForTask();
 correspondence.setTemplateid((Short)formLettersForTask[0].getValue());
 if (task.getDate_completed() == null) {
 correspondence.setProjecttaskid(task.getProjectTaskId());
 } else {
 disabled = true;
// correspondence = new CorrespondenceDao().getCorrespondence()
 System.out.println("todo");
 }
 }
 //snip
}

why is my bean not found? TIA