title: Identifying and solving javax.el.PropertyNotFoundException: Target Unreachable
body: <p>When trying to reference a managed bean in EL like so <code>#{bean.entity.property}</code>, sometimes a <code>javax.el.PropertyNotFoundException: Target Unreachable</code> exception is being thrown, usually when a bean property is to be set, or when a bean action is to be invoked.</p>
  
  <p>There seem to be five different kinds of messages:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=is%3Aquestion%20javax.el.PropertyNotFoundException%20%22Target%20Unreachable%22%20%22resolved%20to%20null%22">Target Unreachable, identifier 'bean' resolved to null</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=is%3Aquestion%20javax.el.PropertyNotFoundException%20%22Target%20Unreachable%22%20%22returned%20null%22%20-%22%27null%27%20returned%22%20-%22%270%27%20returned%22%20-BracketSuffix">Target Unreachable, 'entity' returned null</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=is%3Aquestion%20javax.el.PropertyNotFoundException%20%22Target%20Unreachable%22%20%22%27null%27%20returned%20null%22">Target Unreachable, 'null' returned null</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=is%3Aquestion%20javax.el.PropertyNotFoundException%20%22Target%20Unreachable%22%20%22%27%270%27%27%20returned%20null%22">Target Unreachable, ''0'' returned null</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=is%3Aquestion%20javax.el.PropertyNotFoundException%20%22Target%20Unreachable%22%20%22%27BracketSuffix%27%20returned%20null%22">Target Unreachable, 'BracketSuffix' returned null</a></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>What do they all mean? How are they caused and how should they be solved?</p>