Spring data repository #Autowiring is null when using #Transactional annotation on service bean - repository

Question

I am studying spring framework and trying to use it in my project. But I have came across the following problem with spring data repository and #Transactional annotation used in my service. The problem is that there are no exceptions on the spring start up. Later on when I try to access spring data repository I get NullPointerException. Maybe you have some thoughts that could help me.
I am using spring data repository define as following:
package net.question.data.repository;
import net.question.model.User;
import org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.JpaRepository;
public interface UserRepository extends JpaRepository<User, Long> {
}
Then I have a service defined which contains autowired repository:
package net.question.data.service;
import net.question.data.repository.UserRepository;
import net.question.model.User;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;
import org.springframework.transaction.annotation.Transactional;
#Service
#Transactional
public class UserService {
#Autowired
public UserRepository userRepository;
public void doStuff(User usr) {
// login will be here
}
}
here is the test to show my problem:
package net.question.spring;
import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
import net.question.data.service.UserService;
import org.junit.Test;
import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration;
import org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner;
#RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
#ContextConfiguration("/app-context.xml")
public class InjectionTestSuite {
#Autowired
UserService userService;
#Test
public void testRepositoryInjection() {
assertNotNull(userService);
assertNotNull(userService.userRepository);
}
}
The test fails on the follwowing line:
assertNotNull(userService.userRepository);
If I remove the #Transactional annotation on the service then the test passes.
here is my app-context.xml file:
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:tx="http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx"
xmlns:jpa="http://www.springframework.org/schema/data/jpa"
xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
xsi:schemaLocation="
http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.1.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx
http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx/spring-tx-3.1.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/context
http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-3.1.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/data/jpa
http://www.springframework.org/schema/data/jpa/spring-jpa-1.0.xsd ">
<jpa:repositories base-package="net.question.data.repository" />
<!-- For discovering entity services -->
<context:component-scan base-package="net.question.data.service" />
<bean id="entityManagerFactory"
class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean">
<property name="persistenceUnitName" value="hibernate_mysql" />
</bean>
<bean id="transactionManager" class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.JpaTransactionManager">
<property name="entityManagerFactory" ref="entityManagerFactory" />
</bean>
<tx:annotation-driven />
</beans>
Maybe you have some ideas, how to find the error?