tracking NullReferenceExceptions in sitecore

Question

i\'m trying to track a NullReferenceException that shows up on sitecore 6.5 at loading any webpage:

[NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an i         


        

Answer 1

I had the same problem, i found out if your config files don't have the <sitecore> node you will get a error like this!

Answer 2

Ok after half day of debugging and decompiling i found out the problem was the (internal) class Sitecore.Configuration.ConfigPatcher, it seems to choke with Sitecore.WebDav.[Debug/Release].config files that are used for xdt transformations of the Sitecore.WebDav.config file for the content delivery and content authoring environment.

For now, the workaround is rename these files (and disable xdt transformations)

However, this problem should affect any user of xdt transformations for non-web.config files (i'm using slow cheetah add-in)

Answer 3

Also you can get this error when you have empty configuration section in config file with patching, like this

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration xmlns:patch="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/">

</configuration>

Answer 4

Looks like an "include" config file is missing from your setup. Decompile Sitecore.Resources.Media.UploadWatcher.InitializeIgnoreList to try to work out which one (sorry haven't got a decompiler handy). Reflector comes with a 30-day trial or Telerik Just Decompile is free.

EDIT I use a product called SlowCheetah which does XML transformations based on build configuration for any XML file, not just web.config like VS does. You can NuGet it. Highly Recommended.

Answer 5

I would start with removing Sitecore.Analytics.dll from the bin folder of your website. You don't need the dll as you disabled analytics, but as you can see from your stacktrace, there is an error inside this dll.

Answer 6

I had something similar when adding xml comments between nodes:

Did not work:

<configuration xmlns:patch="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/">
    <!-- not used in a delivery node -->
    <sitecore />
</configuration>

If you add the comment before the root node, it works.

<!-- not used in a delivery node -->
<configuration xmlns:patch="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/">
    <sitecore />
</configuration>