VB .Net NullReferenceException work-around
Solution 1
You can use If(a, b)
to coalesce a null to another value. Example:
Dim obj as String = Nothing
Dim foo as String = If(obj, "foo")
The output of foo in this example will be the string "foo". If you had a non-null string assigned to obj, then foo would also reference that string.
However, I have a strong feeling that your null reference exception could be happening not on the property, but on the object. Order
or ShippingAddress
could be null. Accessing properties or methods on a null reference is an error. Simply accessing a null value by storing it to a variable is not an error in and of itself.
If you are getting your exception on one of these lines
CompanyName = Order.ShippingAddress.CompanyName
State = Order.ShippingAddress.StateOrProvince
It is because either Order or ShippingAddress is null.
Check and see if these objects could actually return as nothing. If so, you will need to apply null-checking around them prior to accessing their properties.
Your update:
There is updated code please note no exception is thrown until:
BillingCompany = If(Order.ShippingAddress.CompanyName.ToString(), "")
is executed.
This can throw because Order can be null, ShippingAddress can be null, or CompanyName can be null. It is an exception to access a property or a method on a null reference. If Order is null, you will get an error accessing ShippingAddress. Similarlu, if ShippingAddress is null, you cannot access CompanyName. If CompanyName is null, you cannot call ToString().
You have to at some point verify which object is null. I don't have confidence that any of them will not be null. Do you? Check. Step through your program and observe the object states.
If it does come down to properties like CompanyName being null, and if CompanyName is a string, omit the ToString() call.
BillingCompany = If(Order.ShippingAddress.CompanyName, "")
If CompanyName is not a string, you will simply have to compare it to Nothing before calling ToString() or accessing a property.
Solution 2
Take a look at this line:
CompanyName = Order.ShippingAddress.CompanyName
If the CompanyName
property in Order.ShippingAddress.CompanyName
is Nothing
, that code is still perfectly legal and will not trigger a NullReferenceException. The exception is triggered because either Order.ShippingAddress
or Order
itself is Nothing. You get the exception because you're trying to look for a specific property on an object that doesn't exist. Based on your code sample it's easy to see why this might be the case:
Dim Order As OrderType
That line declares a variable, but it never actually gives that variable a value. Order
is an object reference variable... that is not yet set to an instance of an object. Now it sounds like you may be omitting the code where an instance is set, but it's worth mentioning because if so, that's a very basic part of how this code is supposed to work and would make sense to include at least a stub for that in the sample.
Mike L.
Updated on June 23, 2022Comments
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Mike L. almost 2 years
This should be simple, but I am having problems. Using the eBay .Net library, sometimes certain fields in a response are
Nothing
and sometimes contain a value. When they areNothing
they could simple be represented as an empty string, but the developers chose to return them asNothing
so when I try to set a String to the value (when nothing is there) I get a NullReferenceException, see belowImports System Imports System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager Imports System.Globalization Imports System.Threading Imports System.Xml Imports eBay.Service.Core.Soap Imports eBay.Service.Core.Sdk Imports eBay.Service.Call Imports eBay.Service.Util Public Class eBayOrderImportService Private Sub ServiceWorkerThread(ByVal state As Object) ' Periodically check if the service is stopping. Do While Not Me.stopping ' Perform main service function here... GetLastTime() Dim apiContext As ApiContext = GetApiContext() Dim apiCall As GetOrdersCall = New GetOrdersCall(apiContext) Dim orders As New OrderTypeCollection Dim timeFilter As New TimeFilter timeFilter.TimeFrom = lastUpdate timeFilter.TimeTo = Date.Now Dim lastTime As Boolean = SetLastTime() apiCall.IncludeFinalValueFee = True orders = apiCall.GetOrders(timeFilter, TradingRoleCodeType.Seller, OrderStatusCodeType.Completed) Dim order As OrderType For Each order In orders 'do order-wide stuff here LogOrder(order) Next Thread.Sleep(30 * 1000) ' Simulate some lengthy operations. Loop ' Signal the stopped event. Me.stoppedEvent.Set() End Sub Private Sub LogOrder(ByVal Order As OrderType) Dim OrderID, AccountID, BillingFirstName, BillingLastName, _ BillingCompany, BillingEmailAddress, BillingPhone, _ BillingAddress1, BillingAddress2, BillingCity, _ BillingStateProvidence, BillingPostalCode, _ BillingCountry, ShippingFirstName, ShippingLastName, _ ShippingCompany, ShippingEmailAddress, ShippingPhone, _ ShippingAddress1, ShippingAddress2, ShippingCity, _ ShippingStateProvidence, ShippingPostalCode, _ ShippingCountry, OrderStatus, BillingStatus, _ OrderDate, ShippingMethod, SalesTax, _ PreShippingCharge, OrderDiscount, OrderTotalCharged, _ PaymentMethod, RepeatOrder, GiftCode, CouponCode, RID, _ OrderNotes, OrderChannel, IsPrinted, IsShipped, PrintDate, _ ShipDate, ActualShipCharge, DaysInTransit, DeliveryDate, _ TrackingNumber, ShippedMethod As String OrderID = Order.OrderID AccountID = "" Dim name As String = If(Order.ShippingAddress.Name.ToString(), "None Given") BillingFirstName = name.Substring(0, name.IndexOf(" ")) BillingLastName = name.Substring(name.IndexOf(" ") + 1) BillingCompany = If(Order.ShippingAddress.CompanyName.ToString(), "") BillingEmailAddress = If(Order.TransactionArray(0).Buyer.Email.ToString(), "") BillingPhone = If(Order.ShippingAddress.Phone.ToString(), "") BillingAddress1 = If(Order.ShippingAddress.Street1.ToString(), "") BillingAddress2 = If(Order.ShippingAddress.Street2.ToString(), "") BillingCity = If(Order.ShippingAddress.CityName.ToString(), "") BillingStateProvidence = If(Order.ShippingAddress.StateOrProvince.ToString(), "") BillingPostalCode = If(Order.ShippingAddress.PostalCode.ToString(), "") BillingCountry = If(Order.ShippingAddress.CountryName.ToString(), "") ShippingFirstName = If(BillingFirstName, "") ShippingLastName = If(BillingLastName, "") ShippingCompany = If(Order.ShippingAddress.CompanyName.ToString(), "") ShippingEmailAddress = If(Order.TransactionArray(0).Buyer.Email.ToString(), "") ShippingPhone = If(Order.ShippingAddress.Phone.ToString(), "") ShippingAddress1 = If(Order.ShippingAddress.Street1.ToString(), "") ShippingAddress2 = If(Order.ShippingAddress.Street2.ToString(), "") ShippingCity = If(Order.ShippingAddress.CityName.ToString(), "") ShippingStateProvidence = If(Order.ShippingAddress.StateOrProvince.ToString(), "") ShippingPostalCode = If(Order.ShippingAddress.PostalCode.ToString(), "") ShippingCountry = If(Order.ShippingAddress.CountryName.ToString(), "") OrderStatus = If(Order.OrderStatus.ToString(), "") BillingStatus = If(Order.OrderStatus.ToString(), "") OrderDate = If(Order.CreatedTime.ToString("MM/DD/yyyy"), "") If Order.TransactionArray(0).Taxes IsNot Nothing Then Dim tmpTax As Double = 0.0 Dim tmpTrans As TransactionType For Each tmpTrans In Order.TransactionArray tmpTax = tmpTax + tmpTrans.Taxes.TotalTaxAmount.Value Next SalesTax = tmpTax.ToString() Else SalesTax = "0.0" End If ShippingMethod = If(Order.ShippingServiceSelected.ShippingService.ToString(), "") ShippingMethod = ShippingMethod & ":" & If(Order.ShippingServiceSelected.ShippingServicePriority.ToString(), "") OrderTotalCharged = If(Order.Total.Value.ToString(), "") OrderChannel = "eBay" comm = New OdbcCommand comm.CommandText = _ "INSERT INTO Orders (OrderID, AccountID, BillingFirstName, BillingLastName, " & _ "BillingCompany, BillingEmailAddress, BillingPhone, BillingAddress1, " & _ "BillingAddress2, BillingCity, BillingStateProvidence, BillingPostalCode, " & _ "BillingCountry, ShippingFirstName, ShippingLastName, ShippingCompany, " & _ "ShippingEmailAddress, ShippingPhone, ShippingAddress1, ShippingAddress2, " & _ "ShippingCity, ShippingStateProvidence, ShippingPostalCode, ShippingCountry, " & _ "OrderStatus, BillingStatus, OrderDate, SalesTax, ShippingMethod, OrderTotalCharged, OrderChannel) " & _ "VALUES('" & OrderID & "', '" & AccountID & "', '" & BillingFirstName & "', '" & _ BillingLastName & "', '" & BillingCompany & "', '" & BillingEmailAddress & "', '" & _ BillingPhone & "', '" & BillingAddress1 & "', '" & BillingAddress2 & "', '" & BillingCity & "', '" & _ BillingStateProvidence & "', '" & BillingPostalCode & "', '" & BillingCountry & "', '" & _ ShippingFirstName & "', '" & ShippingLastName & "', '" & ShippingCompany & "', '" & _ ShippingEmailAddress & "', '" & ShippingPhone & "', '" & ShippingAddress1 & "', '" & _ ShippingAddress2 & "', '" & ShippingCity & "', '" & ShippingStateProvidence & "', '" & _ ShippingPostalCode & "', '" & ShippingCountry & "', '" & OrderStatus & "', '" & _ BillingStatus & "', '" & OrderDate & "', '" & SalesTax & "', '" & ShippingMethod & "', '" & _ OrderTotalCharged & "', '" & OrderChannel & "')" ' Dim orderResult As Integer = comm.ExecuteNonQuery() sysLog.WriteEntry(comm.CommandText) End Sub End Class
There is updated code please note no exception is thrown until: BillingCompany = If(Order.ShippingAddress.CompanyName.ToString(), "") is executed. The
Name
property has a value which successfully stored into its variable, whileOrder.ShippingAddress.CompanyName
is set toNothing
(this property does exist, and can sometimes have a value). I updated the code to include Anthony Pegram's answer which did not help.Everything is declared properly, to shorten the code I just showed a relevant example. Consider this inside of a loop for each order returned from a GetOrders() call, sometimes the
Order.ShippingAddress.CompanyName
will be nothing, at these times is it possible to handle it as an empty string? I tried the ToString() method. In other languages I could $CompanyName = this || that;Anything similar in VB .Net?
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Mike L. over 12 yearsI updated the code, please see the For/Next loop which ?should? be setting the value of Order as it iterates, and this Order is passed to another sub routine to actually process it. Properties that are not set to nothing have no problem.
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Anthony Pegram over 12 years@MikeL, you have completely changed the code in the question. That generally makes the answers you have already received not useful. Generally speaking, don't do that. Start a new question if you have to.
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Anthony Pegram over 12 yearsThat being said, it still looks like you need to heed the advice of the answers. Either
Order
orOrder.ShippingAddress
could be null. Other objects could be null. Or it could indeed be the string properties that are null, and you are calling ToString() on them, getting the exception. This completely nullifies the safety ofIf(a, b)
. Ifa
is null,If(a.ToString(), b)
will throw. You haven't highlighted where the error is occuring, so we're left to guess. Have you stepped through the code? -
Anthony Pegram over 12 yearsPlease, put a breakpoint where the NRE is happening. Examing all of the object references on that line. See which one is null, and add appropriate null checks. Continue stepping through the code until you have verified that anything that could possibly be null is accounted for. And don't call methods or properties on null references.
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Andrew Morton over 2 yearsPlease make sure that VB.NET code you post on Stack Overflow compiles with
Option Strict On
. Also, you should explain the code and, in this case, explain what you're adding that the previous answer did not. -
cursorrux over 2 yearsPlease add further details to expand on your answer, such as working code or documentation citations.
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Suhaib Janjua over 2 yearsThis does not provide an answer to the question. Once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post; instead, provide answers that don't require clarification from the asker.