What is the meaning of object reference not set to an instance of an object in C#?

What is the meaning of object reference not set to an instance of an object in C#?
Staff

Rank: #41

Hi Tiago,

That's an issue on the component side due the namespaces of your saml message. We need to search for the Issuer regardless if it's "inside" a namespace or not.

To fix it set the XPathString input to : "*[local-name() = 'Issuer']"

Regards.

What is the meaning of object reference not set to an instance of an object in C#?
Staff

Rank: #41

Hi Tiago,

On the first error that's the whole stack error? The remaining stack is needed to check if it was while checking the logout request or logout response.

The error itself it's due it cannot retrieve the Issuer from the message. In the saml message logs the messages are all without error?

Also the Logout is initiated by the IdP connector or IdP server?

Regards

Hello Telmo,

It is the complete stack error that Service Center logs show me; there is another placte to get a full version?

In the saml message logs there is no error; I can see a logout request and logout response, both valid. 

The logout is initiated by SP, in this case, the IdP connector.

Best regards

What is the meaning of object reference not set to an instance of an object in C#?
Staff

Rank: #41

Hi Tiago,

Ok, in that case only through debug on that action it will be possible to understand what's causing that, and on which screen flow are we.

Regards

Hi Telmo,

I got back to this error, make a debug and could identify the follow:

The exception occurs in RetrieveMessageIDsFromSamlMessage action when it calls XmlElement_SelectSingleNode method with "Issuer" value for XPathString parameter; the output is used as input parameter in the next action XmlElement_GetInnerText, but it is not available and the exception occurs. 

In saml logout responses I can find Issuer node, and its value match with IdP Server Issuer/Entity ID configuration:

<samlp:LogoutResponse xmlns:samlp="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:protocol"
                      ID="se323f8ecdf939fd27e6a68f9128cfed309615737"
                      Version="2.0"
                      IssueInstant="2019-04-03T20:23:34Z"
                      Destination="https://appdev.unimedbh.com.br/IdP/SLO.aspx"
                      InResponseTo="id_9ac3a16a26e5429b842d948d30be6d27">
  <saml:Issuer xmlns:saml="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:assertion">UnimedBHIdP</saml:Issuer>
  <samlp:Status xmlns:samlp="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:protocol">
    <samlp:StatusCode xmlns:samlp="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:protocol"
                      Value="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:status:Success">
    </samlp:StatusCode>
  </samlp:Status>
</samlp:LogoutResponse>

Configuration hint says that this value should be a URL, but our IdP server already exists, so we have to use this way. This could be cause XmlElement_SelectSingleNode not identify the node in xml? Can you see another problem in the response that could generate this problem?

This flow's part is executed because RetrieveMessageIDsFromSamlMessage is called with input parameter GetIssuer as True; 

Can you see any side effects in changing its value to default (False)? I see that in Login flow it is called this way...

Thanks in advance.

Tiago

What is the meaning of object reference not set to an instance of an object in C#?
Staff

Rank: #41

Hi Tiago,

That's an issue on the component side due the namespaces of your saml message. We need to search for the Issuer regardless if it's "inside" a namespace or not.

To fix it set the XPathString input to : "*[local-name() = 'Issuer']"

Regards.

Hi Telmo,

I modified XPathString's values and it works. Thank you.

Note: We are using IdP Connector with Forge Rock OpenAM as IdP server; if you want to include it in component description.

Regards,

Tiago

An Object is an instance of a Class , it is stored some where in memory. A reference is what is used to describe the pointer to the memory location where the Object resides. The message "object reference not set to an instance of an object" means that you are referring to an object the does not exist or was deleted or cleaned up. It's usually better to avoid a NullReferenceException than to handle it after it occurs. To prevent the error, objects that could be null should be tested for null before being used.

if (mClass != null)

{

  // Go ahead and use mClass

  mClass.property = ...

}

else

{

  // Attempting to use mClass here will result in NullReferenceException

}

How do I fix object reference is not set to an instance of an object?

To fix "Object reference not set to an instance of an object," you should try running Microsoft Visual Studio as an administrator. You can also try resetting the user data associated with your account or updating Microsoft Visual Studio to the latest version.

What is object reference not set to an instance of an object C?

The “Object reference not set to an instance of an object” is a very famous error in C# that appears when you get a NullReferenceException . This occurs when you try to access a property or method of an object that points to a null value.

What does object reference mean?

An object reference is information on how to find a particular object. The object is a chunk of main memory; a reference to the object is a way to get to that chunk of memory. The variable str does not actually contain the object, but contains information about where the object is.

How do I fix NullReferenceException in C#?

You can eliminate the exception by declaring the number of elements in the array before initializing it, as the following example does. For more information on declaring and initializing arrays, see Arrays and Arrays. You get a null return value from a method, and then call a method on the returned type.