hello,
I am hoping once again for the support of the friendly YAF community with my programming troubles.

I recently uploaded they YAF website on to my website

VERSION of YAF: 1.9.3 beta
hosting platform: CrystalTech Windows shared hosting
WHAT version of .NET framework: 2.0

Error:

Server Error in '/' Application.
Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Source Error:

Line 106: this.Controls.AddAt( 0, _header );
Line 107:
Line 108: this.Controls.Add( forumControl );
Line 109:
Line 110: // add the footer control after the page...


Source File: d:\Inetpub\pwnconclave\App_Code\YAF\Forum.cs Line: 108

Stack Trace:

[NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.]
YAF.Classes.Config.get_ConnectionString() in Config.cs:94
YAF.Classes.Data.YafDBConnManager.InitConnection() in DBAccess.cs:50
YAF.Classes.Data.YafDBConnManager..ctor() in DBAccess.cs:41
YAF.Classes.Base.ForumPage.InitDB() in ForumPage.cs:298
YAF.Classes.Base.ForumPage.ForumPage_Init(Object sender, EventArgs e) in ForumPage.cs:177
System.Web.UI.Control.OnInit(EventArgs e) +99
System.Web.UI.UserControl.OnInit(EventArgs e) +74
System.Web.UI.Control.InitRecursive(Control namingContainer) +321
System.Web.UI.Control.AddedControl(Control control, Int32 index) +221
System.Web.UI.ControlCollection.Add(Control child) +146
YAF.Forum.Forum_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) in d:\Inetpub\pwnconclave\App_Code\YAF\Forum.cs:108
System.Web.UI.Control.OnLoad(EventArgs e) +99
System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +47
System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +131
System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +131
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +1436


Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:2.0.50727.1434; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.1434

Link: www.pwnconclave.com

I am not sure whether this problem is being caused due to my connection string to the database being incorrect, my database is clean and new and has nothing on it, but it most probably is a problem with my forum being unable to connect to the database.

My connection string:

<connectionStrings>
<add name="yafnet1" connectionString="data source=(local);initial catalog=yafnet;integrated security=SSPI" />
<add name="YYFConnectionString"
connectionString="Provider=SQLOLEDB; Data
Source=yaf;
Initial Catalog=data_source_name; User ID=xxxx;
Password=xxxx;network=dbmssocn
AttachDbFilename=|DataDirectory|\YYF.mdf;Integrated Security=True;User Instance=True" />
</connectionStrings>

I hope someone does have the time to help me out. Thank you!
vnchopra

Thank you for replying, i was beginning to think my question was not worthy of answering. I will try the changes you have suggested and will get back to you

I was wondering, is this line of code really an error?

Line 108: this.Controls.Add( forumControl );

Being a student, i dont think i would ever consider an answer to be a stupid answer. lol! Im glad you are replying back.

im trying to get an internship as a web developer at a local company near by, you probably have an idea as to what a company is looking for in an intern, maybe you can give me some advise

I have another stupid question, i am using visual studio 2008, when i upload this website to my host, should i "Publish" it on my webhost? This would create a precompiled file, i actually do not know what to do with that.

If you can diretly access your server, manually attach the database using SQL Server Management Studio. Then change your connection string to...



Make sure you add access rights for the account accessing the DB through IIS. Usually it's the NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE account.

If you keep it as simple as possible, you can find errors faster!

Once you get the site running, then start adding to the connection string. Peice by peice to add the settings you need.

As far as what design companies are looing for, that can't be answered directly. Each company uses there own "set of rules" to match their style. If your wanting to be a coder, best things to do is get as many languages under your belt as you can. Just make sure that you can program like a demon in your choosen primary language!

lol to be honest with you i have never really posted websites online before with a database in place, so this really is my first time doin that.

I got this same error and after downloading the source I found 2 problems.
The root cause of the issue was that yaf was trying to insert a new user with a null gender. I changed the gender to nullable in the DB to get around the issue.

The second problem is that the code was catching the exception and then returning 0 for the userId it was trying to create. Catching the exception and logging it is fine, but it should be rethrowing the exception instead of returning 0.

This may not be your exact problem, but it was for me.

Yes I did, but the real exception is hidden because of improper exception handling. Check the Eventlog table to see if the 'real' exception is being logged when you get the exception mentioned above.

are you guys still there?