Dear Mojoportal

I am editor for www.essexbiodiversity.org.uk which is using Mojoportal version 2.2.4.6 MySQL hosted on win9.pipeten.co.uk. The PC that I use is operated by Ubuntu Linux, though I also update from Windows operated machines from time to time. There has generally been no problem in adding content but problems have started cropping up. 

While trying to edit the content of an existing page today I am getting this message returned;

____________________________________________________________________________

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:

An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.

Stack Trace:

[NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.]
   mojoPortal.Business.WebHelpers.IndexBuilderConfiguration.GetConfig() +176
   mojoPortal.Business.WebHelpers.IndexBuilderManager.Initialize() +25
   mojoPortal.Business.WebHelpers.IndexBuilderManager..cctor() +68

[TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for 'mojoPortal.Business.WebHelpers.IndexBuilderManager' threw an exception.]
   mojoPortal.Business.WebHelpers.IndexBuilderManager.get_Providers() +0
   mojoPortal.Web.ContentUI.EditHtml.btnUpdate_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) +215
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e) +111
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument) +110
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.System.Web.UI.IPostBackEventHandler.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument) +10
   System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(IPostBackEventHandler sourceControl, String eventArgument) +13
   System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(NameValueCollection postData) +36
   System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +1565

Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:2.0.50727.3620; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.3618

___________________________________________________________________________________

Can you please advise on the cause of the problem and a solution?

Many thanks

Tony Morton

P.S. A similar type of problem recently arose while trying to delete pages, when an Unhandled exception error message was returned to me and the website went off-line until I contacted the hosting company who were able to restore it. Their error log read as follows;

An unhandled exception occurred and the process was terminated.

Application ID: /LM/W3SVC/260/ROOT

Process ID: 19480

Exception: System.IO.IOException

Message: Lock obtain timed out:
Lock@H:\hshome\essexbp\essexbiodiversity.org.uk\Data\Sites\1\index\lucene-73
d8252cd24b7adcc9dad3f41609dd7f-commit.lock

StackTrace:    at Lucene.Net.Store.Lock.Obtain(Int64 lockWaitTimeout)
   at Lucene.Net.Store.Lock.With.Run()
   at Lucene.Net.Index.IndexReader.Open(Directory directory, Boolean
closeDirectory)
   at Lucene.Net.Index.IndexReader.Open(String path)
   at mojoPortal.Business.WebHelpers.IndexHelper.ClearPageIndex(PageSettings
pageSettings)
   at
mojoPortal.Business.WebHelpers.IndexHelper.ClearPageIndexAsyncCallback(Objec
t o)
   at System.Threading._ThreadPoolWaitCallback.WaitCallback_Context(Object
state)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.runTryCode(Object userData)
   at
System.Runtime.CompilerServices.RuntimeHelpers.ExecuteCodeWithGuaranteedClea
nup(TryCode code, CleanupCode backoutCode, Object userData)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(ExecutionContext
executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext
executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
   at
System.Threading._ThreadPoolWaitCallback.PerformWaitCallbackInternal(_Thread
PoolWaitCallback tpWaitCallBack)
   at System.Threading._ThreadPoolWaitCallback.PerformWaitCallback(Object
state)

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Thanks Joe,

The files in setup/indexbuilderconfig  are these {NB the path you specified does not exist in my file structure - this is the nearest equivalent that I can see.}

/sharedfilesindexbuilder.config
/linksindexbuilder.config
/htmlcontentindexbuilder.config
/galleryindexbuilder.config
/forumthreadindexbuilder.config
/eventcalendarindexbuilder.config
/blogindexbuilder.config
/000_placeholder.config

I don't know enough about the software to know where the permissions are or how to change them. 

I have tried your suggestion of deleting the current index files, and doing a search on the site now produces a message that, "the search index is being rebuilt, wait a few minutes and re-try."  Even after 30 minutes it still repeats that message.

Thank you for the information on upgrading the Mojoportal version. Such a project would be well beyond my capabilities. Up to now the software has been working, and if it continues to do so we will leave it alone.  At some point I guess we will need to get consultants to construct a new website for us.

Regards

Tony Morton

Thank you for your replies so far Joe. The problem has appeared again and I am given this message instead of seeing the content added to teh page which I am trying to update.

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:

An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.

Stack Trace:

[NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.]
   mojoPortal.Business.WebHelpers.IndexBuilderConfiguration.GetConfig() +176
   mojoPortal.Business.WebHelpers.IndexBuilderManager.Initialize() +25
   mojoPortal.Business.WebHelpers.IndexBuilderManager..cctor() +68

[TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for 'mojoPortal.Business.WebHelpers.IndexBuilderManager' threw an exception.]
   mojoPortal.Business.WebHelpers.IndexBuilderManager.get_Providers() +0
   mojoPortal.Web.ContentUI.EditHtml.btnUpdate_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) +215
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e) +111
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument) +110
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.System.Web.UI.IPostBackEventHandler.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument) +10
   System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(IPostBackEventHandler sourceControl, String eventArgument) +13
   System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(NameValueCollection postData) +36
   System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +1565

Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:2.0.50727.3620; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.3618

Does this message offer any further clues to the cause of the problem?

Regards

Tony Morton

Thanks again Joe. I can see that I will need to start planning to replace the whole installation from bottom to top with an up-to-date version of the CMS and new database. I think the appearance of the skin is controlled by two .css files, do you think that it will be possible to simply transfer those over to the current version of Mojoportal and get the same layout and appearance on the webpages?  I will be using a Linux PC to do all of the maintenance so will need to choose compatible versions of all the software.

Could be an interesting project.

Regards

Tony Morton