BlogEngine.NET

NEW POST: Error when visiting the blog

schneidballs — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:39:08 GMT

I get the following error when I try to go to the blog home page. Any ideas how to fix this?

<title>Object reference not set to an instance of an object.</title> <style> body {font-family:"Verdana";font-weight:normal;font-size: .7em;color:black;} p {font-family:"Verdana";font-weight:normal;color:black;margin-top: -5px} b {font-family:"Verdana";font-weight:bold;color:black;margin-top: -5px} H1 { font-family:"Verdana";font-weight:normal;font-size:18pt;color:red } H2 { font-family:"Verdana";font-weight:normal;font-size:14pt;color:maroon } pre {font-family:"Lucida Console";font-size: .9em} .marker {font-weight: bold; color: black;text-decoration: none;} .version {color: gray;} .error {margin-bottom: 10px;} .expandable { text-decoration:underline; font-weight:bold; color:navy; cursor:hand; } </style>

Server Error in '/blog' 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 99: 	private void AddMetaKeywords()
Line 100:	{
Line 101:		if (Category.Categories.Count > 0)
Line 102:		{
Line 103:			string[] categories = new string[Category.Categories.Count];

Source File: c:\inetpub\vhosts\craigandheidi.net\httpdocs\blog\default.aspx.cs Line: 101

Stack Trace:

[NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.]
   BlogEngine.Core.Category.get_Categories() in C:\Documents and Settings\Mads Kristensen\Skrivebord\BlogEngine.Core\Category.cs:105
   _default.AddMetaKeywords() in c:\inetpub\vhosts\craigandheidi.net\httpdocs\blog\default.aspx.cs:101
   _default.Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) in c:\inetpub\vhosts\craigandheidi.net\httpdocs\blog\default.aspx.cs:49
   System.Web.Util.CalliHelper.EventArgFunctionCaller(IntPtr fp, Object o, Object t, EventArgs e) +15
   System.Web.Util.CalliEventHandlerDelegateProxy.Callback(Object sender, EventArgs e) +33
   System.Web.UI.Control.OnLoad(EventArgs e) +99
   BlogEngine.Core.Web.Controls.BlogBasePage.OnLoad(EventArgs e) in C:\Documents and Settings\Mads Kristensen\Skrivebord\BlogEngine.Core\Web\Controls\BlogBasePage.cs:62
   System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +47
   System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +1436

Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:2.0.50727.1433; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.1433

NEW POST: Blog Engine Theme

Skilz — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:40:49 GMT

Hey all,

No matter what theme I choose to use (all v1.3.x), I have issues with the outputted display. An example is with the Dirtylicious theme, I see my posts, which are all left justified. Scrolling to the bottom, I find the menus. Please help, I was just notified of this issue by some users who use IE 6.x. Everything displays fine in Firefox 2.x and 3.x.

Thanks,

Roger

COMMENTED ISSUE: More powerful blog management

LeighRobinson — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:48:03 GMT

I believe the only area that BE is currently a little light is the admin section.

There are numerous features missing that are found on all the other blogging platforms that just "make life easier" - especially if BE is ever to find itself on a particularly popular blog.

1. A centralised post list - searching the "public" front end or using the archive isn't a good solution imo.
2. A centralised comment listing to allow efficient comment moderation. I have recently been moderating a friends blog (Wordpress) and can tell you that the "awaiting moderation" is an absolute must in BE. Drilling into each post to do this is simply not a viable option for most people.
3. A centralised page listing (I know the CMS issue has been closed but I think the admin end of the page system deserves more than the current list...)

I don't think we can go from what we have now to something akin to Wordpress' admin system overnight - though I do hope something approaching that level of integration and usability can be achieved.

I would be interested in taking BE down this avenue myself, if other people consider it time worth spending. Please discuss.
Comments: ** Comment from web user: LeighRobinson **

Yeah that is a very good idea. Consider it noted! :D

COMMENTED ISSUE: More powerful blog management

strivinglife — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:43:45 GMT

I hate to do it, but I'm going to attach a fourth item: either an automated or manual way to check for a new version of BE.

WordPress implemented this shortly after I switched to BE, and while they've made it distracting, after the security flaw was introduced, and I didn't know about it until a week later ... I do wish I would have known about it.

(I *still* agree with the above additions, so +1 :D )

NEW POST: Dirtylicious theme

strivinglife — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:36:23 GMT

Hey Hypnos,

This issue has been posted in the past. Turning off Trim Stylesheets seems to resolve the issue. Otherwise, in the past I've also made an exact copy of the theme, with a slightly different name - if you switch between the one and the other as needed, it'll resolve the issue.

~James

NEW POST: Stumped by 1and1

lagerdalek — Tue, 13 May 2008 06:44:14 GMT

Thanks guys for all your help, looks like I'm not the only one struggling here.

I have taken the coward's option and subscribed to discountasp.net for simple blogengine install, which also gives me .NET 3.5 hosting.

I can still use the oodles of 1and1 space and its SQL database where I need, so I am happy with the current option. I guess I could work out what I'm paying all up and decide whether a virtual machine somewhere might not be just as cheap if I don't need all to filespace I have with my cheap options.

Anyway, thanks again to everyone, and still keen to hear if there is a 1and 1 option in future

NEW POST: Using one App_Data across multiple BlogEngine instances

Won — Tue, 13 May 2008 06:02:46 GMT

I am playing with the setup where two instances of BlogEngine share the same App_Data (ie. I would like to have a centralized data repository for 2 servers.) I have done the followings:

1) Both worker processes have the write permission on App_Data.
2) Using mklink, I've created a symbolic link so that the first instance of BlogEngine is usnig the App_Data of the second instance.

While this setup seems to work for most part (ie. I have verified that I can read and write to App_Data from both instances of BlogEngine), the problem that I have is that unless the worker process (or perhaps just the appdomain) is recycled, one instance can not see the changes made by the second instance. As an example, if I use the first instance to write a new post, I can see the post immeidately on the first instance. I can see that the post has been written successfully in App_Data. However, when I go to the second instance to see the new post (that I just added using the first instance), I can't see the post, despite the fact that the post XML exists in App_Data. I can see the post only if I recycle the worker process of the second instance.

I am guessing that it's either caching the content and/or there is a change notification that allows the application to scan the App_Data. Does anyone know how I can work around this? How can I let the second instance read the data from App_Data when the changes are made by the first instance?

Thanks

NEW POST: MathTeX extension for BE - Mathmatics Typesetting

LeighRobinson — Tue, 13 May 2008 03:34:09 GMT

I have made a quick extension that will allow the easy typesetting of mathematics on BE posts and pages.

It uses the MathTeX service written by John Forkosh to retrieve transparent .png images of raw latex markup.

Full details, along with some samples can be found here: MathTeX BlogEngine Extension

NEW POST: Dirtylicious theme

Hypnos4hire — Tue, 13 May 2008 03:05:57 GMT

Hello,
I am using the Dirtylicious theme and for some reason it disappears from time to time. I go in to try and reset it and nothing happens. When I preview the theme, everything looks fine??? However, when I return to the frontpage, it's just text on a white background. Thanks in advance for any help and information.
Hypnos

NEW POST: NullReferenceException

MikevZ — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:13:50 GMT

Since you're running on XP, your local IIS probably loads BE.NET in a subfolder.
You'd need to update the VirtualPath value in your web.config to reflect this location.

For example:

<add key="BlogEngine.VirtualPath" value="~/YourAppFolder" />

Also set your folder as application in your IIS admin management console

Cheers Mike

NEW POST: Double posting issue with Windows Live Writer

WilliamJSullivan — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:19:04 GMT

I see the same thing all the time. In fact, if you just leave it alone it will go away in a few minutes. Or, at least it does with the default xml data provider.

NEW POST: NullReferenceException

Danielrq — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:42:46 GMT

Guys! Please help me!

NEW POST: What would be the easiest way...

Strategon — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:40:18 GMT

In each blog post, where it shows the author of the post [Posted by User on May 8, 2008] I would like to alter this so that it displays not only their name, but also a thumbnail portrait. Could anyone give me a few steps to modify to add this function. I'm assuming I need to alter the Post.CS class file. Anyone? Thanks in advance.

NEW POST: 3 Questions about BlogEngine

dubrow — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:00:15 GMT

The problem is really random. this is no exact way to reproduce it.
Guys, do you news about this issue? Can we help by trying new released?

By the way, it's not only in google reader, but also in outlook rss reader....
Readers getting nervous about it :( and loosing them.... :(

NEW POST: Redirect 404 errors to new good links?

dubrow — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:57:29 GMT

Hi all,
I migrated my blog some weeks ago to blogengine. The result of that is that I've got many 404 errors on severals links.
Is there a way to redirect specific url to the new good one?
Thx for your help,
Benjamin

NEW POST: Installing BlogEngine 1.3 in a /blog subdirectory. How?

GeoMarketing — Mon, 12 May 2008 04:24:10 GMT

zootie

I am attempting to use BE with a Club site (once I get it going there are other sites that will be done also). I set up the directory and used the patch against the 10974 build, but was a little confused about moving the app_code, etc dirs (#6 on your list). Are you saying they need to be in the root sites app_code in a BlogEngine subdirectory? if so it seems that there would be namespace and other issues.

Tom

zootie wrote:
I noticed that Brian's changes haven't been put in the latest change set, and I figured I could try and maybe help a little. I went through Brian's changelog and replayed it on top of change set 10566 (should work with newer change sets) and then used WinMerge to compare both versions. The idea was to try and provide confirmation to Brian's documentation, and to try and help anybody who is trying to get this working,

Distilling down Brian's changes:

Fix absolute path references so the site can compile in a subdirectory.
1. Global Replace CodeFile="~/admin/Extension Manager/ with CodeFile=" (3 occurrences) - Fixes full path references in codefile in Extension Manager controls.
2. Global replace ~/admin/admin1.master with ../admin1.master (11 occurrences)
3. Global replace ~/admin/menu.ascx with ../../admin/menu.ascx (11 occurrences)
4. Global Replace ~/themes/thegreenhouse/SidePanel.ascx with SidePanel.ascx (1 occurrence)
5. Global Replace ~/widgets/Tag cloud/widget.ascx with widget.ascx (1 occurrence)
Fix absolute references to ~/pics:
1. In line 9 of admin\admin1.master change "~/pics/blogengine.ico" to "../pics/blogengine.ico"
2. Global Replace ~/pics/blogengine.ico with ../../pics/blogengine.ico (10 occurrences)
3. Global Replace <%=VirtualPathUtility.ToAbsolute("~/pics/")%> with <%=BlogEngine.Core.Utils.RelativeWebRoot%>pics/ (2 occurrences)
4. Global Replace ImageUrl="~/pics with ImageUrl="../../pics (7 occurrences)
5. Global Replace src="~/pics/ with src="../../pics/ (1 occurrences)
Fix absolute links to site pages with relative links.
1. Global Replace <%=VirtualPathUtility.ToAbsolute("~/") with <%=BlogEngine.Core.Utils.RelativeWebRoot (10 occurrences)
2. Global Replace ~/archive.aspx with ../../archive.aspx (9 occurrences)
3. Global Replace ~/contact.aspx with ../../contact.aspx (8 occurrences)
4. Global Replace ~/default.aspx with ../../default.aspx (5 occurrences)
5. Global Replace href="~/" with href="../../default.aspx" (9 occurrences)
6. Global Replace ~/themes/indigo/img/ with img/ (3 occurrences)
Fix reference to themes directory
1. Global Replace "~/themes/" with Utils.RelativeWebRoot + "themes/" (1 occurrences)
Fix absolute paths in BlogEngine.Core
1. Global Replace Server.MapPath("~/pics/ with Server.MapPath(Utils.RelativeWebRoot + "pics/ (1 occurrences)
2. Global Replace SiteMapNode(this, Guid.Empty.ToString(), "~/", "Home") with SiteMapNode(this, Guid.Empty.ToString(), Utils.RelativeWebRoot, "Home") (1 occurrences)
3. Global Replace Response.Redirect("~/error404.aspx" with Response.Redirect(Utils.RelativeWebRoot + "error404.aspx" (1 occurrences)
4. Global Replace VirtualPathUtility.ToAbsolute("~/category/") with VirtualPathUtility.ToAbsolute(Utils.RelativeWebRoot + "category/") (1 occurrences)
5. Global Replace const string PARTS_PATH = "~/pics with static string PARTS_PATH = Utils.RelativeWebRoot + "pics (1 occurrences)
6. Global Replace if (url.Contains("/ with if (url.Contains(Utils.RelativeWebRoot.ToUpperInvariant() + " (6 occurrences)
7. Global Replace Server.MapPath(Utils.RelativeWebRoot + "App_GlobalResources/" with Server.MapPath("~/App_GlobalResources/BlogEngine/" (1 occurrences)
Additional change(s)
1. Move contents of App_GlobalResources, App_Code & App_Data to a BlogEngine subdirectory under each directory (App_GlobalResources\BlogEngine, App_Code\BlogEngine & App_Data\BlogEngine).
2. In a subdirectory installation, you put all files in the subdirectory, and move/merge Web.config, Web.sitemap, robots.txt, Global.asax, Bin, App_GlobalResources, App_Code & App_Data to the root of the application and configure your web.config accordingly.

Changes that might need further review

Change settings defaults in XML and SQL script to use ~/App_Data/BlogEngine as the default data location
How to deal with application paths in Web.sitemap? Brian hardcoded his test path, but that wouldn't be acceptable in the final product. What are the implications to recode admin_menu.BindMenu()? Any point in using SecuritySiteMap? Maybe move to a separate XML file under the admin folder -with relative paths- and configure provider accordingly?
Moved InstallUtil.CheckInstallation(); out of the try block in global.asax. Any reason for this, Brian, or just a leftover test?

Web.config considerations

Obviously, you have to set BlogEngine.VirtualPath (and it has to be a subdirectory, not a sub-application)
Change default value for StorageLocation to ~/App_Data/BlogEngine
Change loginUrl (from ~/login.aspx to ~/<your value for BlogEngine.VirtualPath>/login.aspx)
Change error 404 redirect to redirect="~/<your value for BlogEngine.VirtualPath>/error404.aspx"

Thanks,
Gabriel

NEW POST: What features do you want in v1.4

MrStu — Mon, 12 May 2008 02:04:45 GMT

I want an Events Page (connected to the Calendar), that allows for events to disappear 15, 30, 60, or more days after the Event. I would also like for it to be tied to a blog entry.

Something like.... Jons Birthday or 7/1/08 at 2pm (location ect..). Then be able to make a blog entry with photos and text about it.

I am a BlogEngine noob and had to find a good blog/event script. I really like blogengine and this has spurred me to learn ASP.NET/VB.NET. I have been doing very basic scripting in PHP for years, but this is a really well done script, still in the early phase, but I like what I have seen.

MrStu

NEW POST: Facebook status update widget

LeighRobinson — Mon, 12 May 2008 01:13:58 GMT

I have created a facebook widget using the widget system in the new development builds of BE.

You can get hold of this widget from: Facebook Status Widget

It is fairly simplistic as it was more of an exercise in playing with the new widget framework than producing production quality code. that said someone should still find it useful.

NEW POST: Newbie here, blogengine keeps exploding on me

keet — Mon, 12 May 2008 00:31:29 GMT

At first I received some random web.config error message that informed me that I had to turn off customErrors in order to actually see what was going on. So, I do this and then I'm confronted with the following message:

Server Error in '/blog/blogengine.net' Application.

Configuration Error

Description: An error occurred during the processing of a configuration file required to service this request. Please review the specific error details below and modify your configuration file appropriately.

Parser Error Message: This configuration section cannot be used at this path. This happens when the site administrator has locked access to this section using <location allowOverride="false"> from an inherited configuration file.

Source Error:

Line 41:     <globalization requestEncoding="utf-8" responseEncoding="utf-8" culture="auto" uiCulture="auto" />
Line 42:     <httpRuntime enableVersionHeader="false" useFullyQualifiedRedirectUrl="true" maxRequestLength="16384" executionTimeout="3600" requestLengthDiskThreshold="16384" />
Line 43:     <trust level="High" />
Line 44: 
Line 45:     <machineKey

Source File: d:\hosting\k17k17\blog\blogengine.net\web.config Line: 43

Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:2.0.50727.1433; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.1433

Now...I've been a long time blogger, but this is my first attempt at using a service that isn't ingrained in a web site somewhere else, so you can imagine exactly how little that message meant to me. So it might've been stupid but I simply deleted that line. Then I'm confronted with the following line:

Server Error in '/blog/blogengine.net' Application.

Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
Parameter name: index

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.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
Parameter name: index

Source Error:

Line 366:            {
Line 367:                if (par.Values != null)
Line 368:                    return par.Values[0];
Line 369:            }
Line 370:        }

Source File: d:\hosting\k17k17\blog\blogengine.net\App_Code\ExtensionManager\ExtensionSettings.cs Line: 368

Stack Trace:

[ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
Parameter name: index]
   System.Collections.ArrayList.get_Item(Int32 index) +2880797
   System.Collections.Specialized.StringCollection.get_Item(Int32 index) +10
   ExtensionSettings.GetSingleValue(String parameterName) in d:\hosting\k17k17\blog\blogengine.net\App_Code\ExtensionManager\ExtensionSettings.cs:368
   SnapShots.get_Key() in d:\hosting\k17k17\blog\blogengine.net\App_Code\Extensions\SnapShots.cs:23
   SnapShots.AddSnapShotScript() in d:\hosting\k17k17\blog\blogengine.net\App_Code\Extensions\SnapShots.cs:63
   SnapShots.Page_Header(Object sender, EventArgs e) in d:\hosting\k17k17\blog\blogengine.net\App_Code\Extensions\SnapShots.cs:48
   System.EventHandler`1.Invoke(Object sender, TEventArgs e) +0
   BlogEngine.Core.Post.OnServing(Post post, ServingEventArgs arg) in Post.cs:861
   BlogEngine.Core.Web.Controls.PostViewBase.get_Body() in PostViewBase.cs:175
   BlogEngine.Core.Web.Controls.PostViewBase.Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) in PostViewBase.cs:40
   System.Web.Util.CalliHelper.EventArgFunctionCaller(IntPtr fp, Object o, Object t, EventArgs e) +15
   System.Web.Util.CalliEventHandlerDelegateProxy.Callback(Object sender, EventArgs e) +33
   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.Control.LoadRecursive() +131
   System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +131
   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:2.0.50727.1433; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.1433

I really don't get why I keep being confronted with new errors when all I've done with it so far is to install it and then try to use the blog interface to change simple settings such as my Page title and which extensions are enabled or disabled. Is there some overlying problem that I"m simply not seeing? This is the second time I've reinstalled it. Please help, I've run out of ideas and patience.

NEW POST: Gravatar alternate fallback paths

LeighRobinson — Sun, 11 May 2008 19:03:46 GMT

I have knocked up a quick patch to get the new gravatar fallback paths working within BlogEngine.

It has been submitted as a patch, so it should be included in future builds. Until then check it out:
Gravatar Patch