NullReferenceException from TinyMCESettings, InputTinyOptions.GetActiveToolsHTML() and ToolbarRow in EPiServer 7

I’m upgrading a quite old EPiServer CMS website that has been alive since about 2007 from EPiServer CMS 6 to EPiServer 7 CMS.

Among the first things after using EPiServer Deployment Center to upgrade from CMS 6 R2 to 7 CMS is that I can’t use the new shiny Editor Mode.

Not being able to edit First Page

It looks good but no reaction when I click to edit a property or trying to enter Forms Editing.

A quick look in my browser’s Developer Network  gives me a HTTP Error 500 from the following url:
/secure/shell/Stores/metadata/?type=EPiServer.Core.ContentData&modelAccessor=%7B”contentLink”%3A”3_35644″%7D&dojo.preventCache=1362601343237

secure-shell-stores-metadata

I also had some strange errors when trying to edit TinyMCE Property Settings:

edit xhtmlstring settings

After some Reflecting, Debugging and some hints from http://world.episerver.com/Modules/Forum/Pages/thread.aspx?id=64169 I found that in the upgrade from 6R2 to 7, the Upgrade Tool moves some DDS-items such as Property Configuration from tblBigTable to tblSystemBigTable.

But the View VW_EPiServer.Editor.TinyMCE.ToolbarRow nor the Stored Procedure Save_EPiServer.Editor.TinyMCE.ToolbarRow are not updated to load or save from the correct Big Table causing the DDS to be able to find the TinyMCESettings correctly but when the nested entities ToolbarRow are loaded, no such data is found. Hence TinyMCESettings.Toolbar returns a list but all items in the list are NULL.

The correct procedure seems to be to change the design of the View to

SELECT CAST(R01.pkId AS varchar(50)) + ':' + UPPER(CAST([Identity].Guid AS varchar(50))) AS Id, R01.pkId AS StoreId, [Identity].Guid AS ExternalId, R01.ItemType
FROM dbo.tblSystemBigTable AS R01 INNER JOIN
 dbo.tblBigTableIdentity AS [Identity] ON R01.pkId = [Identity].pkId
WHERE (R01.StoreName = 'EPiServer.Editor.TinyMCE.ToolbarRow') AND (R01.Row = 1)

and the Stored Procedure to

USE [dbStockholmPrideDev_EPi7]
GO
/****** Object: StoredProcedure [dbo].[Save_EPiServer.Editor.TinyMCE.ToolbarRow] Script Date: 03/04/2013 09:45:36 ******/
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
ALTER procedure [dbo].[Save_EPiServer.Editor.TinyMCE.ToolbarRow]
@Id bigint output,
@UniqueId uniqueidentifier,
@ItemType nvarchar(2048)
as
begin
declare @pkId bigint
 select @pkId = pkId from tblBigTableIdentity where [Guid] = @UniqueId
 if @pkId IS NULL
 begin
 begin transaction
 insert into [tblBigTableIdentity]([Guid], [StoreName]) values(@UniqueId, 'EPiServer.Editor.TinyMCE.ToolbarRow')
select @Id = SCOPE_IDENTITY()
 insert into [tblSystemBigTable] (pkId, StoreName, Row, ItemType)
 values(@Id, 'EPiServer.Editor.TinyMCE.ToolbarRow', 1, @ItemType )
commit transaction
 end
 else
 begin
 begin transaction
 select @Id = @pkId
 DECLARE @rows int
 select @rows = count(*) from [tblSystemBigTable] where pkId = @Id
 if(@rows < 1) begin
 insert into [tblSystemBigTable] (pkId, StoreName, Row, ItemType)
 values(@Id, 'EPiServer.Editor.TinyMCE.ToolbarRow', 1, @ItemType )
end
 commit transaction
 end
end

15 thoughts on “NullReferenceException from TinyMCESettings, InputTinyOptions.GetActiveToolsHTML() and ToolbarRow in EPiServer 7

  1. Petter Klang says:

    Nice catch!

  2. […] Stockholm Pride var EPiServer användare sedan 2007 (då genom INEXOR) och på en EPiServer 6 sedan 2009. Uppgraderingen över flera versioner ska ha gett upphov till värdefull migreringsdata för andra EPiServer-utvecklare. […]

  3. kriled says:

    Thank you! This really helped us!

  4. Dan Jansson says:

    Really helpful, Alf! Thank you!

  5. Roberto says:

    Same problem. Did I miss somethong?

  6. Thomas Kalve says:

    Wow, thanks! :D You are the awesomest.

  7. Gatis says:

    good work

  8. Gatis says:

    really good work

  9. Robert Tellvik says:

    Hi!
    I have run sql statement for the view and updated the stored procedure.
    After that I have restarted the IIS, Visual Studio, computer, … but still nothing… I get the same error as you when trying to edit TinyMCE Property Setting…
    Any suggestions?

  10. Sasa says:

    Thank you, you are a life saver :)

  11. Bjorn Ali Goransson says:

    I really don’t feel like altering EPi:s stored procedures on my own.

    Honestly just clearing the property settings container seems like a safer approach, and is unlikely to make anyone sad anyway.

    EPiServer.ServiceLocation.ServiceLocator.Current.GetInstance<EPiServer.Data.Dynamic.DynamicDataStoreFactory>().GetStore(typeof(EPiServer.Core.PropertySettings.PropertySettingsWrapper)).DeleteAll();

    • Alf says:

      You have a point. However having a broken Stored Procedure might cause further problems in the future. In my mind it’s better to fix it now.

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