Object reference not set to an instance of a object

[dan]

Sorry, I made that comment late in the night so that I don’t forget what I found. There might be a code change to capture the error and handle it better.

We will await Alex’s testing.

[alex]

I’m running a test with a layout from this thread:

Null Reference Exception in Media.cs dotnet client

I get an unhandled exception every morning when I come in. I’ve been running a test campaign on a couple of displays, and they both had the same error this morning. It references line 232 in Media.cs. I’ll make sure to post the actual exception text here when it happens again. I cloned the source code to my desktop to investigate, but the exception seems to take place inside an event handler for the media class. I wasn’t able to track down the cause. The layout that seems to cause the issue in…

The OP says it’s the same issue as described here.

I’ve not seen a crash yet in 18 hours though…

[alex]

OP on the other thread has tried updating the graphics drivers on one machine and so far that’s cured the issue.

[javon27]

So I recompiled it with some error handling around line 232 per @dan’s suggestion. How do I go about installing it? Or is it okay to just run the executable directly?

[alex]

You can just replace the XiboClient.exe with your new version safely

[godisplay]

Tell us if it worked!

@alex , would you care to take a look at my layout?

[alex]

If it reliably produces a crash? And you definitely have the latest graphics drivers

[javon27]

I’m running the updated code on the machine with the old Intel drivers. So far, no crash

[godisplay]

You wanna share your hax?

[godisplay]

latest drivers, fresh 1.7.6 install - still throws same error…

check it out here https://file.pizza/avocado-chives-bbqchicken-anchovies

[alex]

OK I’ve downloaded that and have scheduled it to run here.

[godisplay]

thanks mate,

[javon27]

For your safety, I recommend cloning my fork of the project at github.com/javon27 and building it yourself with Visual Studio 2015 Community. Then copy all the bin files into your installation folder.

[javon27]

When I came in this morning, the display that was notorious for having the error was error free. The machine is running outdated Intel drivers, but is also running the modified XiboClient.exe.

I submitted a pull request on the modifications; is there any way we can get some version of the code fix pushed out as an update?

[alex]

I saw the pull request. Dan is going to look at this and another Windows issue in the coming days. He has a slightly different idea for how that can be resolved (rather than catching it) so may or may not use the pull request but thank you for it all the same.

If he does merge it down we’d need you to sign the CLA before we can do so, so you might want to do that ahead of time incase.

What we’ll probably do then is produce an exe for people affected to patch with, and then it will become part of the 1.7.7 release.

[dan]

I’ve built an exe with some protection around that signal event - it can be downloaded here . It also fixes this

Issue: Object reference not set to an instance of a object (SignalElapsedEvent)

[godisplay]

Nice work there Dan! i’ve also had the luck to expirence the #736

Thank you so much Dan and Alex, will try it out right now!

[madkins]

I am experiencing the same issue with Xibo client 1.7.5. Can I replace the XiboClient.exe on my 1.7.5 clients with the version on Github?

Update
I decided to test the Github version on a test Xibo client 1.7.5 machine. It works, but when Xibo launches, I receive the prompt below. I will continue to test the file, but cannot replace the production XiboClient.exe file if the .NET error issue is resolved because all clients auto log into Windows 7 and run Xibo at start up, which means I will have to remote into each one to click “Run” on the prompt if the computer is restarted. Will you be releasing a signed version of the exe?

[Peter]

1.7.7 version will be all good.

For now, please just uncheck the “Always ask…” then it should ask about it only one time.

[madkins]

Peter thanks for the update.

Unfortunately, the service account that auto logs into Windows 7 only has PowerUser permissions and if the check is removed, a prompted for Administrator credentials appears before Xiboclient.exe will continue to run. There are two ways to bypass the Administrator credential prompt, but you must still remove the check before continuing to run the executable.

1. Add the service account to the local Administrators group, run Xibo Client, remove the check, and continue to run the executable.
2. Grant the service account modify rights to C:\Program Files (x86)\Xibo Player, run Xibo Client, remove the check, and continue to run the executable.

I have opted for option #2 since I don’t feel comfortable granting the service account local Administrator rights and this is a good solution until a signed version of the executable is available.

Thanks!