EPiServer’s ContentReference.StartPage is an empty reference when lacking binding

EPiServer 7 Comments

I was setting up a new port for SSL on my local development machine for added security on a client’s EPiServer 7.5 website when I stumbled across an exception that was not all at once obvious. I set up a new https binding in the IIS along with a self signed certificate; my normal unsecure site continued to respond just fine to calls on http://localhost:17002/ after this. However, when I tried accessing it through https://localhost:17004/, which was what I had selected for SSL I got hit with the parameter-does-not-have-a-value exception below.

NOTE: Also see Ted Nybergs comment about scheduled jobs below.

Message: The provided content link does not have a value. Parameter name: contentLink

StackTrace:
at EPiServer.DataFactory.Get[T](ContentReference contentLink, ILanguageSelector languageSelector)
at EPiServer.DataFactory.Get[T](ContentReference contentLink)
at Xxxxx.Web.Helpers.ResultFilters.PageContextActionFilter .OnResultExecuting(ResultExecutingContext filterContext) in c:\Projekt\MyProject\Xxxxx.Web\Helpers \ResultFilters\PageContextActionFilter.cs:line 80
at System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker .InvokeActionResultFilter(IResultFilter filter, ResultExecutingContext preContext, Func`1 continuation)
at System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker .InvokeActionResultFilter(IResultFilter filter, ResultExecutingContext preContext, Func`1 continuation)
at System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker .InvokeActionResultWithFilters(ControllerContext controllerContext, IList`1 filters, ActionResult actionResult)
at System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncControllerActionInvoker.<>c__DisplayClass25.b__22(IAsyncResult asyncResult)
at System.Web.Mvc.Controller.<>c__DisplayClass1d.b__18(IAsyncResult asyncResult)
at System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.<>c__DisplayClass4.b__3(IAsyncResult ar)
at System.Web.Mvc.Controller.EndExecuteCore(IAsyncResult asyncResult)
at System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.<>c__DisplayClass4.b__3(IAsyncResult ar)
at System.Web.Mvc.Controller.EndExecute(IAsyncResult asyncResult)
at System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.<>c__DisplayClass8.b__3(IAsyncResult asyncResult)
at System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.<>c__DisplayClass4.b__3(IAsyncResult ar)
at System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.EndProcessRequest(IAsyncResult asyncResult)
at System.Web.HttpApplication.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web .HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute()
at System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously)

After some debugging it turned out that it was EPiServer’s ContentReference.StartPage that was not set correctly; it was just empty.

EPiServer ContentReference.StartPage is not set when there is a binding missing.

The solution for this is really rather simple. Turns out that I had forgot to set the corresponding host name binding in EPiServer’s admin mode. Adding an entry containing the proper https port number fixed it right up.

EPiServer website hostnames.

About The Author

Mathias Kunto

Mathias is a developer from the northern parts of Sweden who currently works at Neoleaf AB in Stockholm.

7 Comments

  1. Ted Nyberg June 19, 2014

    Good tip!

    You may run into similar problems in scheduled jobs. One way around it is to add a wildcard binding (“*”) for your default site.

    That will then be your default site definition (as in SiteDefinition.Current.StartPage or ContentReference.StartPage) when there’s no current site, or outside of web requests.

    • Mathias Kunto February 25, 2015

      Thanks Ted! I just ran into it building a scheduled job, and remembered that you commented something about it :)

    • Kenia April 23, 2015

      Great tips Ted! Thanks =)

    • Fredrik Stolpe August 20, 2015

      Thanks Ted, this comment helped me out when doing som initalization stuff

  2. Greger Olofsson November 15, 2014

    Tanks to both of you!

  3. Fredrik Heidgert April 9, 2015

    Thanks for the “*” binding tip, Ted! Saved my day as a scheduled job was causing some headache.

  4. Peter Gustafsson October 6, 2015

    So glad I found this post!
    “*” solved our problems with a scheduled job.