ERROR: Object reference not set to an instance of an object

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Sylverre
Propeller Head
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2014 7:59 pm

Re: ERROR: Object reference not set to an instance of an object

Post by Sylverre »

I see this message every single time I attempt to import a document created or last edited in Open Office Writer (yes, I do have the Import without MS Installed option checked). Most of my systems are Windows 7, OO 4.x, no M$ Office. Doesn't seem to matter whether I'm working with .doc or .rtf formats. Saving to html works for small files, but those aren't the ones I really need to import!

So far, I haven't found a successful workaround other than copying those files to an external drive, opening them on a machine with M$ installed, saving them back to the external, and then importing from there. Which sometimes works, though non-heading based styles don't consistently work for the new topic features.
Phlawm53
Sr. Propeller Head
Posts: 442
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Location: San Francisco, CA
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Re: ERROR: Object reference not set to an instance of an object

Post by Phlawm53 »

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As of 17 November, 2014 this error still exists in its present opaque form.

In my case, I used an existing HTML5 project as a starting point for a new project. While attempting to update the new project, the HTML5 Target's Master Page reference did not get updated to the new project's renamed Master Page. So I received the catch all error.

I noticed that I could preview topics as PDF but not as HTML5. So I took a peek at the HTML5 Target, identified the problem, and corrected it. I'm lucky it was that easy...

Cheers & hope this helps,
Riley
SFO
davidJBS
Jr. Propeller Head
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2016 5:19 am

Re: ERROR: Object reference not set to an instance of an obj

Post by davidJBS »

I'm getting this error in Flare 12 and flare 11, when importing a Word.doc document, when I downgraded to a 2007 .doc document it loaded without the error. Also when I imported it in one topic it did not crash.

Any ideas?

David Parshan
VelocityGirl
Jr. Propeller Head
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2016 6:05 am

Re: ERROR: Object reference not set to an instance of an obj

Post by VelocityGirl »

If you delete all the items if your TOC and re-add them this seems to fix this particular error for me. Hope that helps.
AnnePSB
Jr. Propeller Head
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue May 04, 2021 9:15 am

Re: ERROR: Object reference not set to an instance of an obj

Post by AnnePSB »

I have had this error message come up a few times and I am getting nowhere resolving it. The message is simply not helpful and a non-programmer like myself does not know where to begin troubleshooting.
I have been investigating variables, destination outputs, conditional text. I am not sure where the error lies.

I tried the TOC approach and had the chance to catch where the build "broke". Looks like something to do with pagination. I've already extended the width of the body frame on the page layout and that seemed to do a trick on previous encounter with this error. Not this time.

I also closed/reopened Flare and to no avail.

The trend I am seeing is that things are ok and then started acting up to cause this build error. It should not be this difficult to resolve. I hope Madcap developers rethink this message for something more meaningful.
Anne
Nita Beck
Senior Propellus Maximus
Posts: 3666
Joined: Thu Feb 02, 2006 9:57 am
Location: Pittsford, NY

Re: ERROR: Object reference not set to an instance of an obj

Post by Nita Beck »

AnnePSB wrote:I hope Madcap developers rethink this message for something more meaningful.
The message is bubbling up from the .NET framework. The problem could be anywhere. I have found that most of the time, a file has gotten corrupted. Sometimes I do find that there is some specific set of circumstances that ended up revealing a Flare bug, which I reported. For example, I have encountered a situation in which a div put in a table caused the error. Soon as I removed the div, I could build. So I had to find another way to structure that bit of content within that specific table.
Nita
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RETIRED, but still fond of all the Flare friends I've made. See you around now and then!
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