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I'm getting an "System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object." Error when I launch a release build of my web application. It tells me to do a debug build to get more information, but when I launch the debug build the error no longer occurs. Without the help of the line numbers that are given with most errors in debug builds it is very hard (from what I know) to pinpoint the cause of this vague error.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to narrow down the cause of this exception?

Thanks.

Neaox
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    WinDbg + SOS, http://blogs.msdn.com/b/tess/archive/2009/04/16/net-exceptions-quick-windbg-sos-tip-on-how-to-dump-all-the-net-exceptions-on-the-heap.aspx – Lex Li Oct 06 '12 at 05:49
  • Check configuration files. Maybe connection strings in release's file are wrong or empty =) – xtmq Oct 07 '12 at 20:14

2 Answers2

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As a quick remedy to your problem (if you don't have time to rewrite your code), please see the Event Log on the machine where you released the application. There is a big chance you're simply missing some dlls.

As a long term solution, I think you can start with adding some logging functionality to your application (Enterprise Library, log4net, etc. or even your own logger). Printing a complete stack trace is an invaluable source of help especially when you include the .pdb files in your release version. This will allow your executed code to tell exactly which line threw the exception.

Hope this helps, Piotr

Piotr Justyna
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2

It is possible to get file names and line numbers in your stack traces even if you build in Release mode. See Display lines number in Stack Trace for .NET assembly in Release mode and Is stacktrace information available in .NET release mode build? for example.

In general, I think you should avoid introducing different program behavior in Debug versus Release mode (but maybe you didn't introduce that deliberately?).

Community
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Jeppe Stig Nielsen
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