Thread: What's wrong with this code?

The bolded line gives error "Object reference not set to an instance of an object"
Please help!!!

public static String SafeMapPath(String fname)
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(fname) || Path.IsPathRooted(fname))
{
return fname;
}

string result = fname;

//Try it as a virtual path. Try to map it based on the Request.MapPath to handle Medium trust level and "~/" paths automatically
try
{
result = HttpContext.Current.Request.MapPath(fname);

}
catch
{
//Didn't like something about the virtual path.
//May be a drive path. See if it will expand to a valid path
try
{
//Try a GetFullPath. If the path is not virtual or has other malformed problems
//Return it as is
result = Path.GetFullPath(fname);
}
catch (NotSupportedException) // Contains a colon, probably already a full path.
{
return fname;
}
catch (SecurityException exc)//Path is somewhere you're not allowed to access or is otherwise damaged
{
throw new SecurityException("If you are running in Medium Trust you may have virtual directories defined that are not accessible at this trust level,\n " + exc.Message);
}
}
return result;
}

do you mean to say:

string result=SafeMapPath(fname);

because in your code, fname has no value at the point you are try to assign it to result.

The only way fname wouldn't have a value if is if you passed a null value to the method (fname is the single String parameter passed to it), so I don't think that's the problem.

What exactly are you trying to do here? That particular line of code is encased in a try/catch so you shouldn't be getting an object reference error on your site. I'll assume you are debugging in Visual Studio. Just breakpoint that line and see which part of it is null. My guess is that you are trying to use SafeMapPath from a custom page somewhere and are doing so before the HttpContext is available or from a page where the HttpContext will never be available, hence the HttpContext is null.

httpcontext.current was null because I was running the code from a Windows app. Thanks for all your help.

Partha

ROFL, yea, no web context in a windows app