RadCompression throws NullReferenceException

[Alex]

Hi,

I recently upgraded our web project to Telerik version 2011.2.712 (Mvc 2, .NET 3.5). Previously we were using 2010.2.929 for Telerik.Web.UI.dll and 2010.3.1318 for Telerik.Web.Mvc.dll.

After the upgrade, images stopped loading correctly. After debugging the issue, I found that Telerik.Web.UI.RadCompression is throwing a NullReferenceException:

Message
Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
Stack Trace
   at System.Object.GetType()
   at Telerik.Web.UI.RadCompression.Compress(HttpApplication application)
   at Telerik.Web.UI.RadCompression.PreRequestHandlerExecute(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at System.Web.HttpApplication.SyncEventExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute()
   at System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously)

As I temporary work-around, I have disabled compression and everything seems to be working now:

<httpModules>
  <add name="ScriptModule" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
  <add name="UrlRoutingModule" type="System.Web.Routing.UrlRoutingModule, System.Web.Routing, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
  <add name="RadUploadModule" type="Telerik.Web.UI.RadUploadHttpModule" />
  <!--<add name="RadCompression" type="Telerik.Web.UI.RadCompression" />-->
</httpModules>

<modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true">
  <remove name="UrlRoutingModule" />
  <remove name="ScriptModule" />
  <add name="ScriptModule" preCondition="managedHandler" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
  <add name="UrlRoutingModule" preCondition="" type="System.Web.Routing.UrlRoutingModule, System.Web.Routing, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
  <remove name="RadUploadModule" />
  <add name="RadUploadModule" type="Telerik.Web.UI.RadUploadHttpModule" preCondition="integratedMode" />
  <!--<remove name="RadCompression" />-->
  <!--<add name="RadCompression" type="Telerik.Web.UI.RadCompression" preCondition="integratedMode" />-->
  <remove name="HttpPreprocessModule" />
  <add name="HttpPreprocessModule" type="Microsoft.Cosmos.FrontEnd.WebService.IISHost.HttpPreprocessModule, Microsoft.Cosmos.FrontEnd.IISServiceHost" />
</modules>

Is this a know issue with the latest release?

Thanks,
Alex

[Alex]

Ping.
Could someone from Telerik please confirm whether this is an issue with the release or a bug on our end?

Thanks,
Alex

[Martin]

Hello Alex,

We have not received reports for similar issues so far. Would you mind providing us with some more details about the server version your application runs on as well as the steps we need to take in order to replicate the issue? This way I will be able to debug it locally and provide you with more to the point resolution.

Meanwhile, could you please try removing the preCondition attribute from your RadCompression declaration and let me know whether the issue still exists?

Regards,
Martin
the Telerik team

[Neil]

We just had this same thing happen when publishing to our live site. This issue did not occur on my dev machine or on our test server but the only way I could get the site to work once deployed was to comment out the RadCompression reference in the modules section web.config:

<modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true">
  <remove name="RadUploadModule" />
  <remove name="RadCompression" />
  <add name="RadUploadModule" type="Telerik.Web.UI.RadUploadHttpModule" preCondition="integratedMode" />
  <!--<add name="RadCompression" type="Telerik.Web.UI.RadCompression" />-->
</modules>

Otherwise the error was exactly as described by Alex. The only difference as far as I can tell between our test and live servers is that the test machine is running 32 bit and the live is 64 bit. Let me know what info I can give you to help you track down the cause of this problem as I really would to re-enable radcompression as is makes a noticeable difference to our application.

[Martin]

Hello Neil Alexander,

Since a second customer encounters this problem it seems that there is a problem with the RadCompression module in this scenario. The best approach we can follow in resolving the issue is to send me a runnable sample that I can debug locally. In addition I would need the IIS version you are hosting on and the application pool settings you use. This way I will be able to track the cause of the problem and provide you with more to the point resolution.

Just for testing purposes, could you please try whether removing the "runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests" attribute and setting precondition="managedHandler" for the RadCompression module changes the behavior:

<modules >
  <remove name="RadUploadModule" />
  <remove name="RadCompression" />
  <add name="RadUploadModule" type="Telerik.Web.UI.RadUploadHttpModule" preCondition="integratedMode" />
  <add name="RadCompression" type="Telerik.Web.UI.RadCompression" precondition="managedHandler"/>
</modules>

Best wishes,
Martin
the Telerik team

[Aaron]

Hi, I was having this error too and was able to resolve by making the change Martin suggested.

IIS 7.5
Telerik 2011.2.712
.Net 4
Managed pipeline mode: Integrated

Broken:

<modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true">
     <add name="RadCompression" type="Telerik.Web.UI.RadCompression" />
</modules>

Working:

<modules>
    <add name="RadCompression" type="Telerik.Web.UI.RadCompression" preCondition="managedHandler" />
</modules>

[Chris Poirier]

I am also receiving reports of the same error. It doesn't always happen, and I haven't reproduced it myself, but it happened about 20 times in a row for one user.

IIS 7.0
Telerik 2011.2.712
.Net 4
Managed pipeline mode: Integrated

Here is the error report:
2011/08/10 05:38:15 System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at Telerik.Web.UI.RadCompression.Compress(HttpApplication application) at Telerik.Web.UI.RadCompression.PreRequestHandlerExecute(Object sender, EventArgs e) at System.Web.HttpApplication.SyncEventExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() at System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously)

And below is the Web.config for the application:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
    <appSettings>
        <add key="Telerik.Web.UI.DialogParametersEncryptionKey" value="cElPYlhVajgzR3JiZERHdXdpd0JRNFVCTWVBPUx0NkU1"/>
    </appSettings>
    <system.web>
        <compilation debug="false" targetFramework="4.0">
            <assemblies>
                <add assembly="System.Management, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B03F5F7F11D50A3A"/>
                <add assembly="System.Configuration.Install, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B03F5F7F11D50A3A"/>
                <add assembly="System.Data.OracleClient, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089"/>
                <add assembly="System.Windows.Forms, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089"/>
                <add assembly="System.Design, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B03F5F7F11D50A3A"/>
                <add assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
                <add assembly="Accessibility, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B03F5F7F11D50A3A"/>
                <add assembly="System.Core, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089"/>
                <add assembly="System.Xml.Linq, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089"/>
                <add assembly="System.Data.DataSetExtensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089"/>
            </assemblies>
        </compilation>
        <authentication mode="Windows"/>
        <pages viewStateEncryptionMode="Never" validateRequest="false" enableEventValidation="false" enableSessionState="true" enableViewStateMac="false" controlRenderingCompatibilityVersion="3.5" clientIDMode="AutoID">
            <controls>
                <add tagPrefix="telerik" namespace="Telerik.Web.UI" assembly="Telerik.Web.UI"/>
                <add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.UI" assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
                <add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.UI.WebControls" assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
            </controls>
        </pages>
        <httpHandlers>
            <remove verb="*" path="*.asmx"/>
            <add verb="*" path="*.asmx" validate="false" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
            <add verb="*" path="*_AppService.axd" validate="false" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
            <add verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler, System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" validate="false"/>
            <add path="ChartImage.axd" type="Telerik.Web.UI.ChartHttpHandler" verb="*" validate="false"/>
            <add path="Telerik.Web.UI.SpellCheckHandler.axd" type="Telerik.Web.UI.SpellCheckHandler" verb="*" validate="false"/>
            <add path="Telerik.Web.UI.DialogHandler.aspx" type="Telerik.Web.UI.DialogHandler" verb="*" validate="false"/>
            <add path="Telerik.RadUploadProgressHandler.ashx" type="Telerik.Web.UI.RadUploadProgressHandler" verb="*" validate="false"/>
            <add path="Telerik.Web.UI.WebResource.axd" type="Telerik.Web.UI.WebResource" verb="*" validate="false" />
        </httpHandlers>
        <httpModules>
            <add name="ScriptModule" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule, System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
        </httpModules>
        <httpRuntime requestValidationMode="2.0"/>
    </system.web>
    <system.webServer>
        <handlers>
            <remove name="ScriptHandlerFactory"/>
            <remove name="ScriptHandlerFactoryAppServices"/>
            <remove name="ScriptResource"/>
            <remove name="WebServiceHandlerFactory-Integrated"/>
            <remove name="ChartImage_axd"/>
            <remove name="Telerik_Web_UI_SpellCheckHandler_axd"/>
            <remove name="Telerik_Web_UI_DialogHandler_aspx"/>
            <remove name="Telerik_RadUploadProgressHandler_ashx"/>
            <remove name="Telerik_Web_UI_WebResource_axd" />

            <add name="ScriptHandlerFactory" verb="*" path="*.asmx" preCondition="integratedMode" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
            <add name="ScriptHandlerFactoryAppServices" verb="*" path="*_AppService.axd" preCondition="integratedMode" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
            <add name="ScriptResource" preCondition="integratedMode" verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler, System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
            <add name="*.vbhtml_*" path="*.vbhtml" verb="*" type="System.Web.HttpForbiddenHandler" preCondition="integratedMode,runtimeVersionv4.0" />
            <add name="*.vbhtm_*" path="*.vbhtm" verb="*" type="System.Web.HttpForbiddenHandler" preCondition="integratedMode,runtimeVersionv4.0" />
            <add name="*.cshtml_*" path="*.cshtml" verb="*" type="System.Web.HttpForbiddenHandler" preCondition="integratedMode,runtimeVersionv4.0" />
            <add name="*.cshtm_*" path="*.cshtm" verb="*" type="System.Web.HttpForbiddenHandler" preCondition="integratedMode,runtimeVersionv4.0" />
            <add name="*.aspq_*" path="*.aspq" verb="*" type="System.Web.HttpForbiddenHandler" preCondition="integratedMode,runtimeVersionv4.0" />
            <add name="*.xamlx_*" path="*.xamlx" verb="*" type="System.Xaml.Hosting.XamlHttpHandlerFactory, System.Xaml.Hosting, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" preCondition="integratedMode,runtimeVersionv2.0" />
            <add name="*.xoml_*" path="*.xoml" verb="*" type="System.ServiceModel.Activation.HttpHandler, System.ServiceModel.Activation, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" preCondition="integratedMode,runtimeVersionv2.0" />
            <add name="*.svc_*" path="*.svc" verb="*" type="System.ServiceModel.Activation.HttpHandler, System.ServiceModel.Activation, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" preCondition="integratedMode,runtimeVersionv2.0" />
            <add name="*.soap_*" path="*.soap" verb="*" type="System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Http.HttpRemotingHandlerFactory, System.Runtime.Remoting, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" preCondition="integratedMode,runtimeVersionv2.0" />
            <add name="*.rem_*" path="*.rem" verb="*" type="System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Http.HttpRemotingHandlerFactory, System.Runtime.Remoting, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" preCondition="integratedMode,runtimeVersionv2.0" />
            <add name="*.asmx_*" path="*.asmx" verb="*" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" preCondition="integratedMode,runtimeVersionv2.0" />
            <add name="ScriptResource.axd_GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd" verb="GET,HEAD" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler, System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" preCondition="integratedMode,runtimeVersionv2.0" />
            <add name="*_AppService.axd_*" path="*_AppService.axd" verb="*" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" preCondition="integratedMode,runtimeVersionv2.0" />
            <add name="eurl.axd_*" path="eurl.axd" verb="*" type="System.Web.HttpNotFoundHandler" preCondition="integratedMode,runtimeVersionv2.0" />
            <add name="Telerik_Web_UI_WebResource_axd" path="Telerik.Web.UI.WebResource.axd" type="Telerik.Web.UI.WebResource" verb="*" preCondition="integratedMode" />
            <add name="Telerik_RadUploadProgressHandler_ashx" path="Telerik.RadUploadProgressHandler.ashx" type="Telerik.Web.UI.RadUploadProgressHandler" verb="*" preCondition="integratedMode" />
            <add name="Telerik_Web_UI_DialogHandler_aspx" path="Telerik.Web.UI.DialogHandler.aspx" type="Telerik.Web.UI.DialogHandler" verb="*" preCondition="integratedMode" />
            <add name="Telerik_Web_UI_SpellCheckHandler_axd" path="Telerik.Web.UI.SpellCheckHandler.axd" type="Telerik.Web.UI.SpellCheckHandler" verb="*" preCondition="integratedMode" />
            <add name="ChartImage_axd" path="ChartImage.axd" type="Telerik.Web.UI.ChartHttpHandler" verb="*" preCondition="integratedMode" />
        </handlers>
        <modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true">
            <remove name="ScriptModule"/>
            <add name="ScriptModule" preCondition="managedHandler" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule, System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
            <add name="RadUploadModule" type="Telerik.Web.UI.RadUploadHttpModule" />
            <add name="RadCompression" type="Telerik.Web.UI.RadCompression" />
        </modules>
        <validation validateIntegratedModeConfiguration="false" />
    </system.webServer>
    <system.codedom>
        <compilers>
            <compiler language="c#;cs;csharp" extension=".cs" type="Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider, System, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" warningLevel="4" compilerOptions="/doc:LawDepotEditor.xml">
                <providerOption name="CompilerVersion" value="v4.0"/>
                <providerOption name="WarnAsError" value="false"/>
            </compiler>
        </compilers>
    </system.codedom>
</configuration>

[Martin]

Hello Chris Poirier,

I have reviewed your .config file and noticed the following line:

<modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true">

As Aaron stated in a post previous to yours, removing the runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true" declaration in the modules section and adding preCondition="managedHandler" for the RadCompression module section worked for his case. Could you please confirm that for your scenario?

Here is how the modified code should look:

<modules>
    <remove name="ScriptModule"/>
    <add name="ScriptModule" preCondition="managedHandler" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule, System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
    <add name="RadUploadModule" type="Telerik.Web.UI.RadUploadHttpModule" />
    <add name="RadCompression" type="Telerik.Web.UI.RadCompression" preCondition="managedHandler" />
</modules>

Let me know whether the issue persists after you apply the modifications above.

Best wishes,
Martin
the Telerik team

[Aaron]

Hi Martin,

If I have another module that requires

<modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true">

Is there another workaround available to still use RadCompression and avoid this error?

Thanks in advance!

[Pavel]

Hi Aaron,

There is no explicit need for setting runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true". This property is just a shortcut which applies for all modules (effectively ignoring any preCondition that might have been set). You can enable the same behavior for your other module by not applying a preCondition for it (simply remove its precondition attribute). This is explained in the following resource:

http://learn.iis.net/page.aspx/121/iis-7-modules-overview/#Precondition

Kind regards,
Pavel
the Telerik team

[Glenn]

Likewise... Same issue for us and the solution that worked for Aaron worked also for us.

IIS 7.5
Telerik 2011.2.712
.Net 4
Managed pipeline mode: Integrated

[Chris Poirier]

Hi Martin,

I have not been able to reproduce the error at all, but this has not come up in our error logs since making the change, so it appears to have worked.

Thanks,
Chris

[Alan Peters]

I get literally hundreds of users every day hit my site, there are a few NullReferenceExceptions thrown by RadCompress - but they do have something in common, the user agent *always* contains "Firefox/3.5.16".

Later versions of Firefox never cause the error, neither do other browsers.

I don't know if that sheds any light on the issue..?

[Erik]

Hi all,

I'm also getting the same error and stacktrace, but in 1 scenario, running IIS7.5 on Win 2008:
- http://www.applications.tst/                             generates the error when i click on something and there is a page postback
- http://www.applications.tst/master.aspx          generates no error...
the default doc is master.aspx, but the app is not working correctly if you do not type "master.aspx"...

When I do this on my dev machine, running local IIS7.5 on Win 7, there is no problem...
The behaviour on the server of my client is exactly the same, also a Win 2007 IIS7.5
browser does not matter (FF, Chrome. IE9)

telerik controls version = 2011.3.1305.40


Regards,

Erik

[Iana Tsolova]

Hello Erik,

Try the solution provided at the bottom of this topic:
http://www.telerik.com/help/aspnet-ajax/radcompression.html (under the know issues section)

All the best,
Iana Tsolova
the Telerik team

[Erik]

Thanks Iana,

I had to do both (change preCondition and disable runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests ) and that did the trick.

<modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="false">
    <remove name="RadCompression" />
    <add name="RadCompression" type="Telerik.Web.UI.RadCompression" preCondition="managedHandler" />
</modules>

Erik

[MCBB]

I had this problem and had to change the preCondition below:

"runtimeVersionv4.0" to "runtimeVersionv2.0"

[Yeroon]

Hello,

I encountered this problem now.

Telerik 2012.3.1016.40
IIS 6.1 SP 1

Suggested fixes worked, but I would like to add what changed for us and since then we experienced this problem.

We enabled Dynamic Content Compression on IIS for the affected websites. Maybe this is what causes the problem. Unfortunately I am not in the position to test this myself, as I am not allowed to chancge this configuration for our our testservers.

With regards.

/Yeroon

[Martin]

Hello Yeroon,

First  - I have not heard about IIS 6.1.
Second - it is clearly stated here that the problem is a Breaking change in ASP.NET 40 that causes the issue. In case you manage to isolate the issue in a project with dynamic compression enabled, please send it to us so that we can inspect it further.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Martin
the Telerik team