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Only portal 0 out of a group of portals isn't working

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EdoDNN

Growing Member

Posts: 27

7/4/2024 10:59 AM

I have this weird problem. only portal 0, which is luckily the least important one of the lot, isn't working anymore.

When I try to connect a page with DNN Error appears, and I get Default.aspx?tabid=2558&error=An%20unexpected%20error%20has%20occurred all over my IIS logs.

Looking around on the various forums people suggested it might be a DB connection problem, which it can't because this portal is using the same AppPool as other portals that are working fine.

Looking through the event log I get a bunch of errors, all of them Page Load Exceptions with different stack traces, many of them with similar inner messages stating "Object reference not set to an instance of an object".

In some cases the portalID appears as -1, in others it appears correctly as 0.

I'll try pasting some of the different error stack traces

AbsoluteURL:/Default.aspx
DefaultDataProvider:DotNetNuke.Data.SqlDataProvider, DotNetNuke
ExceptionGUID:1792f8c4-7add-4382-8da0-5f33b9f35556
AssemblyVersion:
PortalId:-1
UserId:-1
TabId:-1
RawUrl:
Referrer:
UserAgent:
ExceptionHash:b+fp0FFsgUklzso1trF8+A==
Message:Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
StackTrace:
InnerMessage:Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
InnerStackTrace:

at DotNetNuke.UI.Skins.Skin.GetSkin(PageBase page)
at DotNetNuke.Framework.DefaultPage.OnInit(EventArgs e)
at System.Web.UI.Control.InitRecursive(Control namingContainer)
at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)
Source:
FileName:
FileLineNumber:0
FileColumnNumber:0
Method:
-------------------------------------------------------------------

AbsoluteURL:/Default.aspx
DefaultDataProvider:DotNetNuke.Data.SqlDataProvider, DotNetNuke
ExceptionGUID:c8cb1cd2-f5ff-4e2a-b07a-d5ee95dbbfb8
AssemblyVersion:
PortalId:-1
UserId:-1
TabId:-1
RawUrl:
Referrer:
UserAgent:
ExceptionHash:UOug4h4W752hL/Yl5eKXag==
Message:Unhandled error loading page.
StackTrace:
InnerMessage:The file '/Portals/_default/Skins/MinimalExtropy/index.ascx' does not exist.
InnerStackTrace:

at System.Web.UI.Util.CheckVirtualFileExists(VirtualPath virtualPath)
at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetVPathBuildResultInternal(VirtualPath virtualPath, Boolean noBuild, Boolean allowCrossApp, Boolean allowBuildInPrecompile, Boolean throwIfNotFound, Boolean ensureIsUpToDate)
at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetVPathBuildResultWithNoAssert(HttpContext context, VirtualPath virtualPath, Boolean noBuild, Boolean allowCrossApp, Boolean allowBuildInPrecompile, Boolean throwIfNotFound, Boolean ensureIsUpToDate)
at System.Web.UI.TemplateControl.LoadControl(VirtualPath virtualPath)
at DotNetNuke.UI.ControlUtilities.LoadControl[T](TemplateControl containerControl, String ControlSrc)
at DotNetNuke.UI.Skins.Skin.LoadSkin(PageBase page, String skinPath)
Source:
FileName:
FileLineNumber:0
FileColumnNumber:0

------------------------------------------------

AbsoluteURL:/Default.aspx
DefaultDataProvider:DotNetNuke.Data.SqlDataProvider, DotNetNuke
ExceptionGUID:1320a854-f1ab-42c3-a25e-b677853dcf21
AssemblyVersion:
PortalId:-1
UserId:-1
TabId:-1
RawUrl:
Referrer:
UserAgent:
ExceptionHash:lifW6NEbnwuCCwOUxdbhHw==
Message:Unhandled error loading page.
StackTrace:
InnerMessage:Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
InnerStackTrace:

at System.Web.UI.TemplateControl.LoadControl(IWebObjectFactory objectFactory, VirtualPath virtualPath, Type t, Object[] parameters)
at DotNetNuke.UI.ControlUtilities.LoadControl[T](TemplateControl containerControl, String ControlSrc)
at DotNetNuke.UI.Skins.Skin.LoadSkin(PageBase page, String skinPath)
Source:
FileName:
FileLineNumber:0
FileColumnNumber:0

I have no idea what happened since all the other portals on the same application installation are running.

Can I simply delete portal 0? Had it been another portal I would have done so already and restarted from scratch but I'm a little concerned about deleting portal 0 because it's the main one in Host Details. Can I simply substitute it with another one and delete it or will it cause more problems?

Daniel Valadas

Veteran Member

Posts: 352

Helpful Replier

MVP

Engaged Reader

Avid Reader

7/4/2024 2:54 PM

Well, this one is a good clue, is that file present?

The file '/Portals/_default/Skins/MinimalExtropy/index.ascx' does not exist

EdoDNN

Growing Member

Posts: 27

7/5/2024 5:08 AM

Nope, it's not there...
I had tried to change in the DB all the references to the Minimal Extropy skin into some other skin because of compatibility issues. I kept getting all these errors associated with this skin using deprecated components I thought it would be better to substitute it with something more recent.
Now I realize it wasn't working because the file was missing. The fact is, there is no reference to this skin anywhere in the Tabs, or other table.
I tried changing the skin associated with the Home tab in the Tabs table by changing the value to an existing file but to no avail.
I'll try purging the cache and restarting the application, just in case.
This is a very old installation... it has survived endless upgrades from version 3 but it does have problems and generates a ton of nasty events ballooning the logs to incredible sizes.
It's still running though, which is a good thing, albeit with a few problems... but it runs...sometimes.

RichardHowells

Growing Member

Posts: 51

7/5/2024 6:06 AM

The skin likely does appear in the database. You might be looking in the wrong place or for the wrong format.

Eg in PortalSettings the SettingName is DefaultPortalSkin and the format is something like [G]Skins/Gravity/2-Col.ascx. From memory the [G] part is related to if the skin is installed for ALL portals (that's the [G]) or just one specific portal.

For an individual tab, with a skin override, I would assume it would be in TabSettings, but I don't know the setting name.

EdoDNN

Growing Member

Posts: 27

7/5/2024 10:54 AM

Ok thanks, I have probably overlooked the PortalSettings table... I'll take a look.

EdoDNN

Growing Member

Posts: 27

7/5/2024 10:59 AM

Ok, I looked inside the PortalSettings table but the default skin is [G]Skins/DarkKnight/Home-Mega-Menu.ascx, not the MinimalExtropy/index.ascx that was missing. Can't find any reference to that..

RichardHowells

Growing Member

Posts: 51

7/5/2024 11:17 AM

I have never been properly certain how those various skin files are supposed to be used. So what follows is guesswork and conjecture.

I think the skin file named index is intended for use on a home page. And so probably the home page, and only the home page, has an override to force use of that skin. I suspect that override would appear in the tab settings table rather than the portal settings.

I don't know if this still works, but I believe you can override the skin via the url. Try adding ?SkinSrc=Portals/_default/Skins/MinimalExtropy/index full, or similar, to the URL. My notes don't mention the '.ascx' extension. You might have to play about with this. And maybe it no longer works.

Timo Breumelhof Host (SU)

Growing Member

Posts: 75

7/5/2024 12:26 PM

Did you check the Config/DotNetNuke.config file?

Did you check the PortalAlias table?

EdoDNN

Growing Member

Posts: 27

7/5/2024 6:25 PM

Oh wow Timo... that was it!
What does this Config/DotNetNuke.config file do?
I had checked everything else! Finally found where this MinimalExtropy item was hiding!! Thanks
I had managed to get it up and running by renaming skin folders and using other rather unorthodox tricks like replacing the problematic skin with other skins in various tables.
Now it works but still throws a weird error. When I log in, I see a red error message telling me The file '/dotnetnuke/Portals/_default/Skins/DarkKnight/Home-Mega-Menu.ascx' does not exist. Well it does. The path is correct and so is the skin name and the ascx file name. I thought it had perhaps to create a virtual directory for some obscure reason but it didn't work.

Timo Breumelhof Host (SU)

Growing Member

Posts: 75

7/6/2024 2:59 PM

Posted By EdoDNN on 7/6/2024 12:25 AM
Oh wow Timo... that was it!
What does this Config/DotNetNuke.config file do?

That's the fallback skin, which loads when the assigned Skin fails.

Did you replace it with another skin (that exists)? (you should :-)

The path "/dotnetnuke/Portals/_default/Skins/DarkKnight/Home-Mega-Menu.ascx" looks incorrect, normally that should have been

/Portals/_default/Skins/DarkKnight/Home-Mega-Menu.ascx as Portals in in the root of the installation

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