Accessing a Space via Webdav Returns a Blank Page
Platform Notice: Data Center Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.
Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Symptoms
Accessing the space via webdav returns a blank page and the log file contains this error:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 112009-12-18 17:47:49,186 ERROR [http-8080-1] [[Standalone].[localhost].[/].[servlet-module-container-servlet]] log Servlet.service() for servlet servlet-module-container-servlet threw exception java.lang.NullPointerException at com.atlassian.confluence.pages.NaturalStringComparator.compareNatural(NaturalStringComparator.java:75) at com.atlassian.confluence.pages.NaturalStringComparator.compareNatural(NaturalStringComparator.java:57) at com.atlassian.confluence.pages.NaturalStringComparator.compare(NaturalStringComparator.java:42) at com.atlassian.confluence.pages.Page$ChildPositionComparator.compare(Page.java:313) at com.atlassian.confluence.pages.Page$ChildPositionComparator.compare(Page.java:282) at java.util.Arrays.mergeSort(Arrays.java:1270) at java.util.Arrays.mergeSort(Arrays.java:1282) at java.util.Arrays.mergeSort(Arrays.java:1282)If you are on older version of Webdav eg. version 1.1 or earlier you may see this error in the log file:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 92009-12-17 17:53:16,702 ERROR [http-8080-Processor6] [[Standalone].[localhost].[/].[servlet-module-container-servlet]] invoke Servlet.service() for servlet servlet-module-container-servlet threw exception java.lang.NullPointerException at com.atlassian.confluence.extra.webdav.servlet.WebdavURLCodec.hasUnsafeChars(WebdavURLCodec.java:123) at com.atlassian.confluence.extra.webdav.servlet.resource.BaseResource.getPath(BaseResource.java:90) at com.atlassian.confluence.extra.webdav.servlet.resource.BaseCollectionResource.getPath(BaseCollectionResource.java:59) at com.atlassian.confluence.extra.webdav.servlet.resource.WebdavResourceServlet.makeAbsoluteURI(WebdavResourceServlet.java:752) at com.atlassian.confluence.extra.webdav.servlet.resource.WebdavResourceServlet.addHrefElement(WebdavResourceServlet.java:744) at com.atlassian.confluence.extra.webdav.servlet.resource.WebdavResourceServlet.appendPropResponses(WebdavResourceServlet.java:407)Other spaces work fine.
Cause
When accessing a functionality that requires page title comparison, Confluence will throw a NullPointerException if the page title happens to be null.
Resolution
To identify the page title(s) that is null,
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