NullPointerException when viewing User Profile in Jira Server or Data Center
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
When viewing a user profile, a NullPointerException is generated.
When attempting to view an avatar, the same exception is generated.
The following appears in the atlassian-jira.log:
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2012-09-19 16:18:12,258 http-8080-5 ERROR captain.planet 978x1081x1 1unn6n4 10.166.1.14 /secure/ViewProfile.jspa [com.atlassian.velocity.DefaultVelocityManager] MethodInvocationException occurred getting message body from Velocity: java.lang.NullPointerException
java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.opensymphony.module.propertyset.ofbiz.OFBizPropertySet.getKeys(OFBizPropertySet.java:145)
at com.opensymphony.module.propertyset.AbstractPropertySet.getKeys(AbstractPropertySet.java:231)
at com.atlassian.jira.propertyset.JiraCachingPropertySet.getKeys(JiraCachingPropertySet.java:377)
at com.atlassian.jira.user.profile.DetailsUserProfileFragment.getUserProperties(DetailsUserProfileFragment.java:203)
at com.atlassian.jira.user.profile.DetailsUserProfileFragment.createVelocityParams(DetailsUserProfileFragment.java:135)
at com.atlassian.jira.user.profile.AbstractUserProfileFragment.getFragmentHtml(AbstractUserProfileFragment.java:65)
at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor856.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.velocity.util.introspection.UberspectImpl$VelMethodImpl.doInvoke(UberspectImpl.java:381)
at org.apache.velocity.util.introspection.UberspectImpl$VelMethodImpl.invoke(UberspectImpl.java:370)
at com.atlassian.velocity.htmlsafe.introspection.AnnotationBoxingMethod.invoke(AnnotationBoxingMethod.java:26)
at com.atlassian.velocity.htmlsafe.introspection.UnboxingMethod.invoke(UnboxingMethod.java:30)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTMethod.execute(ASTMethod.java:270)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTReference.execute(ASTReference.java:262)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTReference.render(ASTReference.java:342)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTBlock.render(ASTBlock.java:72)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTIfStatement.render(ASTIfStatement.java:87)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.SimpleNode.render(SimpleNode.java:336)
at org.apache.velocity.Template.merge(Template.java:328)
at org.apache.velocity.Template.merge(Template.java:235)
...Cause
An error has caused an update of the user properties to be half-complete, leaving a null in the place of where an object should be.
Resolution
Always back up your data before making any database modifications. If possible, test any alter, insert, update, or delete SQL commands on a staging server first.
Using the Database Integrity Checker, verify if this fixes the problem. If not, continue with the following steps.
Stop JIRA.
Identify the
NULLvalues within thepropertyentrytable with the following SQL:1SELECT * FROM propertyentry p JOIN external_entities e ON p.entity_id = e.id WHERE p.id IS NULL OR entity_name IS NULL OR entity_id IS NULL OR property_key IS NULL OR propertytype IS NULL;In this example, the below was returned:
122359 ExternalEntity 10 jira.user.suppressedTips.focusShifter NULL 10 captain.planet com.atlassian.jira.user.OfbizExternalEntityStoreIn order to correct this fix, manipulation of the database will be required. If incorrect updates are made, it can cause data integrity issues, so do so at your own risk. If you're uncertain what to do, please contact Atlassian Support at support.atlassian.com.
After identifying the record within the database, it will need to be updated with an appropriate value. To identify what the value could be, it is necessary to compare it to other records that are working. In this example, this
propertyentry.property_keyhas theNULL. To identify other values in the database, the following SQL can be used. If need be, replacejira.user.suppressedTips.focusShifterwith the value that has theNULL.1SELECT * FROM propertyentry p JOIN external_entities e ON p.entity_id = e.id WHERE property_key = 'jira.user.suppressedTips.focusShifter';Which in this example has returned the below results:
1 222359 ExternalEntity 10 jira.user.suppressedTips.focusShifter NULL 10 captain.planet com.atlassian.jira.user.OfbizExternalEntityStore 22559 ExternalEntity 910 jira.user.suppressedTips.focusShifter NULL 910 wonder.woman com.atlassian.jira.user.OfbizExternalEntityStoreAs can be seen from these results,
propertyentry.propertytypeof 1 for user wonder.woman is a valid value (provided that user is not experiencing any errors!) and the database can be updated to reflect the value, as below:1UPDATE propertyentry SET propertytype = 1 where id = {ID from the problematic record};Start JIRA.
Test if the user works by replicating the behaviour. If the problem is still present, please restore your backup immediately and raise a Support Request on support.atlassian.com
Alternative
It's also possible to remove the avatar entries directly from the database using the following SQL, however this may not necessarily be the cause. Replace captain.planet with the user name that requires correcting.
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DELETE pn, pe, a
FROM external_entities e
JOIN propertyentry pe
ON e.id = pe.entity_id
JOIN propertynumber pn
ON pe.id = pn.id
JOIN avatar a
ON a.id = pn.propertyvalue
WHERE name = 'captain.planet';The above is MySQL syntax and may need changing for Oracle or MS SQL. If multiple users require updating, the operator used in the WHERE clause could be replaced with an IN.
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