NullPointerException: while trying to invoke the method com.sap.mdi.Rfm.getRfmParameter

[Former Member]

Hi All,

After a recent Portal upgrade a previously working Java app has began throwing an exception when attempting to call a Function Module. Many users are working ok and we’ve checked the software versions are the same across servers. We've had a user experiencing the problem to logon to each portal server but the error happens on each server.

The exception is:

java.lang.NullPointerException: while trying to invoke the method com.sap.mdi.Rfm.getRfmParameter(java.lang.String) of a
null object loaded from field com.sapportals.connectors.SAPCFConnector.metadata.functions.SAPFunctionParameter.rfm of an
object loaded from local variable 'this'

The exception occurs when querying the structure of the Function Module:

IFunction function = connection.getFunctionsMetaData().getFunction(ZCM_SELECTOR_IVIEW_SET_INFO);
IStructureFactory structureFactory = interaction.retrieveStructureFactory();
IRecordSet table = (IRecordSet)structureFactory.getStructure(function.getParameter(COMMENTS).getStructure()); 

Specifically the COMMENTS parameter of the Function Module:

IRecordSet table = (IRecordSet)structureFactory.getStructure(function.getParameter(COMMENTS).getStructure());

The exception occurs inside the JAR file GenericConnector.jar that was downloaded from the portal after the upgrade.

As part of the upgrade process the JAR files used by the app are downloaded and the app is recompiled to the same Java version used on the portal. GenericConnector.jar file is one of the updated files.

That's a whole lot of information, hoping someone out there can help!

Even more detail...

SAP source and target portal version/patch levels

Full Stack Trace

SAPCFConnectorException.isConnectionBroken
[EXCEPTION]
java.lang.NullPointerException: while trying to invoke the method com.sap.mdi.Rfm.getRfmParameter(java.lang.String) of a null object loaded from field com.sapportals.connectors.SAPCFConnector.metadata.functions.SAPFunctionParameter.rfm of an object loaded from local variable 'this'
at com.sapportals.connectors.SAPCFConnector.metadata.functions.SAPFunctionParameter.getStructure(SAPFunctionParameter.java:173)
at uk.ac.ncl.SelectorConnector.setSelectorData(SelectorConnector.java:243)
at uk.ac.ncl.ExecuteDecision$ExecuteDecisionDynPage.onReturn(ExecuteDecision.java:515)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
at com.sapportals.htmlb.page.DynPage.doProcessCurrentEvent(DynPage.java:173)
at com.sapportals.htmlb.page.PageProcessor.handleRequest(PageProcessor.java:106)
at com.sapportals.portal.htmlb.page.PageProcessorComponent.doContent(PageProcessorComponent.java:134)
at com.sapportals.portal.prt.component.AbstractPortalComponent.serviceDeprecated(AbstractPortalComponent.java:213)
at com.sapportals.portal.prt.component.AbstractPortalComponent.service(AbstractPortalComponent.java:129)
at com.sap.portal.prt.core.RequestDispatcherFactory$PortalComponentRequestDispatcher$5.service(RequestDispatcherFactory.java:308)
at com.sap.engine.services.servlets_jsp.server.deploy.impl.module.IRequestDispatcherImpl.dispatch(IRequestDispatcherImpl.java:292)
at com.sap.portal.prt.core.RequestDispatcherFactory$PortalComponentRequestDispatcher.service(RequestDispatcherFactory.java:298)
at com.sap.portal.prt.core.PortalRequestManager.callPortalComponent(PortalRequestManager.java:229)
at com.sap.portal.prt.core.PortalRequestManager.dispatchRequest(PortalRequestManager.java:107)
at com.sap.portal.prt.core.PortalRequestManager.dispatchRequest(PortalRequestManager.java:141)
at com.sap.portal.prt.component.PortalComponentResponse.include(PortalComponentResponse.java:206)
at com.sapportals.portal.navigation.workAreaiView.doContent(workAreaiView.java:319)
at com.sapportals.portal.prt.component.AbstractPortalComponent.serviceDeprecated(AbstractPortalComponent.java:213)
at com.sapportals.portal.prt.component.AbstractPortalComponent.service(AbstractPortalComponent.java:129)
at com.sap.portal.prt.core.RequestDispatcherFactory$PortalComponentRequestDispatcher$5.service(RequestDispatcherFactory.java:308)
at com.sap.engine.services.servlets_jsp.server.deploy.impl.module.IRequestDispatcherImpl.dispatch(IRequestDispatcherImpl.java:292)
at com.sap.portal.prt.core.RequestDispatcherFactory$PortalComponentRequestDispatcher.service(RequestDispatcherFactory.java:298)
at com.sap.portal.prt.core.PortalRequestManager.callPortalComponent(PortalRequestManager.java:229)
at com.sap.portal.prt.core.PortalRequestManager.dispatchRequest(PortalRequestManager.java:107)
at com.sap.portal.prt.core.PortalRequestManager.dispatchRequest(PortalRequestManager.java:141)
at com.sap.portal.prt.component.PortalComponentResponse.include(PortalComponentResponse.java:206)
at com.sap.portal.prt.pom.PortalNode.service(PortalNode.java:590)
at com.sap.portal.prt.core.PortalRequestManager.callPortalComponent(PortalRequestManager.java:233)
at com.sap.portal.prt.core.PortalRequestManager.dispatchRequest(PortalRequestManager.java:107)
at com.sap.portal.prt.core.PortalRequestManager.dispatchRequest(PortalRequestManager.java:141)
at com.sap.portal.prt.core.PortalRequestManager.runRequestCycle(PortalRequestManager.java:520)
at com.sapportals.portal.prt.connection.ServletConnection._handleRequest(ServletConnection.java:224)
at com.sapportals.portal.prt.connection.ServletConnection.handleRequest(ServletConnection.java:101)
at com.sap.portal.prt.dispatcher.DispatcherServlet.service(DispatcherServlet.java:132)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:847)
at com.sap.engine.services.servlets_jsp.server.runtime.FilterChainImpl.runServlet(FilterChainImpl.java:202)
at com.sap.engine.services.servlets_jsp.server.runtime.FilterChainImpl.doFilter(FilterChainImpl.java:103)
at com.sap.portal.http.EnrichNavRequestFilter.doFilter(EnrichNavRequestFilter.java:49)
at com.sap.engine.services.servlets_jsp.server.runtime.FilterChainImpl.doFilter(FilterChainImpl.java:79)
at com.sap.portal.prt.dispatcher.CustomHeaderFilter.doFilter(CustomHeaderFilter.java:58)
at com.sap.engine.services.servlets_jsp.server.runtime.FilterChainImpl.doFilter(FilterChainImpl.java:79)
at com.sap.portal.http.EnrichNavRequestFilter.doFilter(EnrichNavRequestFilter.java:49)
at com.sap.engine.services.servlets_jsp.server.runtime.FilterChainImpl.doFilter(FilterChainImpl.java:79)
at com.sap.engine.services.servlets_jsp.server.HttpHandlerImpl.runServlet(HttpHandlerImpl.java:441)
at com.sap.engine.services.servlets_jsp.server.HttpHandlerImpl.handleRequest(HttpHandlerImpl.java:210)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.server.RequestAnalizer.startServlet(RequestAnalizer.java:441)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.server.RequestAnalizer.startServlet(RequestAnalizer.java:430)
at com.sap.engine.services.servlets_jsp.filters.DSRWebContainerFilter.process(DSRWebContainerFilter.java:38)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.chain.AbstractChain.process(AbstractChain.java:78)
at com.sap.engine.services.servlets_jsp.filters.ServletSelector.process(ServletSelector.java:81)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.chain.AbstractChain.process(AbstractChain.java:78)
at com.sap.engine.services.servlets_jsp.filters.ApplicationSelector.process(ApplicationSelector.java:278)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.chain.AbstractChain.process(AbstractChain.java:78)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.filters.WebContainerInvoker.process(WebContainerInvoker.java:81)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.chain.HostFilter.process(HostFilter.java:9)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.chain.AbstractChain.process(AbstractChain.java:78)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.filters.ResponseLogWriter.process(ResponseLogWriter.java:60)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.chain.HostFilter.process(HostFilter.java:9)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.chain.AbstractChain.process(AbstractChain.java:78)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.filters.DefineHostFilter.process(DefineHostFilter.java:27)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.chain.ServerFilter.process(ServerFilter.java:12)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.chain.AbstractChain.process(AbstractChain.java:78)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.filters.MonitoringFilter.process(MonitoringFilter.java:29)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.chain.ServerFilter.process(ServerFilter.java:12)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.chain.AbstractChain.process(AbstractChain.java:78)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.filters.SessionSizeFilter.process(SessionSizeFilter.java:26)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.chain.ServerFilter.process(ServerFilter.java:12)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.chain.AbstractChain.process(AbstractChain.java:78)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.filters.MemoryStatisticFilter.process(MemoryStatisticFilter.java:57)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.chain.ServerFilter.process(ServerFilter.java:12)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.chain.AbstractChain.process(AbstractChain.java:78)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.filters.DSRHttpFilter.process(DSRHttpFilter.java:43)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.chain.ServerFilter.process(ServerFilter.java:12)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.chain.AbstractChain.process(AbstractChain.java:78)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.server.Processor.chainedRequest(Processor.java:468)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.server.Processor$FCAProcessorThread.process(Processor.java:262)
at com.sap.engine.services.httpserver.server.rcm.RequestProcessorThread.run(RequestProcessorThread.java:56)
at com.sap.engine.core.thread.execution.Executable.run(Executable.java:122)
at com.sap.engine.core.thread.execution.Executable.run(Executable.java:101)
at com.sap.engine.core.thread.execution.CentralExecutor$SingleThread.run(CentralExecutor.java:328)

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

I stumbled across an old post that had a similar problem and ultimately provided a solution:

https://archive.sap.com/discussions/thread/1330443

Instead of the querying the function module meta data before the call, the trick is to calls the function module with empty parameters then query the output structures to get the input structures. Then call the function module again.

connection = cgService.getConnection(systemAlias, cp);
IInteraction interaction = connection.createInteractionEx();
IInteractionSpec interactionSpec = interaction.getInteractionSpec();
interactionSpec.setPropertyValue(NAME,ZCM_MY_FUNCTION_MODULE);

RecordFactory recordFactory = interaction.getRecordFactory();
MappedRecord importParams = recordFactory.createMappedRecord(INPUT);

MappedRecord output = (MappedRecord)interaction.execute(interactionSpec, importParams);
      
IRecordSet table = (IRecordSet)output.get(COMMENTS);

... populate table ...

importParams.put(COMMENTS, table);
output = (MappedRecord)interaction.execute(interactionSpec, importParams);

Hope this helps someone in the future!

[Former Member]

Hi both,

the solution should be:

https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2372099/E

https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2433273/E

Hope this helps.

Kind regards

André

[Former Member]

Hi Andre,

Sorry for the slow reply, I didn't get any notification of your comment in my inbox.

Although I do think it was a patching problem I eventually came up with a solution after stumbling across an old post:

https://archive.sap.com/discussions/thread/1330443

I changed the Java code so instead of the querying the function module meta data before the call, it calls the function module, queries the output and then calls the function module again.

Hope this helps someone in the future!

Thanks,

Justin

[andras_homlok]

We have a very similar error while checking the configuration via the BI Support Desktop Tool:

Any solutions on this yet? We couldn't solve the issue till know and don't really have idea what the cause could be.

[Former Member]

Hi Andras,

Sorry for the slow reply, I didn't get any notification of your comment in my inbox. Probably too late for you but I'll leave a response anyway for anyone else who might hit this problem in the future.

I stumbled across an old post that had a similar problem and ultimately provided a solution:

https://archive.sap.com/discussions/thread/1330443

Instead of the querying the function module meta data before the call, it calls the function module, queries the output and then calls the function module again.

Hope this helps someone in the future!

Thanks,

Justin