createMeeting api results in java NullPointerException if the welcomeMessage parameter is not specified

[Yi Qiao]

Hi

  Just found out that if the api "create" is called without specifying the "message" parameter, a NullPointerException will be thrown despite that "message" is marked as optional in the documentation. I searched both the issue queue and this group, and it doesn't seem that anyone has reported it yet

  This is validated with a fresh ubuntu 10.04 + bbb 0.80 install running in virtualbox 4.2.10 Mac.

Here is the error message:

Grails Runtime Exception

Error Details

Message:
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
Class: ApiController
At Line: [150]
Code Snippet:

Stack Trace

org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.InvokerInvocationException: java.lang.NullPointerException
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.invoke(ApplicationDispatcher.java:646)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.processRequest(ApplicationDispatcher.java:436)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.doForward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:374)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.forward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:302)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
	at org.jsecurity.web.servlet.JSecurityFilter.doFilterInternal(JSecurityFilter.java:384)
	at org.jsecurity.web.servlet.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:183)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:233)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:127)
	at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
	at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:298)
	at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:859)
	at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:588)
	at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$Worker.run(JIoEndpoint.java:489)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:679)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
	at java.util.regex.Matcher.appendReplacement(Matcher.java:712)
	at java.util.regex.Matcher.replaceAll(Matcher.java:823)
	at java.lang.String.replaceAll(String.java:2201)
	at org.bigbluebutton.api.ParamsProcessorUtil.substituteKeywords(ParamsProcessorUtil.java:54)
	at org.bigbluebutton.api.ParamsProcessorUtil.processCreateParams(ParamsProcessorUtil.java:258)
	at org.bigbluebutton.web.controllers.ApiController$_closure2.doCall(ApiController.groovy:150)
	at org.bigbluebutton.web.controllers.ApiController$_closure2.doCall(ApiController.groovy)
	... 32 more

  Hope the information helps ;)

Best wishes
Yi

[Gustavo Salazar]

Hi, 

I guess you refer to the "welcome" parameter. If you don't pass it in the create api call, you will still get the response, because it is optional. Try it out with the Omar Shammas api buddy,  the api call works without setting the "welcome" parameter.

The problem is related to the method that receives the parameters you are passing in the create api call.

In your server:

-Can you use the demo  without problems?

- Have you made any change to your server?

-How are you generating the url of the create api call? Try creating the url for your server with the api buddy and check out if you still get the problem. 

2013/4/7 Yi Qiao <atru...@gmail.com>

Yi

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BigBlueButton Developer
http://bigbluebutton.org/
http://code.google.com/p/bigbluebutton

[Yi Qiao]

Hi Guga

  Thanks for the reply. The server is a pristine ubuntu 10.04 + stock BBB 0.80 install. I tried the api buddy, and it worked file. But further inspection revealed that the "name" parameter is part of the url generated by api buddy, even if you don't specify anything in the name string. So I tried it with my own url generator (which is written in php), and whenever I drop the name= part of the url, the server returns error. If I include name= as part of the url, even if I omit the "message" parameter, meets are still created. E.g. the following url returned error

http://bbb.vbnet.local/bigbluebutton/api/create?meetingID=test3&attendeePW=ap&moderatorPW=mp&maxParticipants=100&checksum=b22ba1ddb1e78ee7a7832c1e41a4b1a3a371fcd9

But the next url, which only has an extra &name=, successfully created the meeting
http://bbb.vbnet.local/bigbluebutton/api/create?meetingID=test2&name=&attendeePW=ap&moderatorPW=mp&maxParticipants=100&checksum=01c58eb54ee4bea1a90fc7f773da8adc870be443

Thanks
Yi

[Yi Qiao]

sorry when I said "message" I meant "welcome'..... always got them confused

[markos calderon]

Hi Yi Qiao,

Yes, this is a known issue that has been fixed for the next release 0.81-beta, see:

https://code.google.com/p/bigbluebutton/issues/detail?id=1349

HTH

 - Markos

- Markos

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BigBlueButton Developer

http://bigbluebutton.org

http://about.me/markoscalderon
"A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code"

[Yi Qiao]

Ah. ok... sorry for the noise then ;)

Interestingly I looked back at my original problem. And it seems that the lacking of "name=" can be rescued by providing an "welcome=" instead. This is probably related to the same issue tho.

Thanks~
Yi

[markos calderon]

Hi Yi,

no worries... in fact, it's really healthy for BigBlueButton that people report possible bugs... :)

The only required field for create a meeting is "meetingID", all the others should be optional... if you find anything strange or that is not according to the documentation, please don't hesitate in reporting in that way we can fixed...

Thanks, Markos