Exception while processing Server Explorer drag

Hello all,

I installed LightSpeed 2.1 and then I create a new model. When i try to drag a table to the model from the server explorer i get the following Exception.

  Exception while processing Server Explorer drag: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Integration.ServerExplorer.DragObject.get_ServerExplorerConnection()
   at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Integration.ServerExplorer.DragObject.get_DbConnection()
   at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Integration.LightSpeedModelDiagram.<>c__DisplayClass4.<OnDragDrop>b__3(DragObject dragObject, IGenerationLog log)
   at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Integration.ServerExplorer.IfIsServerExplorerDrag(DragEventArgs e, DragAction action)

I use Visual Studio 2008 in Windows XP Pro sp3.

Any ideas about what is going on?

Thank you for your Time

It looks like there may be a Server Explorer item which is not associated with a connection.  (We iterate over Server Explorer items while processing a drag, so the unhappy item is not necessarily the item which you are dragging.)  Could it be that you have something in Server Explorer which you created in the past but which is now broken, e.g. you have uninstalled the database provider for it?  If so, try removing that item and see if it improves matters.

In any case, we should be handling this case by ignoring the unhappy item.  I will get this fixed in case the above doesn't help and will post here when the fix is available.  Thanks for letting us know about the problem.

I'm seeing something similar when trying to add an Oracle table to the Lightspeed model. As far as I can tell the tables are all refreshed and the connection is good

Exception while processing Server Explorer drag: System.ArgumentException: Keyword not supported: 'home'

Is there a stack trace for this exception displayed in the Output window?  If so, could you post it please?  Thanks!

No problem, here it is

Exception while processing Server Explorer drag: System.ArgumentException: Keyword not supported: 'home'.
   at System.Data.Common.DbConnectionOptions.ParseInternal(Hashtable parsetable, String connectionString, Boolean buildChain, Hashtable synonyms, Boolean firstKey)
   at System.Data.Common.DbConnectionOptions..ctor(String connectionString, Hashtable synonyms, Boolean useOdbcRules)
   at System.Data.OracleClient.OracleConnectionString..ctor(String connectionString)
   at System.Data.OracleClient.OracleConnectionFactory.CreateConnectionOptions(String connectionOptions, DbConnectionOptions previous)
   at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.GetConnectionPoolGroup(String connectionString, DbConnectionPoolGroupOptions poolOptions, DbConnectionOptions& userConnectionOptions)
   at System.Data.OracleClient.OracleConnection.ConnectionString_Set(String value)
   at System.Data.OracleClient.OracleConnection.set_ConnectionString(String value)
   at System.Data.OracleClient.OracleConnection..ctor(String connectionString)
   at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Extraction.Oracle9.OpenConnection()
   at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Extraction.Provider`1.ExtractModel(Boolean pluralise, IList`1 tablesToFullyPopulate)
   at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Integration.EntityExtractor.PopulateTypeModel(ProviderType providerType, String connectionString, IList`1 tableNames, Boolean pluralisedInDatabase)
   at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Integration.EntityExtractor.PopulateTypeModel(IDbConnection connection, IList`1 tableNames, Boolean pluralisedInDatabase)
   at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Integration.EntityBuilder.AddTablesToModel(Model model, IDbConnection connection, IEnumerable`1 tableNames, IGenerationLog log)
   at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Integration.LightSpeedModelDiagram.<>c__DisplayClass4.<OnDragDrop>b__3(DragObject dragObject, IGenerationLog log)
   at Mindscape.LightSpeed.Generator.Integration.ServerExplorer.IfIsServerExplorerDrag(DragEventArgs e, DragAction action)

 Oh, and in case it's useful (which I think it will be ) here's my connection string

 User Id=CATALOGUE;Server=PRDB;Home=OraClient10g_home1;Direct=False;Persist Security Info=True

The problem seems to be that the connection string is not usable by the OracleClient class (which is what the designer uses to query the Oracle schema).  My guess is that you are using a third-party add-in to integrate Oracle into Server Explorer, and that this add-in uses a different set of connection string keywords (e.g. the Home and Direct entries) which OracleClient cannot understand.  I have tried the Oracle ODP.NET provider and its connection strings seem to be compatible with OracleClient, but I know there are other providers out there such as the DevArt dotConnect provider.  Could it be that you have used one of these to create the entry in Server Explorer?

If so, the workaround is to create another entry using the .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle or the Oracle Data Provider for .NET.  We would however be keen to know which provider you are using so we can try to improve compatibility in the future -- I tried looking on connectionstrings.com for an Oracle provider that uses the Home keyword but wasn't able to identify one.

I also noticed that the connection string does not include a password.  I am not sure whether you just wisely deleted that before posting, or whether you turned off "save password" when creating the connection.  If the latter, you will get an error from the designer because it just attempts to use the connection string as provided, and therefore requires "save password" to be turned on.  (If this is a major issue for you then let us know and we will see if we can address it.) 

Hi Ivan,

Yes, my mistake, I was using the DevArt dotConnect driver which I guess is where the non-standard connection string comes from. I added a new connection using the Microsoft driver and it worked fine

 Thanks

 James