Why will it always be a null value?

Question

Okay I got the following class, but item is always null when I GetIstance(); Visual studio shows:

Field 'PageStyle.item' is never assigned to, and will always have its default value null

How can I resolve this? What am I doing wrong? Is there a better way of doing whats done below?

public class PageStyle { private static PageStyle _Instance = null; // Instantiate variables relating to sitecore item paths. Database webDB; Sitecore.Data.Items.Item item; // constructor private PageStyle() { if (webDB != null) { webDB = Sitecore.Configuration.Factory.GetDatabase("web"); Sitecore.Data.Items.Item item = webDB.Items[StartItem]; } } // Method that gets instance public static PageStyle GetInstance() { if (_Instance == null) _Instance = new PageStyle(); return _Instance; } private void InitializeWebDB() { if (webDB == null) { webDB = Sitecore.Configuration.Factory.GetDatabase("web"); } } private void InitializeStartItem() { if (webDB != null) { item = webDB.Items[StartItem]; } } public string StartItem { get { return _startItem; } set { _startItem = value; } } }

Anders Tornblad · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-18 09:09:35Z

You never set it to a value. You might think that you do, but you really only ever set a local variable with the same name. Also, you're checking the webDB variable for non-null values at a time when it is always null:

// constructor private PageStyle() { if (webDB != null) { webDB = Sitecore.Configuration.Factory.GetDatabase("web"); Sitecore.Data.Items.Item item = webDB.Items[StartItem]; } }

Change this to:

// constructor private PageStyle() { this.webDB = Sitecore.Configuration.Factory.GetDatabase("web"); this.item = webDB.Items[StartItem]; }

I'm assuming that you always need a database instance, and that your if (webDB != null) was a mistake.

Nice, essentially doing it this way I can get rid of Initialize WebDB() method. Cheers buddy will mark as answer if works.

Darin Dimitrov · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-18 09:10:17Z

Maybe you meant to assign the item in the constructor:

private PageStyle() { if (webDB != null) { webDB = Sitecore.Configuration.Factory.GetDatabase("web"); this.item = webDB.Items[StartItem]; } }

Also make sure that you call the InitializeWebDB private method somewhere or the webDB variable will also be null.

Like this:

private PageStyle() { InitializeWebDB(); if (webDB != null) { this.item = webDB.Items[StartItem]; } }

Ian Horwill · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-18 09:09:19Z

0

You have a local instance of item in the constructor, shadowing the class level field.

answered Jan 18, 2012 at 9:09

Ian Horwill

3,0172 gold badges26 silver badges25 bronze badges

Comments

RobJohnson · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-18 09:55:01Z

0

Your not initialising it in the constructor, your creating a new local variable with the same name, use:

// constructor private PageStyle() { webDB = Sitecore.Configuration.Factory.GetDatabase("web"); this.item = webDB.Items[StartItem]; }

edited Jan 18, 2012 at 9:55

answered Jan 18, 2012 at 9:10

RobJohnson

8851 gold badge11 silver badges21 bronze badges

2 Comments

Anders Tornblad Over a year ago

That still would never set any values.

RobJohnson Over a year ago

True, removed the if statement, although others have already provided a better answer now anyway :-S

McGarnagle · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-29 03:22:44Z

Perhaps placing the webDB init method outside of the class and making it static would not hurt. In your code, you are checking webDB against null twice as well as in the GetDatabase() method.

You could code this part like this:

public class PageStyle { private static PageStyle _Instance; // Instantiate variables relating to sitecore item paths. private static readonly Database webDB = DbInitializer.InitializeWebDb("web"); ...

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Why will it always be a null value?

5 Answers 5

1 Comment

Comments

Comments

2 Comments

Comments

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

5 Answers 5

1 Comment

Comments

Comments

2 Comments

Comments

Linked

Related