List Pages Tree View Loads Forever
Platform Notice: Data Center - This article applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.
Note that this knowledge base article was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center knowledge base articles 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
The list pages tree view in a particular space loads forever. Other spaces work fine. The log file contains this error:
2009-12-18 17:48:42,905 WARN [http-8080-2] [opensymphony.xwork.util.OgnlValueStack] findValue Caught an exception while evaluating expression 'JSONString' against value stack
-- space: 10059777 | url: /pages/children.action | page: 10027011 | userName: admin | referer: http://yourconfluenceurl/pages/listpages-dirview.action?key=spacekey | action: children
java.lang.RuntimeException: Caught an Ognl exception while getting property JSONString
java.lang.RuntimeException: Caught an Ognl exception while getting property JSONString
at com.opensymphony.xwork.util.CompoundRootAccessor.getProperty(CompoundRootAccessor.java:112)
at ognl.OgnlRuntime.getProperty(OgnlRuntime.java:1603)
at ognl.ASTProperty.getValueBody(ASTProperty.java:96)
:
:
/-- Encapsulated exception ------------\
java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.atlassian.confluence.pages.NaturalStringComparator.compareNatural(NaturalStringComparator.java:75)
at com.atlassian.confluence.pages.NaturalStringComparator.compareNatural(NaturalStringComparator.java:57)
at com.atlassian.confluence.pages.NaturalStringComparator.compare(NaturalStringComparator.java:42)
at com.atlassian.confluence.pages.Page$ChildPositionComparator.compare(Page.java:313)
at com.atlassian.confluence.pages.Page$ChildPositionComparator.compare(Page.java:282)
at java.util.Arrays.mergeSort(Arrays.java:1270)
at java.util.Arrays.mergeSort(Arrays.java:1282)
Cause
When accessing functionality that requires a page title comparison, Confluence will throw a NullPointerException if the page title is null.
Resolution
Identify the page title(s) that is null:
Run the following database query, to determine the pages with null titles:
SELECT c.CONTENTID FROM SPACES s, CONTENT c WHERE s.SPACEID = c.SPACEID AND s.SPACEKEY = '<your_space_key>' AND c.CONTENTTYPE = 'PAGE' AND c.TITLE IS NULL;
Note the contentids returned by this query.
If this query returns any data, do the following to update the title:
Update the page title:
Always back up your data before performing any modifications to the database. If possible, test any alter, insert, update, or delete SQL commands on a staging server first.
- Stop Confluence.
Run the following query. Make sure that the titles are unique to the space:
update content set title = '<desired.title>' where contentid = <contentid>;
<contentid> is the contentid returned by the select query.Restart Confluence.