PDF Export problem in Reporting Services

Question

I have come across an error when exporting a report to PDF in Reporting Services 2008.

The error message is;

Object reference not set to an instance of an object. Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.Exception: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Source Error:

An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.

Stack Trace:

[Exception: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.]

[Exception: An error occurred during rendering of the report.]

[Exception: An error occurred during rendering of the report.]
Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms.ServerReport.ServerUrlRequest(Boolean isAbortable, String url, Stream outputStream, String& mimeType, String& fileNameExtension) +520
Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms.ServerReport.InternalRender(Boolean isAbortable, String format, String deviceInfo, NameValueCollection urlAccessParameters, Stream reportStream, String& mimeType, String& fileNameExtension) +963
Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms.ServerReport.Render(String format, String deviceInfo, NameValueCollection urlAccessParameters, Stream reportStream, String& mimeType, String& fileNameExtension) +28
Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms.ServerModeSession.RenderReport(String format, Boolean allowInternalRenderers, String deviceInfo, NameValueCollection additionalParams, Boolean cacheSecondaryStreamsForHtml, String& mimeType, String& fileExtension) +85
Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms.ExportOperation.PerformOperation(NameValueCollection urlQuery, HttpResponse response) +150 Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms.HttpHandler.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context) +183
System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +181 System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +75

However this error doesn't always appear on this report, it has only occured on several occassions, dependent on the dates we use in the parameters of the report. I am new to Reporting Services so could anyone help me figure out what could be causing the problem?

Thanks

Answer 1

Any luck with this issue? I am also receiving this unexplained error. It must be dependent on the report data itself, because it all depends on what parameter(s) you choose.

Answer 2

I've figured out what was causing this (in my case.) It was happening because one of the fields within the grid of my report contained commas and spaces. Each of these characters caused the dreaded 'object reference...' exception to be thrown. I used a REPLACE function in the stored proc that drives the report to replace commas and spaces with the pipe character. It is not a very graceful solution, so I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has ideas around this issue.

Answer 3

The same thing was happening for me and I just wrapped the contents in ="contents here" and it works. Your post helped me solve my issue though so thanks :)