linq NullReferenceException while checking for null reference

Question

I have the following LINQ query:

List<FileInputItem> inputList = GetInputList();
var results = from FileInputItem f in inputList
              where ( Path.GetDirectoryName(f.Folder).ToLower().Trim() == somePath
                     || Path.GetDirectoryName(f.Folder).ToLower().Trim() == someOtherPath ) 
                    && f.Expression == null
             select f;

Every time this query is executed, it generates a NullReferenceException. If I remove the condition f.Expression == null or change it to f.Expression != null, the query executes normally (giving the wrong results, of course).

The relevant bits of FileInputItem look like this:

[Serializable]
public class FileInputItem
{
    [XmlElement("Folder")]
    public string Folder { get; set; }

    [XmlElement("Expression")]
    public string Expression { get; set; }

    /*SNIP.  Irrelevant properties */
}

I'm new to LINQ to objects, so I'm probably missing something fundamental here. What's the deal?

Answer 1

There are probably cases where FileInputItem.Folder is null (which would cause an exception with "Path.GetDirectoryName(f.Folder).ToLower().Trim()"), and those cases happen to coincide with the cases where FileInputItem.Expression is null.

Try adding "f.Folder != null" to the beginning of your where clause and see if that fixes the issue. If so, determine how you want to handle those cases when Folder is null.

Answer 2

You could also try String.IsNullOrEmpty(f.Expression)

Answer 3

Does this help?

List<FileInputItem> inputList = GetInputList();
var results = from FileInputItem f in inputList
              where f.Folder != null && f.Expression == null
              let path = Path.GetDirectoryName(f.Folder).ToLower().Trim()
              where path == somePath || path = someOtherpath
              select f;