Adding blog post by API and sort by category is not working

Hi,

I'm using Sitefinity API to add Blog post and also assigning this blog post to Category & Tags programmatically, after import when I check he post added to the system, everything looks fine but sort by Category is not working and sort by Tags are working fine. 

Here is my sample code:

private void CreateBlogPost(Guid blogPostId, Blog parentBlog, Lstring blogPostTitle, Lstring blogPostContent, string postDate, string authorName, List<string> tagNames, List<string> categories)
       
            var blogManager = new BlogsManager();

            //The Blogs item is created as a master. The masterBlogPostId is assigned to the master.
            var blogPost = blogManager.CreateBlogPost(blogPostId);

            //Set the properties of the blog post.
            blogPost.Parent = parentBlog;   
            blogPost.Title = blogPostTitle;
            blogPost.Content = blogPostContent;
            //custom field
            blogPost.SetValue("AuthorName", authorName);
            blogPost.DateCreated = DateTime.Parse(postDate);
            blogPost.PublicationDate = DateTime.Parse(postDate);
            blogPost.ExpirationDate = null;
            //blogPost.LastModified = DateTime.Parse(postDate);
            blogPost.UrlName = Regex.Replace(blogPostTitle.ToLower(), @"[^\w\-\!\$\'\(\)\=\@\d_]+", "-");

            //Recompiles and validates the url of the blog.
            blogManager.RecompileAndValidateUrls(blogPost);  
           
            //Assign category & tags
            AssignContentToTaxonomy(tagNames, categories, blogPost, blogManager);

            DateTime postPublishDate = DateTime.MinValue;
            if (DateTime.TryParse(postDate, out postPublishDate))
           
                blogManager.Lifecycle.PublishWithSpecificDate(blogPost, postPublishDate);
                blogManager.SaveChanges();
           
            else
           
                //Publish the Blogs item. The published version acquires new ID.
                var bag = new Dictionary<string, string>();
                bag.Add("ContentType", typeof(BlogPost).FullName);
                WorkflowManager.MessageWorkflow(blogPostId, typeof(BlogPost), null, "Publish", false, bag);
                         
       

        private void AssignContentToTaxonomy(List<string> tagNames, List<string> categories, BlogPost blogPost, BlogsManager blogsManager)
                   
            if (blogPost != null)
           
                //assign blog post to taxonomy category
                if (categories != null && categories.Any())
               
                    foreach (var category in categories)
                   
                        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(category))
                       
                            var categoryId = GetCategoryId(category);
                            blogPost.Organizer.AddTaxa("Category", categoryId);
                       
                   
               

                //assign blog post to taxons
                if (tagNames != null && tagNames.Any())
               
                    foreach (var tagName in tagNames)
                   
                        var categoryId = GetTaxonId(tagName);
                        blogPost.Organizer.AddTaxa("Tags", categoryId);
                   
               

                blogsManager.SaveChanges();
           
       

        private Guid GetCategoryId(string name)
       
            var taxonomyManager = TaxonomyManager.GetManager();            

            //Get the Categories taxonomy
            var categoryTaxonomy = taxonomyManager.GetTaxonomies<HierarchicalTaxonomy>().SingleOrDefault(s => s.Name == _thfBlogMainCategory);

            if (categoryTaxonomy == null)
           
                categoryTaxonomy = taxonomyManager.CreateTaxonomy<HierarchicalTaxonomy>();
                categoryTaxonomy.Title = _thfBlogMainCategory;
                categoryTaxonomy.Name = _thfBlogMainCategory;
                categoryTaxonomy.TaxonName = _thfBlogMainCategory;
           
            else
           
                //check if taxon already exist
                var categoryTaxa = categoryTaxonomy.Taxa.Where(t => t.Title.ToString().ToLower() == name.ToLower()).FirstOrDefault();
                if (categoryTaxa != null)
               
                    return categoryTaxa.Id;
               
           

            //Create a new HierarchicalTaxon if not found
            var taxon = taxonomyManager.CreateTaxon<HierarchicalTaxon>();

            //Associate the item with the hierarchical taxonomy
            taxon.Taxonomy = categoryTaxonomy;

            taxon.Name = Regex.Replace(name.ToLower(), @"[^\w\-\!\$\'\(\)\=\@\d_]+", "-");
            taxon.Title = name;
            taxon.UrlName = Regex.Replace(name.ToLower(), @"[^\w\-\!\$\'\(\)\=\@\d_]+", "-");                      

            //Add it to the list
            categoryTaxonomy.Taxa.Add(taxon);

            taxonomyManager.SaveChanges();

            return taxon.Id;
       

        private Guid GetTaxonId(string name)
       
            var taxonomyManager = TaxonomyManager.GetManager();

            //Get the flat taxonomy
            var flatTaxonomy = taxonomyManager.GetTaxonomies<FlatTaxonomy>().SingleOrDefault(s => s.Name.ToLower() == _thfBlogMainFlatTaxonomy.ToLower());

            if (flatTaxonomy == null)
           
                flatTaxonomy = taxonomyManager.CreateTaxonomy<FlatTaxonomy>();
                flatTaxonomy.Title = _thfBlogMainFlatTaxonomy;
                flatTaxonomy.Description = _thfBlogMainFlatTaxonomy;
                flatTaxonomy.Name = _thfBlogMainFlatTaxonomy;
                flatTaxonomy.TaxonName = _thfBlogMainFlatTaxonomy;
           
            else
           
                //check if taxon already exist
                var taxonItem = taxonomyManager.GetTaxa<FlatTaxon>().Where(t => t.Title.ToString().ToLower() == name.ToLower()).FirstOrDefault();
                if (taxonItem != null)
               
                    return taxonItem.Id;
               
           

            //Create a new flat Taxon if not found
            var taxon = taxonomyManager.CreateTaxon<FlatTaxon>(Guid.NewGuid());
            taxon.Title = name;
            taxon.Name = Regex.Replace(name.ToLower(), @"[^\w\-\!\$\'\(\)\=\@\d_]+", "-");
            taxon.Description = name;
            taxon.UrlName = Regex.Replace(name.ToLower(), @"[^\w\-\!\$\'\(\)\=\@\d_]+", "-");
            //Associate the taxon item with the flat taxonomy
            flatTaxonomy.Taxa.Add(taxon);
            taxonomyManager.SaveChanges();

            return taxon.Id;
       

 Any input is very helpful.

Thanks!!!

Here is an exception I'm seeing in the error.log while trying to see all blog post content items assigned to Taxonomy:

----------------------------------------
Timestamp: 8/24/2015 3:42:44 PM

Message: HandlingInstanceID: f5da94b7-82a7-4983-a7fd-4243cd328d2f
An exception of type 'System.NullReferenceException' occurred and was caught.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
08/24/2015 11:42:44
Type : System.NullReferenceException, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
Message : Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
Source : Telerik.Sitefinity
Help link :
Data : System.Collections.ListDictionaryInternal
TargetSite : System.Collections.IEnumerable GetItems(Telerik.Sitefinity.Taxonomies.Model.ITaxon, Telerik.Sitefinity.Modules.GenericContent.IOrganizableProvider, System.Type, System.String, Int32, Int32, System.String, System.Nullable`1[System.Int32] ByRef)
HResult : -2147467261
Stack Trace :    at Telerik.Sitefinity.Taxonomies.Web.Services.MarkedItemsService.GetItems(ITaxon taxon, IOrganizableProvider contentProvider, Type itemType, String sortExpression, Int32 skip, Int32 take, String filter, Nullable`1& totalCount)
   at Telerik.Sitefinity.Taxonomies.Web.Services.MarkedItemsService.GetItemsInternal(String taxonId, String itemTypeName, String provider, String itemProvider, String sortExpression, Int32 skip, Int32 take, String filter)
   at Telerik.Sitefinity.Taxonomies.Web.Services.MarkedItemsService.GetItems(String taxonId, String itemType, String provider, String itemProvider, String sortExpression, Int32 skip, Int32 take, String filter)
   at SyncInvokeGetItems(Object , Object[] , Object[] )
   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.SyncMethodInvoker.Invoke(Object instance, Object[] inputs, Object[]& outputs)
   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.DispatchOperationRuntime.InvokeBegin(MessageRpc& rpc)
   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.ImmutableDispatchRuntime.ProcessMessage5(MessageRpc& rpc)
   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.ImmutableDispatchRuntime.ProcessMessage41(MessageRpc& rpc)
   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.ImmutableDispatchRuntime.ProcessMessage4(MessageRpc& rpc)
   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.ImmutableDispatchRuntime.ProcessMessage31(MessageRpc& rpc)
   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.ImmutableDispatchRuntime.ProcessMessage3(MessageRpc& rpc)
   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.ImmutableDispatchRuntime.ProcessMessage2(MessageRpc& rpc)
   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.ImmutableDispatchRuntime.ProcessMessage11(MessageRpc& rpc)
   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.ImmutableDispatchRuntime.ProcessMessage1(MessageRpc& rpc)
   at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.MessageRpc.Process(Boolean isOperationContextSet)

Additional Info:

MachineName : UKUMAR
TimeStamp : 8/24/2015 3:42:44 PM
FullName : Telerik.Sitefinity.Utilities, Version=8.0.5700.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b28c218413bdf563
AppDomainName : /LM/W3SVC/24/ROOT-1-130849013618250786
ThreadIdentity :
WindowsIdentity : ukumar
Requested URL : localhost:60876/.../ DESC&skip=0&take=50


Category: ErrorLog

Priority: 0

EventId: 90000

Severity: Error

Title:Enterprise Library Exception Handling

Machine: UKUMAR

App Domain: /LM/W3SVC/24/ROOT-1-130849013618250786

ProcessId: 3200

Process Name: C:\Program Files (x86)\IIS Express\iisexpress.exe

Thread Name:

Win32 ThreadId:7344

Extended Properties:
----------------------------------------

Thanks.

Hi,

I believe that the problem is coming from when you are checking if the tag/category exists and creating it if it doesn't. Please look at the following code which is working as expected:

Thanks Velizar for the input.

I tried your code and getting an exception in the following line because taxon object is coming as null.

var tagExists = blogPost.Organizer.TaxonExists("Category", taxon.Id); 

In my code which I posted earlier, I was using TaxonomyManager and checking if taxon exist and if not, creating a new one. Code seems to work fine and all blog post were migrated but in the backend I was seeing the exception while trying to sort to category.

Thanks,

Uttam

I manually added all the required Categories & Tags in the Sitefinity backend before running the import and then run the import and everything seems to work and no errors.

Now, when I go to the Sitefinity backend to see how data looks and verify sort by category, I see the attached exception "Object reference not set to an instance of an object. ". This is the same error which I got with my code I provided initially in this post.

(Attached errors were generated  after importing the blogs post with the sample code you provided.)

Any insight ?

Thanks.

Hi Telerik team, did you guys had a chance to look into my issue.

Thanks.

Hello,

In order to continue investigating this I would kindly ask you to open a support ticket so that we can provide you with a way to get your project to us locally so that we can investigate the issue in detail. 

Regards,
Velizar Bishurov
Telerik