NullReferenceException in ResolveGrammarActivity

Today I ran into a problem with the ResolveGrammarActivity. I'm not sure if it's a bug, but before I post it to the FIM forum, I thought I'd describe it here so that I'm reminded to post the solution (and to host an image).

I know this used to work in ILM 2 RC0, but in FIM 2010 RC1, I'm getting a NullReferenceException. Here's the deal; I can write a parameter to the workflow dictionary, but when I try to use that in a ResolveGrammarActivity, I get the exception.

Here's an example of adding myself to the workflow dictionary (WorkflowData):



So far, so good. Now I try passing [//WorkflowData/JoeZamora] into the grammar resolver. Here's my debug log:

2010-01-25 17:18:10,477 --6-- DEBUG [Ensynch.FIM.Workflow.Activities.ChangeAttributeActivity]

Source Class : System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Activity
Source Instance : 7. Remove Joe from Group Members
Source Method : RaiseEvent
Current user : INFO\svc.fimws

Passing these data into the ResolveGrammarActivity:
NewGrammarExpression : [//WorkflowData/JoeZamora]
NewResolvedExpression :
NewWorkflowDictionaryKey :

2010-01-25 17:18:10,535 --6-- ERROR [Ensynch.FIM.Workflow.Activities.ChangeAttributeActivity]

Source Class : System.Workflow.ComponentModel.ActivityExecutor`1[T]
Source Instance : 7. Remove Joe from Group Members
Source Method : HandleFault
Current user : INFO\svc.fimws

System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at Microsoft.ResourceManagement.WFActivities.Resolver.GetDisplayStringFromGuid(Guid id, String[] expansionAttributes)
at Microsoft.ResourceManagement.WFActivities.Resolver.ReplaceGuidWithTemplatedString(Match m)
at System.Text.RegularExpressions.RegexReplacement.Replace(MatchEvaluator evaluator, Regex regex, String input, Int32 count, Int32 startat)
at System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(String input, MatchEvaluator evaluator)
at Microsoft.ResourceManagement.WFActivities.Resolver.GetStringAttributeValue(Object attribute)
at Microsoft.ResourceManagement.WFActivities.Resolver.ResolveEvaluatorWithoutAntiXSS(Match m)
at Microsoft.ResourceManagement.WFActivities.Resolver.ResolveEvaluatorForBodyWithAntiXSS(Match m)
at System.Text.RegularExpressions.RegexReplacement.Replace(MatchEvaluator evaluator, Regex regex, String input, Int32 count, Int32 startat)
at System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.Replace(String input, MatchEvaluator evaluator)
at Microsoft.ResourceManagement.WFActivities.Resolver.ResolveBody(String input)
at Microsoft.ResourceManagement.Workflow.Hosting.ResolverEvaluationServiceImpl.ResolveLookupGrammar(Guid requestId, Guid targetId, Guid actorId, Dictionary`2 workflowDictionary, Boolean encodeForHTML, String expression)
at Microsoft.ResourceManagement.Workflow.Activities.ResolveGrammarActivity.Execute(ActivityExecutionContext executionContext)
at System.Workflow.ComponentModel.ActivityExecutor`1.Execute(T activity, ActivityExecutionContext executionContext)
at System.Workflow.ComponentModel.ActivityExecutor`1.Execute(Activity activity, ActivityExecutionContext executionContext)
at System.Workflow.ComponentModel.ActivityExecutorOperation.Run(IWorkflowCoreRuntime workflowCoreRuntime)
at System.Workflow.Runtime.Scheduler.Run()

Hmmm, not a very helpful message. I'm pretty sure this is a bug, because ordinarily you try to handle NullReferenceExceptions in code that's exposed to the public.

Anyway, I'll post this to the forum and get back to you.

Update: I posted this on the FIM forum to see if it got any bites:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/ilm2/thread/39d887bf-638c-4539-8f0e-afd9c0ff4490

Joe Schulman mentioned that someone already logged a similar problem:

https://connect.microsoft.com/site433/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=523776&wa=wsignin1.0#tabs

If you run into this same problem, please visit the Connect link and vote it as important!