Users unable to view Software Publication page due to log error: Unable to cast object of type 'System.DBNull' to type 'System.String'.

Products

• IT Management Suite
• Client Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

All users are unable to view Manage > Software Publications due to an error.

Error in the logs is recorded as:

HTTP Request failed:
 /Altiris/SoftwarePortal/AdminPortal/ManagePublishing.aspx?&ConsoleGuid=1b22db4e-a898-443f-9b99-855b1653d3f5

Unable to cast object of type 'System.DBNull' to type 'System.String'.

Environment

ITMS 8.7.3

Resolution

Fix:

There is an updated stored procedure available which prevents the Category Name from being Null.  Please create a case with Broadcom Support to get the Stored Proc.

Workaround:

It was found that the CategoryGUID was all 0's for 3 Software Titles and this was causing the issue.  To find the titles, run the following query:

select Name, Description,Category 
from vSWP_PublishingItemEx
where Category = '00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000'

To resolve the issue, go to Manage > Software Catalog > Software Releases and double click on the software title listed in the query above.  Go to the Software Publish tab, and change the Category.  You may need to uncheck and then recheck the box under Publish in order to change the Category.