Unity NullReference when trying to use ParseFacebookUtils to log in to parse

Question

I'm not to familiar with the SO user tags, so I hope that this works: @aaron

This is the closest question that I could find that relates to my issue, but it's not exactly the issue. (I tried Google, Bing, and SO's own search.) https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25014006/nullreferenceexception-with-parseobjects-in-array-of-pointers

My issue: I have a Unity Web-Player game that interfaces with both Facebook and Parse. after resolving many issues in it, I have it to where it will easily connect to Facebook, pull in the user's profile information and picture. It then attempts to connect to parse to log the user into parse to retrieve their game related data (like high scores, currency stats, power ups, etc.) and when it tries to do that, I get a NullReferenceException. The specific contents of the error message is:

"NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object at GameStateController.ParseFBConnect (System.String userId, System.String accessToken, DateTime tokenExpiration) [0x0001a] in C:...\Assets\Scripts\CSharp\CharacterScripts\GameStateController.cs:1581 at GameStateController.Update () [0x0011f] in C:\Users\Michieal\Desktop\Dragon Rush Game\Assets\Scripts\CSharp\CharacterScripts\GameStateController.cs:382"

The code that generates this error message is:

    public void ParseFBConnect(string userId, string accessToken, DateTime tokenExpiration)
{

    Task<ParseUser> logInTask = ParseFacebookUtils.LogInAsync (userId, accessToken, tokenExpiration).ContinueWith<ParseUser> (t =>
    {
        if (t.IsFaulted || t.IsCanceled)
        {
            if (t.IsCanceled)
                Util.LogError ("LoginTask::ParseUser:: Cancelled. >.<");
            // The login failed. Check the error to see why.
            Util.LogError ("Error Result: " + t.Result.ToString ());
            Util.LogError ("Error Result (msg): " + t.Exception.Message);
            Util.LogError ("Error Result (inmsg): " + t.Exception.InnerException.Message);
        }

        if (t.IsCompleted)
        { // No need to link the user to a FB account, as there are no "real" (non fb) accounts yet.
            Util.Log ("PFBC::Login result reports successful. You Go Gurl!");
            // Login was successful.
            user = t.Result; // assign the resultant user to our "user"... 
            RetryPFBC = false;
            return user;
        }
        return t.Result;
    });
    if (user.ContainsKey ("NotNew"))
    { // on true, then we don't have to set up the keys...
        Util.Log ("User, " + user.Username + ", contains NotNew Key.");
    }
    else
    {
        CreateKeys (); // Create Keys will only build MISSING Keys, setting them to the default data specifications.
        user.Email = Email;
        user.SaveAsync (); // if we have created the keys data, save it out.
    }

}

It is being passed the proper (post authenticated) Facebook values (FB.UserId, FB.AccessToken, FB.AccessTokenExpiresAt) in that order. I'm using FB Sdk version 6.0.0 and Parse Unity SDK version 1.2.16.

In the log file, instead of any of the debug.log/Util.log comments, it does the "Null Reference" error (above), followed by "About to parse url: https://api.parse.com/1/classes/_User

Checking if https://api.parse.com/1/classes/_User is a valid domain

Checking request-host: api.parse.com against valid domain: *"

And that is where it just stopped. So, I built a simple retry block in the Update() function to call the ParseFBConnect() function every 10 or so seconds. Which, seems to only fill up my log file with the same error sets. After searching across the internet for help, I tried changing the FB.AccessTokenExpiresAt to DateTime.UtcNow.AddDays(1) as others have said that this works for them. I cannot seem to get either to work for me. When I check the Dashboard in Parse to see if it shows any updates or activity, it doesn't, and hasn't for a few days now. The Script Execution Order is as follows:

Parse.ParseInitialzeBehaviour -- -2875 (very first thing) Facebook loaders (FB, Editor, Canvas, etc) -- -1000 to -900 GameStateController -- -875 ... So, I know that the Parse.ParseInitializeBehaviour is being loaded first (another result of searching), and I have tracked the NullReference down to the Parse.Unity.dll by changing where the login method is stored; The GSC is on the player (the Player starts in the splash screen and remains throughout the entire game). I have also tried placing the Parse.ParseInitializeBehaviour on the Player gameobject and on an empty gameobject (with a simple dontdestroy(gameObject) script on that). And, I have my Application ID and my DotNet Key correctly filled in on the object.

When I first set up parse, and on the current production version of the game, it can successfully create a user account based off of the code snippet above. Now, it just breaks at the trying to parse the url...

So, My Question is: What am I doing wrong? Does anyone else have this issue? and does anyone have any ideas/suggestions/etc., on what to do to fix this? I really just want this to work, and to log the user in, so that I can grab their data and go on to breaking other things in my game :D

All help is appreciated!! and I thank you for taking the time to read this.

Answer 1

The Answer to this question is as follows: backend as a service - Bing

Ditch parse because it doesn't work well with Unity3d, the support (obviously, judging by the sheer number answers to this question and other questions from people that need help getting it to work) is extremely lacking, and most, if not all, of the examples to show how to use it are broken / missing parts / etc. I see this as a failure on the part of the creators. I also see it as False Advertising. So, to answer this question - PARSE is a waste of time, cut to the chase and grab something that does work, has real, WORKING examples, and that is maintained by someone that knows HOW TO PROGRAM in the UNITY3d environment.

A great example of this would be the Photon Networking service, App42 by Shephertz.com, Azure by Microsoft, etc. With the overwhelming number of answers to this, if you exclude PARSE, This should have been a no-brainer. I've included a Bing Search link, you can also do a quick search for Gaming Backends (you'll find blogs and reviews.)

I suggest strongly, that you read the reviews on these services, read the questions (and make note of whether they have been answered, or, in the case of Parse, if they simply closed the forum rather than answering their customers)... And, just bounce around through the examples that they give for using their products. If they show how it works, and expected results (like the MSDN does) you'll have a lot better and a lot easier time getting it work.

FYI - My game now has all of the back end integrations, saves/creates/gets users & their data, has a store, and is moving right along, since I dropped PARSE.

To make things correct, I WAS using Parse 1.2.16 for unity, and the Facebook for Unity SDK 6.0.0... I tried Parse 1.2.14, with the same results, and I tried both Unity 4.5.2 and 4.5.3. My opinion of Parse is based off of their documentation, these 2 API versions, and the very long days that I pulled trying to get it to work. I then added in the fact that NO ONE here answered this question AT ALL (Sadly, Stack Over flow is Facebook's preferred Help/Support forum. They even say in their blogs, help documentation, etc., that if you have an issue - post your question on Stack Overflow.com with relevant tags. Which, I did.)

Oh, and the final star rating of Parse (to clarify it) is "-2 out of 5" -- That's a NEGATIVE 2 stars... out of 5. as in, run away from it... far, far away. Just to clarify.