IC60881: NULL POINTER EXCEPTION WHEN MEDIATING AN ASYNC MESSAGE TO A SYNC MESSAGE.

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• Users of WebSphere Process Server or WebSphere Enterprise
  Service Bus with flows that include an Asynchronous Interaction
  type on an Export, but a Synchronous Interaction type on the
  Import with a Mediation Flow Component between them, may see a
  NullPointerException being thrown as follows:
  
  com.ibm.ws.sca.internal.async.handler.AsyncTargetHandler
  com.ibm.ws.sca.internal.async.handler.AsyncTargetHandlerprocessM
  essage#0 01 Exception: java.lang.NullPointerException
  

Local fix

Problem summary

• ****************************************************************
  * USERS AFFECTED: Users of WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus    *
  *                 and WebSphere Process Server V6.1.2 and      *
  *                 V6.2 who wish to mediate between an          *
  *                 incoming Async message and an outgoing       *
  *                 Sync message.                                *
  ****************************************************************
  * PROBLEM DESCRIPTION: All the headers from the incoming       *
  *                      Async message are copied when the       *
  *                      Service Message Object is created.      *
  *                      This then causes                        *
  *                      NullPointerExceptions later when        *
  *                      Async handlers in the handler chain     *
  *                      try to access these headers which are   *
  *                      not actually present on the Sync        *
  *                      message.                                *
  ****************************************************************
  * RECOMMENDATION: If you wish to mediate an Async message      *
  *                 into a Sync message you are advised to       *
  *                 install the fix pack which contains the      *
  *                 code update associated with this APAR.       *
  ****************************************************************
  When a NativeDataHolder is associated with a message, and no
  headers exist in the message, then when the
  ServiceMessageObject is created, all the headers from the NDH
  are copied, including the asyncInteractionHeader. This causes
  SCA async handlers to be invoked. The handler chain can then
  be cached and used for subsequent messages. If a subsequent
  invocation does not have an asyncInterationHeader in the NDH
  because it is a Sync message, then the cached handler chain
  will produce NPE's when the async handlers attempt to access
  the (not present) asyncInterationHeader.
  To avoid this, the InteractionHeader is added to the message
  before associating the NativeDataHolder.
  

Problem conclusion

• The code was modified such that the async headers are not
  added to SMO when they are not needed, which will avoid having
  unnecessary handlers being called.
  
  There are no known side effects associated with this fix.
  There is no known alternative workaround should you encounter
  this problem.
  
  This code fix was targeted to be included in the following fix
  packs:
       6.1.2 Fix Pack 3 (v6.1.2.3)
       6.2.0 Fix Pack 3 (v6.2.0.3)
  

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  WEB ESB FOR WIN

• Fixed component ID

  5724I8200

Applicable component levels

• R100 PSN

     UP

• R200 PSN

     UP

• R300 PSN

     UP

• R612 PSY

     UP

• R620 PSY

     UP