Prevent page error when Datasource is missing after Upgrade

On By Jeroen de GrootIn Upgrading

If you have upgraded Sitecore and along with it GlassMapper to version 5 there might be an issue when the Datasource item is not available in the target database, which will throw an error and the page will not load. Prior to the upgrade this would not have been an issue and the invalid Datasource was simply ignored. When this happens you will see an error in the log like this:

Exception: System.InvalidOperationException 
Message: The model item passed into the dictionary is of type 'Sitecore.Mvc.Presentation.RenderingModel', but this dictionary requires a model item of type 'DatasourceNamespace.DatasourceType'.
Source: System.Web.Mvc
   at System.Web.Mvc.ViewDataDictionary`1.SetModel(Object value)
   at System.Web.Mvc.ViewDataDictionary..ctor(ViewDataDictionary dictionary)
   at System.Web.Mvc.WebViewPage`1.SetViewData(ViewDataDictionary viewData)
   at System.Web.Mvc.RazorView.RenderView(ViewContext viewContext, TextWriter writer, Object instance)
   at System.Web.Mvc.Html.PartialExtensions.Partial(HtmlHelper htmlHelper, String partialViewName, Object model, ViewDataDictionary viewData)
   at Sitecore.Mvc.Presentation.ViewRenderer.Render(TextWriter writer)

Solution

This can be fixed by checking if the Datasource exists and clearing it in case it doesn’t. The RenderRendering processor is a good place to insert this logic:

using Sitecore.Mvc.Pipelines.Response.RenderRendering; 

namespace Custom.Pipelines.RenderRendering
{
    public class ClearInvalidDatasource : RenderRenderingProcessor
    {
        public override void Process(RenderRenderingArgs args)
        {
            var rendering = args.Rendering;

            if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(rendering.DataSource) && Sitecore.Context.Database.Items.GetItem(rendering.DataSource) == null)
            {
                rendering.DataSource = string.Empty;
            }
        }
    }
}

This customization can be enabled with the following patch file:

<configuration xmlns:patch="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/"> 
  <sitecore>
    <pipelines>
      <mvc.renderRendering>
        <processor patch:before="*[@type='Sitecore.Mvc.Pipelines.Response.RenderRendering.EnterRenderingContext, Sitecore.Mvc']" type="Custom.Pipelines.RenderRendering.ClearInvalidDatasource, Project.Common" />
      </mvc.renderRendering>
    </pipelines>
  </sitecore>
</configuration>

Now that this change is in place the behavior will be identical to the behavior prior to the upgrade.

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