JIRA error NullPointerException when Deleting a Custom Field can be resolved with this handy trick from the experts at Bobcares.

At Bobcares, we offer solutions for every query, big and small, as a part of our Server Management Service.

Let’s take a look at how our Support Team recently helped a customer with a JIRA error when deleting a custom field.

Jira error NullPointerException when Deleting a Custom Field

The NullPointerException often pops up while creating or updating an issue in JIRA.

This error will prevent us from deleting a custom field. We can find the stacktrace as seen below in the JIRA log files:

java.lang.NullPointerException

at com.atlassian.jira.issue.customfields.persistence.OfBizCustomFieldValuePersister.removeAllValues(OfBizCustomFieldValuePersister.java:180)
at com.atlassian.jira.issue.customfields.persistence.EagerLoadingOfBizCustomFieldPersister.removeAllValues(EagerLoadingOfBizCustomFieldPersister.java:62)
at com.atlassian.jira.issue.customfields.impl.AbstractSingleFieldType.remove(AbstractSingleFieldType.java:106)
at com.atlassian.jira.issue.fields.CustomFieldImpl.remove(CustomFieldImpl.java:649)
at com.atlassian.jira.issue.managers.DefaultCustomFieldManager.removeCustomField(DefaultCustomFieldManager.java:374)
at com.atlassian.jira.web.action.admin.customfields.DeleteCustomField.doExecute(DeleteCustomField.java:34)
at webwork.action.ActionSupport.execute(ActionSupport.java:153)
...

(more)

This error occurs due to a corrupt database. Usually due to custom field value being NULL.

Our Support Team has come up with an innovative solution to put an end to the NullPointerException error.

1. First, we have to stop JIRA.
2. Then, we will execute the following SQL query to verify if any custom file has NULL value:

   select * from customfieldvalue where ISSUE is null; 
   +-------+-------+-------------+-----------+------------------+-------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
   | ID    | ISSUE | CUSTOMFIELD | PARENTKEY | STRINGVALUE      | NUMBERVALUE | TEXTVALUE | DATEVALUE | VALUETYPE |
   +-------+-------+-------------+-----------+------------------+-------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
   | 36625 |  NULL |       10000 | NULL      | Field value      |        NULL | NULL      | NULL      | NULL      | 
   +-------+-------+-------------+-----------+------------------+-------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
   1 row in set (0.00 sec)
   
3. After that, we can remove the custom field value with the following command:

   delete from custom field value where issue is null;
4. Then, we have to restart JIRA for the changes to take effect.

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Conclusion

To conclude, the skilled Support Engineers at Bobcares demonstrated what to do when we get the NullPointerException when deleting a custom field.