Can't access the user profiles in a console application

Question

I want to make some manipulation with the user profiles from a console application.

I'm trying to enumerate the profiles, with no success :

        var mysite = "http://my";

        SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(() =>{
            var site = new SPSite(mysite);
            var ctx = SPServiceContext.GetContext(site);
            var upm = new UserProfileManager(ctx);

            foreach (UserProfile profile in upm)
            {
                var login = profile["AccountName"].Value;
                Console.WriteLine(login);
            }

        });

This code throw an exception at the creation of the UserProfileManager instance :

System.NullReferenceException was unhandled by user code
  Message=Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
  Source=Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles
  StackTrace:
       at Microsoft.Office.Server.Administration.UserProfileApplicationProxy.get_ApplicationProperties()
       at Microsoft.Office.Server.Administration.UserProfileApplicationProxy.CheckAdministrationAccess(UserProfileApplicationAdminRights rights, Boolean requireAllRights)
       at Microsoft.Office.Server.Administration.UserProfileApplicationProxy.CheckAdministrationAccess(UserProfileApplicationAdminRights rights)
       at Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.ProfileManagerBase.CanManagePeople(UserProfileApplicationProxy userProfileApplicationProxy)
       at Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.ProfileManagerBase.get_IsProfileAdmin()
       at Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.UserProfileManager..ctor(SPServiceContext serviceContext, Boolean IgnoreUserPrivacy, Boolean backwardCompatible)
       at Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.UserProfileManager..ctor(SPServiceContext serviceContext)
       at MyApp.Program.<>c__DisplayClass6.<Main>b__3() in C:\Projects\MyApp\MyApp\Program.cs:line 25
       at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.<>c__DisplayClass4.<RunWithElevatedPrivileges>b__2()
       at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SecurityContext.RunAsProcess(CodeToRunElevated secureCode)
  InnerException: 

What can be the cause of the error ?

Answer 1

Most likely, this is a permission issue. If you are administrator, make sure the conole app runs as administrator. Check link below:

http://sureshannamalai.blogspot.com/2011/08/get-user-profile-using-console-app.html

Answer 2

It seems like the userprofile object is returning null. This can happen due to permission rights for the user, even though it is running with SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges().

Can you try out the solution provided in this post? - http://socialsp.com/2010/11/25/access-denied-messages-when-retrieving-sharepoint-user-profiles-count-even-running-in-elevated-code/

Finally, your code would look like this -

var mysite = "http://my";
HttpContext tempCtx = HttpContext.Current;
        try
       {
        SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(() =>{
            var site = new SPSite(mysite);
            var ctx = SPServiceContext.GetContext(site);
            HttpContext.Current = null;
            var upm = new UserProfileManager(ctx);
            foreach (UserProfile profile in upm)
            {
                var login = profile["AccountName"].Value;
                Console.WriteLine(login);
            }
        });
        }
        catch (Exception ex){ LogException(ex);}
        finally{ HttpContext.Current = tempCtx;}