"Object reference not set to an instance of an object" when provisioning ClientSidePages

Version: >= 0.86.0-preview (currently trying 0.101.0-preview)

Issue

Object reference not set to an instance of an object. when applying a template (with ClientSidePage) to a web, using following code:

web.ApplyProvisioningTemplate(provisioningTemplate, applyingInformation);

Same code & template work when using a nuget package 0.84.0 for example. Seems to be introduced when PnP.Core was used for handling ClientSidePages (not sure if the issue lies in this library or with them). My template is very simple and only provisions 1 ClientSidePage.

Output:

01/02 - Initializing engine
02/02 - ClientSidePages

Stacktrace:

Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at
PnP.Framework.Provisioning.ObjectHandlers.SiteToTemplateConversion.ApplyRemoteTemplate(Web web, ProvisioningTemplate template, ProvisioningTemplateApplyingInformation provisioningInfo, Boolean calledFromHierarchy, TokenParser tokenParser) at
Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.WebExtensions.ApplyProvisioningTemplate(Web web, ProvisioningTemplate template, ProvisioningTemplateApplyingInformation applyingInformation)

Peculiar thing: it does work without a problem when using PnP.PowerShell (latest nightly build, including PnP.Core 0.101.0-preview).

Steps to reproduce

• Create a modern Communication Site
• Apply the template with web.ApplyProvisioningTemplate (in code, as mentioned: PowerShell works). I had to upload as zip, so it needs renaming to pnp first.
• See it fail with the Object reference not set error

SitePagesTemplate.zip

[YannickRe]

I’m VERY sure, as the same code works without issue when using the older nuget packages.

Also, my AuthManager try doesn’t use the PnPProvisionContext and also fails, so that doesn’t seem to be the issue:

Last thing I can think of, from the top of my head, are missing permission scopes. Is there a list of the minimal scopes you need to get provisioning to work now that we’re depending on PnP.Core? Using the source code for debugging will help clarify a lot. All of this are just educated guesses, I’ll have to dig a bit deeper to troubleshoot. Currently I am not blocked, by staying on the older preview. I’ll figure it out soon 😉

[YannickRe]

@jansenbe I still encounter the issue, now when I’m using 0.1.102-preview. I run from nuget, and it includes PnP.Core 0.4.33-beta1. I’ll check if I can make a console app to reproduce, there must be something specific in my setup that triggers the issue.