SXA Creative Exchange Import triggered via SPE not working

Question

I was trying to set up a CI/CD according to the documentation, where I planned to trigger a Creative Exchange Import via Sitecore Powershell Extensions Web Api.

https://doc.sitecore.com/developers/sxa/93/sitecore-experience-accelerator/en/trigger-creative-exchange-from-your-ci-server.html

I am currently running Sitecore 9.3 on Azure PaaS and Sitecore Powershell Extensions 6.0

I tracked the error down to a script, that came with SXA: /sitecore/system/Modules/PowerShell/Script Library/SXA/SXA - Creative Exchange/Functions/CI/Get-CreativeExchangeImportResponse

I changed the content, so I can run only the script in itself and added a function call at the bottom. Apart from that, I made no changes.

function Get-CreativeExchangeImportResponse {
    [CmdletBinding()]
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
        [Item]$CurrentItem,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $false)]
        [Sitecore.XA.Feature.CreativeExchange.Storage.CreativeExchangeStorageDefinition]$StorageDefinition,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $false )]
        [int]$FileSizeLimit = 0,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $false)]
        [Sitecore.Data.ID]$DeviceId = "{FE5D7FDF-89C0-4D99-9AA3-B5FBD009C9F3}"     
    )

    begin {
        Write-Verbose "Cmdlet Get-CreativeExchangeImportResponse - Begin"
        # switch off Write-Progress used in Invoke-WebRequest
        $progressPreference = 'silentlyContinue'
        Import-Function Get-StorageDefinition
    }

    process {
        Write-Verbose "Cmdlet Get-CreativeExchangeImportResponse - Process"

        # assign default parameters
        if ($StorageDefinition -eq $null) {
            $StorageDefinition = Get-StorageDefinition $CurrentItem "Folder on server"
        }

        if ($MarkupMode -eq $null) {
            $MarkupMode = [Sitecore.XA.Feature.CreativeExchange.Enums.MarkupMode]::AgencyDrop
        }
        
        if ($ExportScope -eq $null) {
            $ExportScope = [Sitecore.XA.Feature.CreativeExchange.Enums.ExportScope]::Site
        }
        
        if ($BucketExportMode -eq $null) {
            $BucketExportMode = [Sitecore.XA.Feature.CreativeExchange.Enums.BucketExportMode]::OneOfTemplate
        }        

        $importArgs = New-Object -TypeName "Sitecore.XA.Feature.CreativeExchange.Pipelines.Import.Import.ImportArgs"
        $importArgs.HttpContext = [System.Web.HttpContext]::Current

        $importContext = New-Object -TypeName "Sitecore.XA.Feature.CreativeExchange.Models.Import.ImportContext"
        $importContext.StorageServiceDefinition = $StorageDefinition
        $importContext.DeviceId = $DeviceId
        $importContext.Database = $CurrentItem.Database
        $importContext.ImportOptions = New-Object -TypeName "Sitecore.XA.Feature.CreativeExchange.Models.Import.ImportOptions"
        $importArgs.ImportContext = $importContext


        [Sitecore.Pipelines.CorePipeline]::Run("ceImport.import", $importArgs);
        $importArgs
    }

    end {
        Write-Verbose "Cmdlet Get-CreativeExchangeImportResponse - End"
    }
}

Get-CreativeExchangeImportResponse -CurrentItem (Get-Item -Path "/sitecore/content/Tenant/Site/Home")

As I run this script, I get the following error message

Exception calling "Run" with "2" argument(s): "Object reference not set to an instance of an object."
At line:52 char:9
+         [Sitecore.Pipelines.CorePipeline]::Run("ceImport.import", $im ...
+         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : NullReferenceException



ImportContext           : Sitecore.XA.Feature.CreativeExchange.Models.Import.ImportContext
HttpContext             :
CreativeExchangeStorage : Sitecore.XA.Feature.CreativeExchange.Storage.Import.FileImportStorage
Messages                : {}
ThemeAssets             : {}
CustomData              : {}
Aborted                 : False
Message                 :
ProcessorItem           :
Suspended               : False

What I read from this, is that $importArgs is not quite what the pipeline expects. I debugged through the script and $importArgs is null or so I think and I'm not sure, what exactly the args should contain for the pipeline to run.

Has anyone experienced this error before? I'd be glad for some info or maybe a hint where to look. I guess my next step would be to decompile the pipeline itself and check what could cause this issue there.

Thanks for any hints, Simon

Answer 1

I got a very similar issue, but with Sitecore SXA Creative Exchange content export. It looks like the reason is the same here.

Get-CreativeExchangeImportResponse executes ceImport.import pipeline.

ceImport.import pipeline requires initialization of ImportArgs

ImportArgs need to have HttpContext to be initilized.

It means that we need to execute Sitecore Powershell script with HttpContext, otherwise it will throw an exception.

It means that we if you are using Sitecover Powershell ISE: by default, the script executes as a background job. You can try to click on dropdown under Execute button and select "Execute in http request context"

And if we execute Sitecore Powershell as a remote script then we should not use -AsJob parameter.