Error thrown when attempting to enter "Explore" mode of Experience Editor

Question

The following wonderful error is thrown when I try to enter "Explore" mode in the Experience Editor.

[ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null.
Parameter name: view]
   System.Web.Mvc.ViewContext..ctor(ControllerContext controllerContext, IView view, ViewDataDictionary viewData, TempDataDictionary tempData, TextWriter writer) +326
   Sitecore.ExperienceExplorer.Business.Pipelines.Mvc.RenderPageExtenders.InjectExperienceExplorerControl.RenderPartial(String partialName, Object model, TextWriter writer) +463
   Sitecore.ExperienceExplorer.Business.Pipelines.Mvc.RenderPageExtenders.InjectExperienceExplorerControl.Render(TextWriter writer) +293
   Sitecore.Mvc.ExperienceEditor.Pipelines.RenderPageExtenders.RenderPageExtendersProcessor.Process(RenderPageExtendersArgs args) +65
   (Object , Object[] ) +74
   Sitecore.Pipelines.CorePipeline.Run(PipelineArgs args) +484
   Sitecore.Pipelines.DefaultCorePipelineManager.Run(String pipelineName, PipelineArgs args, String pipelineDomain) +22
   Sitecore.Mvc.Pipelines.PipelineService.RunPipeline(String pipelineName, TArgs args) +193
   Sitecore.Mvc.ExperienceEditor.PageExtenderResponseFilter.GetExtendersHtml() +158
   Sitecore.Mvc.ExperienceEditor.PageExtenderResponseFilter.get_ExtendersHtml() +31
   Sitecore.Mvc.ExperienceEditor.Pipelines.Request.RequestEnd.AddPageExtenders.Process(RequestEndArgs args) +200
   (Object , Object[] ) +74
   Sitecore.Pipelines.CorePipeline.Run(PipelineArgs args) +484
   Sitecore.Pipelines.DefaultCorePipelineManager.Run(String pipelineName, PipelineArgs args, String pipelineDomain) +22
   Sitecore.Mvc.Pipelines.PipelineService.RunPipeline(String pipelineName, TArgs args) +193
   Sitecore.Mvc.Routing.RouteHttpHandler.EndProcessRequest(IAsyncResult result) +135
   System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +399
   System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +137

The page displays okay when I am in "Edit" or "Preview" mode.

I am using Sitecore 8.2 Update 2.

Any idea why this would be happening?

Answer 1

I've actually seen this issue before. It is caused when the view ExperienceExplorerView.cshtml doesn't exist in the your /Views/Shared folder in your website root.

To fix this, just make sure you drop a copy of that file from a fresh install into this folder.

Answer 2

Based on your comments, I would suggest you explore more the log that you found in your browser's console:

Failed to call scGetFrameValue in IFrame tag. This typically happens due to a Permission Denied exception in IE9 caused by an intricate issue with Popup and ShowModalDialog calls. Blocked a frame with origin "https://stage.example.com" from accessing a cross-origin frame. and ExperienceEditor.js:672 ApplicationCache is not declared.

I've found the following article on Sitecore KB "Experience Editor not functioning properly on the pages with jQuery" where the message you got is mentioned in this article.

Their proposed solution is in order to avoid editing issues in Experience Editor use jQuery JavaScript library in the No-Conflict mode. Please check the following article for details: http://learn.jquery.com/using-jquery-core/avoid-conflicts-other-libraries/

With regards to the question:

Plenty of modules. No javascript error. I do note that the url loaded is about/executive-team?sc_mode=normal&sc_debug=0&sc_trace=0&sc‌​_prof=0&sc_ri=0&sc_r‌​b=0&sc_expview=1 (why is the sc_mode=normal, shouldn't it be explore or something?)

Yes, it is correct. I've just installed a new Sitecore 8.2 instance and here is the URL it gives me when in Explore mode:

SITECORE_URL?sc_mode=normal&sc_itemid={110D559F-DEA5-42EA-9C1C-8A5DF7E70EF9}&sc_version=1&sc_lang=en&sc_site=website&sc_debug=0&sc_trace=0&sc_prof=0&sc_ri=0&sc_rb=0&sc_expview=1

And here is what the browser logs in the console in a new Sitecore instance: