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Object reference not set to an instance of an object (13 posts)


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  1. Anonymous

    Posted 1 year ago

    Hi, I've been using Citrus for a while now on Windows 7 and got the 2.3 update when it came out. A while back, Citrus stopped playing any type of music file, the same ones it used to play flawlessly. Now, any time it tries to load any music file of any type, it simply uses the emergency "chime" and a bubble pops up from my task bar reading "object reference not set to an instance of an object". I've never had this issue before, but I should clarify that I used v2.3 for a while before it showed up. This error even occurs if I try to play the media file using an external player. I'd love to use Citrus again! Please help me solve this issue. Thanks.

  2. Mark
    Administrator
    Posted 1 year ago

    Thanks for the report. Since it was working earlier, is there anything that has changed in your system, particularly your Windows Media Player installation? Does rebooting have any effect? Since it appears that Citrus even has trouble launching your external media player (which is unusual), can you open and play files in Windows Media Player normally, or does that give you errors too?

    I'll do my best to look into the issue on my side here, too.

  3. Anonymous

    Posted 1 year ago

    I've never had Windows Media Player installed on my computer at the same time as Citrus, I always uninstall it when I reformat my computer. Instead, I use Media Player classic. Using this setup, I've never had any issues, especially with Citrus. All files in MPC work fine, and I've rebooted many times with no noticeable effect. I've tried uninstalling ad reinstalling Citrus, again to no effect. Perhaps I'm not doing a complete enough uninstallation process? What would I need to do to make sure I've removed all traces of Citrus before I reinstall it? Maybe this will have a good effect.

    Additionally, I didn't mention, I am using Windows 7 64-bit.

  4. Anonymous

    Posted 1 year ago

    Has there been any progress on this?

  5. Mark
    Administrator
    Posted 1 year ago

    Actually, starting with 2.3, Windows Media Player is a system requirement for Citrus Alarm Clock, as it uses the same media API. (It doesn't actually launch Windows Media Player, but needs the underlying media API to play the music. It's just the best way to keep up with all the popular media formats and ensure compatibility.)

  6. Anonymous

    Posted 1 year ago

    (Different author, but same issue)

    I'm running Windows XP x64, with WMP v11 installed. WMP can play anything I throw at it, as can Winamp and Foobar2000. I've tried changing the format from VBR to CBR mp3, wma and wav -- all cause the "Object reference..." error as well as the constant beeping.

    Using an external player works, but is not quite desirable as the whole point of using this is so I can stop being startled awake with the urge to throw my phone across the room.

  7. Mark
    Administrator
    Posted 1 year ago

    Thanks for the additional information. I'm actively looking into this issue and hope to have resolved shortly. In the meantime, since not everyone experiences this error, please let me know if you discover any other system conditions that may be contributing to this error.

  8. Anonymous

    Posted 1 year ago

    Hello!

    I had the same problems just now, i noticed that the reason was the uninstallment of the WMP-component. So try re-intalling it from the add/remove programs--->add/remove windows-components and you should be fine.

    // Figurehead

  9. Anonymous

    Posted 1 year ago

    Hey, I'm using Windows 7 32bit, found this issue when I updated today.
    Found a fix.
    I was playing mp3's in the internal alarm. My MP3's by default opened with Itunes. I got the error when updating to the newest version.
    So I went to the source file, set the default program for MP3's to windows media player. Presto, no more errors. Not sure how this can be edited into the Citrus portion of coding. But that's the fix like it or lump it in my situation.

  10. Anonymous

    Posted 1 year ago

    Thanks!

    I reinstalled the WindowsMediaPlayer under Program and Features and now it works (Win7 x64)
    It would be nice if you can remove this dependency.

  11. Mark
    Administrator
    Posted 1 year ago

    Windows Media Player is a system requirement now, since Citrus using the Windows Media API for media playback. (Note that Citrus doesn't actually launch or use the Windows Media Player application, it just uses the same playback library.)

    Previous versions used DirectX instead, but it was simply too troublesome to keep up with multiple media format changes. Since the Windows Media API receives far more attention and support from Microsoft, Citrus moved over to it.

  12. Anonymous

    Posted 3 months ago

    I love Citrus and have been an active user of it since '07. I just reinstalled it as my pc crashed some time ago, and I've got to say this: I hate the WMP API dependency. Is it not possible to use VLC instead, or do it the way VLC does it? VLC plays everything thats out there and is simply put the best mediaplayer in my oppinion

  13. Mark
    Administrator
    Posted 3 months ago

    I'm not terrifically fond of WMP either. The API has its own set of quirks that I've had to workaround. I've already been looking into other alternatives (including VLC). Stay tuned.


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