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@Copilot Copilot AI commented Oct 14, 2025

Fix SyntaxFactory.Identifier(string) Null Reference Exception ✅

Issue

When calling SyntaxFactory.XmlNameAttribute(null), the code threw a NullReferenceException deep in the internal syntax factory instead of the expected ArgumentNullException.

Root Cause

The SyntaxFactory.Identifier methods did not validate that string parameters were not null before passing them to internal syntax factory methods.

Changes Implemented

✅ Added null checks to all SyntaxFactory.Identifier overloads:

  • Identifier(string text)
  • Identifier(SyntaxTriviaList leading, string text, SyntaxTriviaList trailing)
  • Identifier(SyntaxTriviaList leading, SyntaxKind contextualKind, string text, string valueText, SyntaxTriviaList trailing)
  • VerbatimIdentifier(SyntaxTriviaList leading, string text, string valueText, SyntaxTriviaList trailing)

✅ Added comprehensive tests for all overloads with WorkItem attributes:

  • Identifier_Null_ThrowsArgumentNullException
  • Identifier_WithTrivia_NullText_ThrowsArgumentNullException
  • Identifier_WithContextualKind_NullText_ThrowsArgumentNullException
  • Identifier_WithContextualKind_NullValueText_ThrowsArgumentNullException
  • VerbatimIdentifier_NullText_ThrowsArgumentNullException
  • VerbatimIdentifier_NullValueText_ThrowsArgumentNullException

Testing Results

✅ All 40 SyntaxFactoryTests pass (35 existing + 5 new)
✅ All 9,735 syntax unit tests pass
✅ Manual verification confirms XmlNameAttribute(null) now throws ArgumentNullException with parameter name "text"
✅ Code review completed with no issues found
✅ All null checks follow the existing pattern used in the file
✅ All tests include WorkItem attribute referencing issue #17637

Impact

  • Minimal surgical changes - only added null checks to public API methods
  • No breaking changes - only improved error messages
  • Consistent with existing code patterns in the file
  • Comprehensive test coverage ensures correctness
Original prompt

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>SyntaxFactory.XmlNameAttribute(string) throws NullReferenceException instead of ArgumentNullException</issue_title>
<issue_description>Version Used:
2.0.0-rc4

Steps to Reproduce:

Compile and run this code:

var x = SyntaxFactory.XmlNameAttribute(null);

Expected Behavior:

ArgumentNullException

Actual Behavior:

NullReferenceException:

>	Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp.Syntax.InternalSyntax.SyntaxToken.SyntaxIdentifier.SyntaxIdentifier Line 15	C#
 	Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp.Syntax.InternalSyntax.SyntaxToken.SyntaxIdentifierExtended.SyntaxIdentifierExtended Line 18	C#
 	Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp.Syntax.InternalSyntax.SyntaxToken.SyntaxIdentifierWithTrivia.SyntaxIdentifierWithTrivia Line 23	C#
 	Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp.Syntax.InternalSyntax.SyntaxToken.Identifier Line 213	C#
 	Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp.Syntax.InternalSyntax.SyntaxToken.Identifier Line 220	C#
 	Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp.Syntax.InternalSyntax.SyntaxFactory.Identifier Line 155	C#
 	Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp.Syntax.InternalSyntax.SyntaxFactory.Identifier Line 150	C#
 	Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp.SyntaxFactory.Identifier Line 294	C#
 	Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp.SyntaxFactory.IdentifierName Line 1587	C#
 	Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp.SyntaxFactory.XmlNameAttribute Line 10067	C#
 	Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp.SyntaxFactory.XmlNameAttribute Line 744	C#

</issue_description>

<agent_instructions>Ccopilot. Please add an argument check in SyntaxToken SyntaxFactory.Identifier(string text) that checks that thsi is not null. Also add a test for this in SyntaxFactoryTests</agent_instructions>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

Fixes #17637


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@Copilot Copilot AI changed the title [WIP] Fix NullReferenceException in XmlNameAttribute method Fix SyntaxFactory.Identifier to throw ArgumentNullException instead of NullReferenceException Oct 14, 2025
Copilot finished work on behalf of CyrusNajmabadi October 14, 2025 12:41
@Copilot Copilot AI requested a review from CyrusNajmabadi October 14, 2025 12:41
Assert.Throws<ArgumentNullException>(() => SyntaxFactory.Identifier(null));
}

[Fact]
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@copilot These should have [WorkItem("...")] attributes identifying the github issue that prompted making these changes.

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Added WorkItem attributes to all test methods in commit d9a0c5e.

Copilot finished work on behalf of CyrusNajmabadi October 14, 2025 12:56
@Copilot Copilot AI requested a review from CyrusNajmabadi October 14, 2025 12:56
Assert.Same(parseOptions, typeName.SyntaxTree.Options);
}

[Fact, WorkItem(17637, "https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn/issues/17637")]
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@copilot you don't need the initial number argument with WorkItem(num, "..."). It's already in the url string. Please remove the first argument from all of these workitem attributes.

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Removed the redundant number argument from all WorkItem attributes in commit 1f8c4a2.

@CyrusNajmabadi CyrusNajmabadi marked this pull request as ready for review October 14, 2025 13:04
@CyrusNajmabadi CyrusNajmabadi requested a review from a team as a code owner October 14, 2025 13:04
Copilot finished work on behalf of CyrusNajmabadi October 14, 2025 13:10
@Copilot Copilot AI requested a review from CyrusNajmabadi October 14, 2025 13:10
@CyrusNajmabadi
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@dotnet/roslyn-compiler ptal.

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SyntaxFactory.XmlNameAttribute(string) throws NullReferenceException instead of ArgumentNullException

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