Non-static method requires a target

Question

I think this confusing exception occurs when you use a variable in a lambda which is a null-reference at run-time. In your case, I would check if your variable calculationViewModel is a null-reference.

Something like:

public ActionResult MNPurchase()
{
    CalculationViewModel calculationViewModel = (CalculationViewModel)TempData["calculationViewModel"];

    if (calculationViewModel != null)
    {
        decimal OP = landTitleUnitOfWork.Sales.Find()
            .Where(x => x.Min >= calculationViewModel.SalesPrice)
            .FirstOrDefault()
            .OP;

        decimal MP = landTitleUnitOfWork.Sales.Find()
            .Where(x => x.Min >= calculationViewModel.MortgageAmount)
            .FirstOrDefault()
            .MP;

        calculationViewModel.LoanAmount = (OP + 100) - MP;
        calculationViewModel.LendersTitleInsurance = (calculationViewModel.LoanAmount + 850);

        return View(calculationViewModel);
    }
    else
    {
        // Do something else...
    }
}

Normally it happens when the target is null. So better check the invoke target first then do the linq query.

I've found this issue to be prevalent in Entity Framework when we instantiate an Entity manually rather than through DBContext which will resolve all the Navigation Properties. If there are Foreign Key references (Navigation Properties) between tables and you use those references in your lambda (e.g. ProductDetail.Products.ID) then that "Products" context remains null if you manually created the Entity.

All the answers are pointing to a Lambda expression with an NRE (Null Reference Exception). I have found that it also occurs when using Linq to Entities. I thought it would be helpful to point out that this exception is not limited to just an NRE inside a Lambda expression.

I face this error on testing WebAPI in Postman tool.

After building the code, If we remove any line (For Example: In my case when I remove one Commented line this error was occur...) in debugging mode then the "Non-static method requires a target" error will occur.

Again, I tried to send the same request. This time code working properly. And I get the response properly in Postman.

I hope it will use to someone...