When can Request.Url be null?

Question

In my controller code I am using: Request.Url.<Something>. ReSharper suggests that Request.Url can be null.

So, when exactly can Request.Url be null? I am not talking about testing, I am interested only about an Application that is live / has already been deployed.

Please note that I have not received any NullReferenceExceptions from using Request.Url up to this point.

Answer 1

HttpRequestBase is a class and ReSharper sees it as an actual Class, nothing more (theoretically, it can be null). So it does not analyze the usage of this specific Class.

In reality, I think that Request.Url will never be null, so just ignore ReSharper in this case.

Answer 2

Actually a NullReferenceException can occur when using Request.Url. When you create your own base controller class from which other classes derive, Request will be null. Or when using ActionMailer with ASP.NET MVC you'll have to create a controller class that derives from MailerBase (which also causes Request inside this controller to be null).

Alternative: use HttpContext.Current.Request or check whether Request is null.