Unclear error message from dockstore cli for missing value in yaml file during validation

Dockstore
1

I got this message when validating my yaml which was very unclear.

> dockstore yaml validate --path .
Current version : 1.13.1
You have the most recent stable release.
If you wish to upgrade to the latest unstable version, please use the following command:
   dockstore --upgrade-unstable
./.dockstore.yml is a valid yaml file
08:18:18.296 [main] ERROR io.dockstore.client.cli.ArgumentUtility - java.lang.NullPointerException
        at io.dockstore.client.cli.YamlVerifyUtility.allFilesExist(YamlVerifyUtility.java:89)
        at io.dockstore.client.cli.YamlVerifyUtility.dockstoreValidate(YamlVerifyUtility.java:180)
        at io.dockstore.client.cli.YamlClient.handleCommand(YamlClient.java:73)
        at io.dockstore.client.cli.Client.run(Client.java:729)
        at io.dockstore.client.cli.Client.main(Client.java:633)

It truns out my yaml had an empty parameter; all I needed to do was remove it (testParameterFiles).

- name: MyWorkflow
  subclass: wdl
  primaryDescriptorPath: /Path/to/myworkflow.wdl
  testParameterFiles:

It took me a while to understand why since dockstore site was fine with empty parameters. So, it would be great if dockstore cli could clearly the reason for this failure.

2

Hi,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I’ve created a GitHub issue to implement your suggestion: CLI yaml validator should have a better error message if a property is empty · Issue #5401 · dockstore/dockstore · GitHub.

Thanks,
Kathy

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