OrchardCMS/OrchardCore · error · ArgumentException

The value cannot be null or empty.

Error message

The value cannot be null or empty.

What it means

Thrown by UserStore.SetTokenAsync when the token 'value' is null or empty. A token entry must carry a non-empty value since it is later retrieved verbatim by GetTokenAsync (e.g. recovery codes, authenticator keys).

Solutions

1. Generate a valid value (e.g. KeyGeneration.GenerateRandomKey) before storing.
2. Guard ReplaceCodesAsync so it never persists an empty code string.
3. Catch ArgumentException and re-run the token generation step.
4. Inspect the token provider that produced the empty value.

Example fix

// before
await _userManager.SetAuthenticationProviderKeyAsync(user, key); // key == ""
// after
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(key)) { key = Convert.ToBase64String(KeyGeneration.GenerateRandomKey(20)); }
await _userManager.SetAuthenticationProviderKeyAsync(user, key);

if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(value)) throw new InvalidOperationException("Refusing to store an empty token value");

bool CanStoreToken(string provider, string name, string value) => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(provider) && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(name) && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(value);

try { await store.SetTokenAsync(user, provider, name, value, ct); }
catch (ArgumentException ex) when (ex.ParamName == "value")
{ _logger.LogError(ex, "Empty token value for {Provider}/{Name}", provider, name); }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling SetTokenAsync with an empty value; ReplaceCodesAsync receiving an empty recovery-code set; SetAuthenticatorKeyAsync invoked when key generation returned an empty string.

Common situations: Custom key generators failing silently; recovery-code generation producing zero codes; two-factor setup flows where the key was never generated before persisting.

Understand the failure class

Background: "must not be empty", "cannot be empty" — required-field validation errors across open-source libraries — this error's family across 41 libraries.

Related errors

• The name cannot be null or empty.
• code cannot be null or empty.
• Incorrect value type assigned to a tag.
• Couldn't generate a unique user id. Too many attempts.
• Role does not exist.

AI-assisted analysis of OrchardCMS/OrchardCore@4306c0717f (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/02bb7a0df3495828. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/OrchardCore/OrchardCore.Users.Core/Services/UserStore.cs:678

    }

    public Task SetTokenAsync(IUser user, string loginProvider, string name, string value, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default)
    {
        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(user);

        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(loginProvider))
        {
            throw new ArgumentException("The login provider cannot be null or empty.", nameof(loginProvider));
        }

        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(name))
        {
            throw new ArgumentException("The name cannot be null or empty.", nameof(name));
        }

        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(value))
        {
            throw new ArgumentException("The value cannot be null or empty.", nameof(value));
        }

        var userToken = GetUserToken(user, loginProvider, name);

        if (userToken == null && user is User u)
        {
            userToken = new UserToken
            {
                LoginProvider = loginProvider,
                Name = name,
            };

            u.UserTokens.Add(userToken);
        }

        // Encrypt the token.
        if (userToken != null)
        {

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