What causes "'src' property for ole type cannot be empty" in iOfficeAI/OfficeCLI?

Provide a real, non-empty file path for src/path.

iOfficeAI/OfficeCLI · error · ArgumentException

'src' property for ole type cannot be empty

Error message

'src' property for ole type cannot be empty

What it means

Thrown by RequireSource when 'src' (or 'path') is present but blank (empty or whitespace-only). The key existing is not enough — it must carry a usable file path. This catches config typos like src="" that would otherwise produce a confusing downstream file-not-found.

Source

Thrown at src/officecli/Core/OleHelper.cs:605

    // ==================== Shared Add helpers ====================
    //
    // The following methods extract duplicated boilerplate that previously
    // appeared verbatim in Word/Excel/PowerPoint AddOle handlers.

    /// <summary>
    /// Validate and extract the required <c>src</c> (or <c>path</c>) property
    /// from the caller-supplied dictionary. Throws
    /// <see cref="ArgumentException"/> when neither key is present or the
    /// value is blank.
    /// </summary>
    public static string RequireSource(Dictionary<string, string>? properties)
    {
        properties ??= new Dictionary<string, string>();
        if (!properties.TryGetValue("src", out var srcPath)
            && !properties.TryGetValue("path", out srcPath))
            throw new ArgumentException("'src' property is required for ole type");
        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(srcPath))
            throw new ArgumentException("'src' property for ole type cannot be empty");
        return srcPath;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Resolve the ProgID from explicit property → auto-detected from
    /// extension, then validate. Replaces the 4-line fallback chain that
    /// was duplicated in every handler.
    /// </summary>
    public static string ResolveProgId(Dictionary<string, string> properties, string srcPath)
    {
        var progId = properties.GetValueOrDefault("progId")
            ?? properties.GetValueOrDefault("progid")
            ?? DetectProgId(srcPath);
        ValidateProgId(progId);
        return progId;
    }

    /// <summary>

View on GitHub (pinned to 1ced45e900)

Solutions

Provide a real, non-empty file path for src/path.
Guard before the call: if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(filePath)) { report and abort; }.
Validate the source variable is set at script startup, not only at the Add call.

Example fix

// before
props["src"] = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("OLE_FILE") ?? ""; // empty if unset
AddOle(props); // throws 283

// after
var file = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("OLE_FILE")
    ?? throw new InvalidOperationException("OLE_FILE not set");
props["src"] = file;
AddOle(props);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

var src = props.GetValueOrDefault("src") ?? props.GetValueOrDefault("path");
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(src))
    throw new InvalidOperationException("OLE src is blank");

Type guard

static bool HasNonBlankSource(Dictionary<string,string> p)
    => (p.TryGetValue("src", out var s) || p.TryGetValue("path", out s))
       && !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(s);

Try / catch

try { RequireSource(props); }
catch (ArgumentException ex) when (ex.Message.Contains("cannot be empty"))
{ /* re-read path from user */ }

Prevention

Validate the file path variable is non-empty at startup.
Trim and check env vars before assigning them to src.
Never leave src as an empty placeholder string.

When it happens

Trigger: Passing src="" or src=" "; setting src from an environment variable that is unset (expanding to empty); trailing-only whitespace from a malformed CSV/config field.

Common situations: Env-var not exported so interpolation yields empty; a template left src as a placeholder empty string; a JSON config with "src": "".

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of iOfficeAI/OfficeCLI@1ced45e900 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b578253d9f97da4e. Report an issue: GitHub.