Unexpected NullReferenceException when accessing a property in a custom Visual Studio extension
I'm working through a tutorial and I'm reviewing some code and I'm developing a Visual Studio extension using VS SDK 17.0, and I've encountered a `NullReferenceException` when trying to access a property of a custom object that I've instantiated... The object is a simple class that holds some configuration settings, and it seems to be `null` at the point where I'm trying to use it, even after I've initialized it. Here's a simplified version of the relevant code: ```csharp public class MyConfiguration { public string Setting { get; set; } } public class MyExtension { private MyConfiguration _config; public MyExtension() { InitializeConfig(); } private void InitializeConfig() { _config = new MyConfiguration { Setting = "Value" }; } public void SomeMethod() { // This line throws NullReferenceException MessageBox.Show(_config.Setting); } } ``` I’ve verified that `InitializeConfig()` is called during the constructor execution, and I expected `_config` to be initialized. The exception occurs when `SomeMethod()` is called, suggesting that `_config` is somehow not retaining its value. I've also tried debugging to confirm if `InitializeConfig()` is indeed being executed, and it is. I’ve considered that perhaps there is an scenario with the scope of the `_config` variable or that it might be getting overwritten elsewhere in the code. However, I want to find any place in the code where `_config` is reset to `null`. I've searched through my extension's lifecycle events to make sure there isn't a state reset happening that I may be overlooking. Has anyone faced a similar scenario with Visual Studio extensions, or does anyone have insights into why my `_config` might be null? Any advice on debugging this scenario would be greatly appreciated! My development environment is CentOS. Any ideas how to fix this? This is happening in both development and production on Ubuntu 22.04. What's the best practice here?