HTTPS Web service call fails after deployment - asp.net-mvc

Question

I do not have a lot of experience with deploying applications.
I have an ASP.Net Application from which I perform a call over HTTPS to a third party web service. The webservice returns an xml string which I then parse on my side. On my development environment, this works perfectly. However, when I deploy the application (to a production VM), the webservice inexplicably does not return anything and my parsing step throws a null reference exception.
More information on the production environment:
I provisioned an Azure VM running Windows Server 2008, and published my application directly from Visual Studio 2013 to the VM. I am hosting the application on IIS 7.5 within the DefaultAppPool.
I am able to browse the wsdl for the webservice via IE from the VM (via remote desktop connection)
I have tried installing the https certificate under trusted certificate authorities > local on the VM, and then ran IISRESET.
I have tried to turn off the firewall on the VM completely, but still the service call fails.
The third party service provider has confirmed that they are not seeing any traffic come through from my site.
When I run the application from my dev environment, but use the production databases, it still works, so it is definitely not an issue with my data [UPDATE]
The service call seems to be failing silently as the event log only lists the null reference exception, nothing specifically pertaining to the service call.
What am I missing?
UPDATE:
public void RunEnquiry(Client Client, string ResultType = "XPDF")
{
NormalSearch_Live_Service.NormalSearchServiceClient csClient = new NormalSearch_Live_Service.NormalSearchServiceClient();
using (var db = new CreditBureauxDbContext())
{
// --== Step 1: Create the enquiry data-entities ==--
var eb = new EnquiryBlock
{
CS_Data = "Y",
CPA_Plus_NLR_Data = "N",
Deeds_Data = "N",
Directors_Data = "N",
Identity_number = Client.Person.IDNumber.Truncate(13),
Surname = Client.Person.Surname.Truncate(25),
Forename = Client.Person.FullNames.Trim().Split(' ').Count() > 0 ? Client.Person.FullNames.Trim().Split(' ')[0].Truncate(15) : "",
Forename2 = Client.Person.FullNames.Trim().Split(' ').Count() > 1 ? Client.Person.FullNames.Trim().Split(' ')[1].Truncate(15) : "",
Forename3 = Client.Person.FullNames.Trim().Split(' ').Count() > 2 ? Client.Person.FullNames.Trim().Split(' ')[2].Truncate(15) : "",
Gender = Client.Person.Gender.Truncate(1),
Passport_flag = "N",
DateOfBirth = DateTime.Parse(Client.Person.DateOfBirthUTC).ToString("yyyyMMdd"),
Address1 = "",
Address2 = "",
Address3 = "",
Address4 = "",
PostalCode = "",
HomeTelCode = "",
HomeTelNo = "",
WorkTelCode = "",
WorkTelNo = "",
CellTelNo = "",
ResultType = ResultType,
RunCodix = "N",
Adrs_Mandatory = "N",
Enq_Purpose = db.EnquiryPurposes.FirstOrDefault(ep => ep.Description.ToUpper().Contains("CREDIT ASSESSMENT")).Value,
Run_CompuScore = "N",
ClientConsent = "Y"
};
var enq = new Enquiry
{
pInput_Format = "XML",
pOrigin = "CrediScan",
pOrigin_Version = "1.0",
pVersion = "1.0",
Parameters = eb,
RequestSent_TimestampUTC = DateTime.UtcNow.ToString()
};
using (var settings = new GlobalConfigDbContext())
{
// --== Step 2: Construct & perform service call ==--
var param = new NormalSearch_Live_Service.NormalEnqRequestParamsType
{
pInput_Format = "XML",
pOrigin = "CrediScan",
pOrigin_Version = "1.0",
pUsrnme = settings.GetSettingValueAsString("Credit Check: PROD Username"),
pPasswrd = settings.GetSettingValueAsString("Credit Check: PROD Password"),
pVersion = "1.0",
pTransaction = String.Format("<Transactions>{0}</Transactions>", eb.ToXML())
};
var result = csClient.DoNormalEnquiry(param);
// --== Step 3: Create enquiry result data-entities ==--
var er = new EnquiryResult
{
ErrorCode = result.errorCode,
ErrorString = result.errorString,
TransactionCompleted = result.transactionCompleted,
RetData = result.retData
};
enq.EnquiryResult = er;
Trace.TraceInformation("RETDATA" + Environment.NewLine + result.retData);
var retDataDecoded = result.retData.DecodeBase64ToByteArray();
if (!Encoding.UTF8.GetString(retDataDecoded, 0, 2).Equals("PK") || retDataDecoded.Length <= 5)
throw new FormatException("The data returned from CreditBureaux is not in the correct format or contains an error.");
// --== Step 4: Save the query and validated results to database ==--
try
{
db.Enquiries.Add(enq);
db.SaveChanges();
}
catch (DbEntityValidationException dbe)
{
Trace.TraceError(dbe.ToString());
throw;
}
// --== Step 5: Parse the results ==--
if (ResultType.Equals("XML"))
{
if (!Encoding.UTF8.GetString(retDataDecoded, 0, 2).Equals("PK") || retDataDecoded.Length <= 5)
throw new FormatException("The data returned from CreditBureaux is not in the correct format or contains an error.");
Trace.TraceInformation("\n\n\n" + retDataDecoded.UnZipToMemoryList()[0].ReadToString() + "\n\n\n");
}
if (ResultType.Equals("XPDF"))
{
Trace.TraceInformation("UNZIPPING PDF");
Trace.TraceInformation("RETDATA" + Environment.NewLine + result.retData);
var xmlDoc = XDocument.Parse("<?xml version=\"1.0\"?>" + retDataDecoded.UnZipToMemoryList()[0].ReadToString()); //Important!
var summaryItems = xmlDoc
.Root
.Element("EnqCC_ENQ_COUNTS")
.Element("ROW")
.Elements()
.Select(dn => new EnquirySummaryItem
{
Key = dn.Name.ToString(),
Value = dn.Value
})
.ToList();
var summary = new EnquirySummary
{
Enquiry_Id = xmlDoc.Root.Element("Enquiry_ID").Value,
EnquiryDate = xmlDoc.Root.Element("EnqCC_SRCHCRITERIA").Descendants("ENQ_DATE").ElementAt(0).Value,
EnquiryResult = enq.EnquiryResult,
SummaryItems = summaryItems
};
try
{
db.EnquirySummaries.Add(summary);
db.SaveChanges();
}
catch (DbEntityValidationException dbe)
{
Trace.TraceError(dbe.ToString());
throw;
}
var directory = settings.GetSettingValueAsString("Document Management: Client Documents Root Path").TrimEnd('\\') + "\\CreditBureaux\\" ;
var fileName = summary.Enquiry_Id + ".pdf";
FileHandlingFactory.Create().SaveFile(xmlDoc.Root.Element("CC_PDF_RESULTS").Value.DecodeBase64ToByteArray().ToMemoryStream(), directory, fileName);
docMan.Add_Document(
new FileItem {
CreatedOn_TimeStampUTC = DateTime.UtcNow,
FilePathOnServer = directory,
PrivateFileName = fileName,
PublicFileName = (Client.Person.Surname + Client.Person.NickName[0]) + "_" + fileName,
MimeType = "application/pdf"
},
docMan.FindOrCreate_ContextInstance(
docMan.Get_ContextClass("Client"),
new Dictionary<string, string>(){
{"ClientId",Client.Id.ToString()}
}),
new List<DocumentClass> { docMan.Get_DocumentClass("CreditBureaux enquiry") });
//xmlDoc.Root.Element("CC_PDF_RESULTS").Value
//.DecodeBase64ToByteArray()
//.SaveToFile(directory, summary.Enquiry_Id + ".pdf");
}
}
}
}
The stack trace to follow:
Server Error in '/' Application.
Value cannot be null. Parameter name: s
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of
the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more
information about the error and where it originated in the code.
Exception Details: System.ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null.
Parameter name: s
Source Error:
An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the
current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of
the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.
Stack Trace:
[ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null. Parameter name: s]
System.Convert.FromBase64String(String s) [phone]
SomeCompany.CreditBureaux.BLL.CreditBureauxLiveClient.RunEnquiry(Client
Client, String ResultType) +2270
SomeCompany.CrediScan.UI.Views.ClientController.CreditCheck(Int64 id)
+264 lambda_method(Closure , ControllerBase , Object[] ) +114 System.Web.Mvc.ReflectedActionDescriptor.Execute(ControllerContext
controllerContext, IDictionary2 parameters) +242
System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionMethod(ControllerContext
controllerContext, ActionDescriptor actionDescriptor, IDictionary2
parameters) +39
System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncControllerActionInvoker.b__39(IAsyncResult
asyncResult, ActionInvocation innerInvokeState) +12
System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult2.CallEndDelegate(IAsyncResult
asyncResult) +139
System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncInvocationWithFilters.<InvokeActionMethodFilterAsynchronouslyRecursive>b__3d()
+112 System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass46.<InvokeActionMethodFilterAsynchronouslyRecursive>b__3f()
+452 System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass33.<BeginInvokeActionMethodWithFilters>b__32(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +15
System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass2b.<BeginInvokeAction>b__1c()
+37 System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass21.<BeginInvokeAction>b__1e(IAsyncResult
asyncResult) +241
System.Web.Mvc.Controller.<BeginExecuteCore>b__1d(IAsyncResult
asyncResult, ExecuteCoreState innerState) +29
System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncVoid1.CallEndDelegate(IAsyncResult
asyncResult) +111
System.Web.Mvc.Controller.EndExecuteCore(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +53
System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncVoid1.CallEndDelegate(IAsyncResult
asyncResult) +19
System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.<BeginProcessRequest>b__5(IAsyncResult
asyncResult, ProcessRequestState innerState) +51
System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncVoid1.CallEndDelegate(IAsyncResult
asyncResult) +111
System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute()
+606 System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +288