WstxUnexpectedCharException when linking to JIRA issue in Confluence

[Florian Zschocke]

I have connected a Confluence 6.5 and JIRA 7.3 instance and have also connected a Confluence space with a JIRA software project via application links.

Now when I use the JIRA macro I get an error on the Confluence page when previewing the draft:

Error rendering macro 'jira'

com.ctc.wstx.exc.WstxUnexpectedCharException: Illegal character ((CTRL-CHAR, code 2)) at [row,col {unknown-source}]: [1,6623]

Where can I look to analyse this error and find out what in the JIRA reply might cause it and how to fix it?

[Marko Filipan · Accepted solution]

Hi Florian,

this errors should be logged in Confluence log, which is located in:
<CONFLUENCE_HOME>/logs/atlassian-confluence.log

and for JIRA:
<JIRA_HOME>/log/atlassian-jira.log

Please find the KB articles that describe some possible causes of this error:

• Pages with special characters when accessed via reverse-proxy: Pages with special characters are not accessible via reverse proxy
• Page encoding is not the same accross all components: JIRA Application internationalisation and encoding troubleshooting

You can try using Application Links Troubleshooting guide in order to troubleshoot this problem, as many Application Links problem are resolved in one of the steps. Take a look here: Application Links Troubleshooting Guide. 

Let me knows if this answers your question.

Cheers,

Marko Filipan

[Florian Zschocke]

Hi Marko,

thank you so much for your answer. I checked the logs and found nothing helpful, but after you answered I realized that I hadn't checked the application logs yet, only the tomcat logs.

The error is the same in the confluence application log and gives no further information as to what the response from JIRA might have been that Confluence stumbled over.

But while checking the JIRA application logs, I found a notice that the Confluence API is disabled, which it was. After enabling it, I could no longer reproduce the problem. So for now I believe it is fixed due to this change. We will see, if it surfaces again.

From the links you posted I also learned that I can set up an unproxied connection for appliication links. I did that since both applications run on the same instance and it seems more efficient to link then unencrypted over localhost.

So the application links have both been recreated and the servers restarted. Maybe that helps, too.

Thanks again, your hints git me on the right track.