Question

the variable “doc” is not accessible anywhere else in the method outside of the if statement so that if doc==null fails since the scope of “doc” is only within those if statements that it is defined in….How do I deal with this issue? adding public just leads to more errors..

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        try
        {
            string id, type, UniqueColID;
            string FilePath = Server.MapPath("~").ToString();
            type = Request.QueryString["type"];

            if (type.Equals("template"))
            {
                MergeDocument template = new MergeDocument(FilePath + @"\Template\MVCTemplate.pdf");
                template.DrawToWeb();
            }
            else
            {
                id = Request.QueryString["id"];
                UniqueColID = DBFunctions.DBFunctions.testExist(id);
                if (DBFunctions.DBFunctions.FlagDriverPrintOnly == false)
                {
                    MergeDocument doc = PDF.LongFormManipulation.generatePDF(id, type, FilePath, UniqueColID);
                }
                else if (DBFunctions.DBFunctions.FlagDriverPrintOnly == true)
                {
                    MergeDocument doc = PDF.LongFormManipulation.generatePDFDriverOnly(id, type, FilePath, UniqueColID);
                }
                DBFunctions.DBFunctions.FlagDriverPrintOnly = false;
                    if (doc == null)
                    doc = new MergeDocument(FilePath + @"\Template\MVCTemplate.pdf");

                doc.DrawToWeb();
            }
        }
        catch(Exception err)
        {
            MessageBox("Creating PDF file was not successful. " + err.ToString());
        }

I have tried declaring it at higher level but I still get same error:

**Use of unassigned local variable 'doc' -->>>at: if (doc==nul)**   

After doing MergeDocument=null; at higher level I get a new error:

System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at GeneratePDF.Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e)

this error points to "if (type.Equals("template"))"

Answer 1

Define the doc variable just before you actually want to use it:

MergeDocument doc = null;
if (DBFunctions.DBFunctions.FlagDriverPrintOnly == false) 
{ 
    doc = PDF.LongFormManipulation.generatePDF(id, type, FilePath, UniqueColID); 
} 
else if (DBFunctions.DBFunctions.FlagDriverPrintOnly == true) 
{ 
    doc = PDF.LongFormManipulation.generatePDFDriverOnly(id, type, FilePath, UniqueColID); 
} 
DBFunctions.DBFunctions.FlagDriverPrintOnly = false; 
if (doc == null)