Issue retrieving layout metadata for object via Metadata API

[pavankumar9849]

I am encountering an issue while attempting to retrieve layout metadata for the Quote object in my Salesforce org using the Metadata API. Despite providing the correct layout name ('Quote-Quote Layout') the metadata retrieval returns null values for all properties of the layout. And also facing an NullPointerException while adding custom fields to the page-layout.

Below is the MetadataAPI call , how I configured

`public static void addFieldsToPageLayout( String layoutName, List fieldApiNames) {
MetadataService.MetadataPort service = createMetadataService();

    // Retrieve the existing layout metadata
    //String layoutFullName = 'Quote.' + layoutName;
    try{
    MetadataService.Layout layoutMetadata = (MetadataService.Layout) service.readMetadata('Layout',new String[] { 'Quote-Quote Layout' }).getRecords()[0];
    system.debug('layoutMetadata Begin: ' + layoutMetadata);     
    for (String fieldApiName : fieldApiNames) {
        MetadataService.LayoutItem customFieldItem = new MetadataService.LayoutItem();
        customFieldItem.field = fieldApiName;
        // customFieldItem.behavior = MetadataService.LayoutBehavior.Edit; 
        
        // Add the layout item to the layout
        layoutMetadata.layoutSections[0].layoutColumns[0].layoutItems.add(customFieldItem);
        system.debug('layoutMetadata after adding: ' + layoutMetadata);
    }
   
    List<MetadataService.UpsertResult> results = service.upsertMetadata(new MetadataService.Metadata[] { layoutMetadata });
    handleUpsertResults(results[0]);
    system.debug('results: ' + results );
    for (MetadataService.UpsertResult result : results) {
        if (!result.success) {
            for (MetadataService.Error error : result.errors) {
                System.debug('Error message: ' + error.message);
            }
        }
    }
    } catch (Exception e){
        system.debug('Exception at AddFieldMethod: ' + e);
    }

}`

Layout details from WorkBench:

createdById: 0055h00000AYC1fAAH
createdByName: Pavan Kumar Panduru
createdDate: 2024-01-02T10:29:04.000Z
fileName: layouts/Quote-Quote Layout.layout
fullName: Quote-Quote Layout
id: 00h5h00000FhseFAAR
lastModifiedById: 0055h00000AYC1fAAH
lastModifiedByName: Pavan Kumar Panduru
lastModifiedDate: 2024-03-20T07:20:43.000Z
manageableState: unmanaged
namespacePrefix: SentinelEMSDEV
type: Layout

Layout metadata Debug statement:

layoutMetadata Begin: Layout:[Metadata.fullName=null, apex_schema_type_info=(http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, true, false), customButtons=null, customButtons_type_info=(customButtons, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, -1, false), customConsoleComponents=null, customConsoleComponents_type_info=(customConsoleComponents, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, 1, false), emailDefault=null, emailDefault_type_info=(emailDefault, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, 1, false), excludeButtons=null, excludeButtons_type_info=(excludeButtons, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, -1, false), feedLayout=null, feedLayout_type_info=(feedLayout, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, 1, false), field_order_type_info=(fullName, customButtons, customConsoleComponents, emailDefault, excludeButtons, feedLayout, headers, layoutSections, miniLayout, multilineLayoutFields, ...), fullName=null, fullName_type_info=(fullName, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, 1, false), headers=null, headers_type_info=(headers, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, -1, false), layoutSections=null, layoutSections_type_info=(layoutSections, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, -1, false), miniLayout=null, miniLayout_type_info=(miniLayout, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, 1, false), multilineLayoutFields=null, multilineLayoutFields_type_info=(multilineLayoutFields, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, -1, false), platformActionList=null, platformActionList_type_info=(platformActionList, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, 1, false), quickActionList=null, quickActionList_type_info=(quickActionList, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, 1, false), relatedContent=null, relatedContent_type_info=(relatedContent, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, 1, false), relatedLists=null, relatedLists_type_info=(relatedLists, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, -1, false), relatedObjects=null, relatedObjects_type_info=(relatedObjects, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, -1, false), runAssignmentRulesDefault=null, runAssignmentRulesDefault_type_info=(runAssignmentRulesDefault, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, 1, false), showEmailCheckbox=null, showEmailCheckbox_type_info=(showEmailCheckbox, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, 1, false), showHighlightsPanel=null, showHighlightsPanel_type_info=(showHighlightsPanel, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, 1, false), showInteractionLogPanel=null, showInteractionLogPanel_type_info=(showInteractionLogPanel, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, 1, false), showKnowledgeComponent=null, showKnowledgeComponent_type_info=(showKnowledgeComponent, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, 1, false), showRunAssignmentRulesCheckbox=null, showRunAssignmentRulesCheckbox_type_info=(showRunAssignmentRulesCheckbox, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, 1, false), showSolutionSection=null, showSolutionSection_type_info=(showSolutionSection, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, 1, false), showSubmitAndAttachButton=null, showSubmitAndAttachButton_type_info=(showSubmitAndAttachButton, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, 1, false), summaryLayout=null, summaryLayout_type_info=(summaryLayout, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, 1, false), type=Layout, type_att_info=(xsi:type)]

CallOut Request:

SESSION_ID_REMOVEDLayoutQuote-Quote Layout

15:09:15.617 (7627890828)
|readMetadata_element:[apex_schema_type_info=(http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, true, false), field_order_type_info=(type_x, fullNames), fullNames=(Quote-Quote Layout), fullNames_type_info=(fullNames, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 0, -1, false), type_x=Layout, type_x_type_info=(type, http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata, null, 1, 1, false)]::SOAPAction="" Accept=text/xml User-Agent=SFDC-Callout/60.0 SFDC_STACK_DEPTH=1 Content-Type=text/xml; charset=UTF-8
15:09:15.617 (7677640890)|

Getting Exception for my code:

e|Exception|true|false
"common.apex.runtime.impl.ExecutionException: Attempt to de-reference a null object"|

Expecting :

-> Able to read out the Metadata of the respective page layout.
-> Can able to add custom fields to that respective page layout.

[pavankumar9849]

I am able to retrieve the layout metadata , As I added Namespace prefix to the layout Names , then it is working fine.
but now, I am not able to add a new layout section in that respective page layout. Here is my code

` MetadataService.Layout layoutMetadata =
(MetadataService.Layout) service.readMetadata('Layout', new String[] { layoutName }).getRecords()[0];
MetadataService.LayoutSection newSection = new MetadataService.LayoutSection();
newSection.customLabel = true;
newSection.editHeading = true;

        newSection.label = 'Sentinel Information';
        newSection.style = 'TwoColumnsTopToBottom'; 
        MetadataService.LayoutColumn newColumn = new MetadataService.LayoutColumn();
        for (String fieldApiName : fieldApiNames) {
            MetadataService.LayoutItem customFieldItem = new MetadataService.LayoutItem();
            customFieldItem.field = fieldApiName;            
            newColumn.layoutItems.add(customFieldItem);
        }
        newSection.layoutColumns.add(newColumn);
        layoutMetadata.layoutSections.add(newSection);`

Seeking for a reply and help over this ...