diff --git a/cxx-sensors/src/main/java/org/sonar/cxx/sensors/other/CxxOtherSensor.java b/cxx-sensors/src/main/java/org/sonar/cxx/sensors/other/CxxOtherSensor.java
index a299ded359..af945eb015 100644
--- a/cxx-sensors/src/main/java/org/sonar/cxx/sensors/other/CxxOtherSensor.java
+++ b/cxx-sensors/src/main/java/org/sonar/cxx/sensors/other/CxxOtherSensor.java
@@ -181,9 +181,13 @@ private static boolean hasCorrectSize(List<File> inputs, List<String> outputs) {
    * @param outputs
    * @return
    */
-  private static boolean isValidOutput(String outputKey, @Nullable List<String> outputs) {
-    if ((outputs == null) || (outputs.isEmpty())) {
-      LOG.error(outputKey + " is not defined.");
+  private static boolean isValidOutput(@Nullable String outputKey, @Nullable List<String> outputs) {
+    if ((outputKey==null) ||(outputs == null) || (outputs.isEmpty())) {
+      if (outputKey != null) {
+        LOG.error(outputKey + " file is not defined.");
+      } else {
+        LOG.error(" outputKey is not defined.");
+      }
       return false;
       }
     return true;
@@ -193,9 +197,14 @@ private static boolean isValidOutput(String outputKey, @Nullable List<String> ou
    * @param inputKey
    * @param inputs
    */
-  private static boolean isValidInput(String inputKey, @Nullable List<File> inputs) {
-    if ((inputs == null) || (inputs.isEmpty())) {
-      LOG.error(inputKey + " file is not defined.");
+  private static boolean isValidInput(@Nullable String inputKey, @Nullable List<File> inputs) {
+
+    if ((inputKey == null) || (inputs == null) || (inputs.isEmpty())) {
+      if (inputKey != null) {
+        LOG.error(inputKey + " file is not defined.");
+      } else {
+        LOG.error(" inputKey is not defined.");
+      }
       return false;
       }
     return true;
diff --git a/cxx-sensors/src/main/java/org/sonar/cxx/sensors/utils/CxxReportSensor.java b/cxx-sensors/src/main/java/org/sonar/cxx/sensors/utils/CxxReportSensor.java
index a5a2d33b8a..1ade794b69 100644
--- a/cxx-sensors/src/main/java/org/sonar/cxx/sensors/utils/CxxReportSensor.java
+++ b/cxx-sensors/src/main/java/org/sonar/cxx/sensors/utils/CxxReportSensor.java
@@ -156,19 +156,20 @@ public String toString() {
   @Nullable
   public static String resolveFilename(final String baseDir, final String filename) {
 
-    // Normalization can return null if path is null, is invalid, 
-    // or is a path with back-ticks outside known directory structure
-    String normalizedPath = FilenameUtils.normalize(filename);
-    if ((normalizedPath != null) && (new File(normalizedPath).isAbsolute())) {
-      return normalizedPath;
-    }
-
-    // Prefix with absolute module base directory, attempt normalization again -- can still get null here
-    normalizedPath = FilenameUtils.normalize(baseDir + File.separator + filename);
-    if (normalizedPath != null) {
-      return normalizedPath;
+    if (filename != null) {
+      // Normalization can return null if path is null, is invalid, 
+      // or is a path with back-ticks outside known directory structure
+      String normalizedPath = FilenameUtils.normalize(filename);
+      if ((normalizedPath != null) && (new File(normalizedPath).isAbsolute())) {
+        return normalizedPath;
+      }
+  
+      // Prefix with absolute module base directory, attempt normalization again -- can still get null here
+      normalizedPath = FilenameUtils.normalize(baseDir + File.separator + filename);
+      if (normalizedPath != null) {
+        return normalizedPath;
+      }
     }
-
     return null;
   }
 
diff --git a/cxx-sensors/src/test/java/org/sonar/cxx/sensors/other/CxxOtherSensorTest.java b/cxx-sensors/src/test/java/org/sonar/cxx/sensors/other/CxxOtherSensorTest.java
index ef696d1398..d6179be9cb 100644
--- a/cxx-sensors/src/test/java/org/sonar/cxx/sensors/other/CxxOtherSensorTest.java
+++ b/cxx-sensors/src/test/java/org/sonar/cxx/sensors/other/CxxOtherSensorTest.java
@@ -24,9 +24,13 @@
 import org.sonar.api.batch.fs.internal.DefaultFileSystem;
 
 import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
 
+import org.sonar.api.utils.log.LogTester;
+import org.sonar.api.utils.log.LoggerLevel;
+
 import org.sonar.api.batch.fs.internal.DefaultInputFile;
 import org.sonar.api.batch.sensor.internal.SensorContextTester;
 import org.sonar.api.config.Settings;
@@ -39,6 +43,9 @@ public class CxxOtherSensorTest {
   private DefaultFileSystem fs;
   private CxxLanguage language;
 
+  @Rule
+  public LogTester logTester = new LogTester();
+
   @Before
   public void setUp() {    
     fs = TestUtils.mockFileSystem();
@@ -145,4 +152,73 @@ public void shouldReportOnlyOneViolationAndRemoveDuplicates() {
     sensor.execute(context);
     assertThat(context.allIssues()).hasSize(1);
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void shouldNotCreateMessage() {
+    SensorContextTester context = SensorContextTester.create(fs.baseDir());
+    when(language.getPluginProperty("other.xslt.1.stylesheet")).thenReturn("something");
+
+    Settings settings = new Settings();   
+    context.setSettings(settings);
+
+    context.fileSystem().add(new DefaultInputFile("myProjectKey", "sources/utils/code_chunks.cpp").setLanguage("cpp").initMetadata("asd\nasdas\nasda\n"));
+    sensor = new CxxOtherSensor(language, settings);
+    sensor.execute(context);
+    assertThat(context.allIssues()).hasSize(0);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void shouldCreateMissingStylesheetMessage() {
+    logTester.clear();
+    SensorContextTester context = SensorContextTester.create(fs.baseDir());
+    when(language.getPluginProperty("other.xslt.1.stylesheet")).thenReturn("something");
+    when(language.getPluginProperty("other.xslt.1.outputs")).thenReturn("something");
+
+    Settings settings = new Settings();   
+    settings.setProperty(language.getPluginProperty(CxxOtherSensor.REPORT_PATH_KEY), "externalrules-reports/externalrules-with-duplicates.xml");
+    context.setSettings(settings);
+
+    context.fileSystem().add(new DefaultInputFile("myProjectKey", "sources/utils/code_chunks.cpp").setLanguage("cpp").initMetadata("asd\nasdas\nasda\n"));
+    sensor = new CxxOtherSensor(language, settings);
+    sensor.execute(context);
+    assertThat(logTester.logs(LoggerLevel.ERROR)).contains("something is not defined.");
+
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void shouldCreateMissingInputKeyMessage() {
+    logTester.clear();
+    SensorContextTester context = SensorContextTester.create(fs.baseDir());
+    when(language.getPluginProperty("other.xslt.1.stylesheet")).thenReturn("something");
+    when(language.getPluginProperty("other.xslt.1.outputs")).thenReturn("something");
+
+    Settings settings = new Settings();   
+    settings.setProperty(language.getPluginProperty(CxxOtherSensor.REPORT_PATH_KEY), "something");
+    settings.setProperty("something", "something");
+    context.setSettings(settings);
+
+    context.fileSystem().add(new DefaultInputFile("myProjectKey", "sources/utils/code_chunks.cpp").setLanguage("cpp").initMetadata("asd\nasdas\nasda\n"));
+    sensor = new CxxOtherSensor(language, settings);
+    sensor.execute(context);
+    assertThat(logTester.logs(LoggerLevel.ERROR)).contains(" inputKey is not defined.");
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void shouldCreateMissingEmptyInputsMessage() {
+    logTester.clear();
+    SensorContextTester context = SensorContextTester.create(fs.baseDir());
+    when(language.getPluginProperty("other.xslt.1.stylesheet")).thenReturn("something");
+    when(language.getPluginProperty("other.xslt.1.inputs")).thenReturn("someInput");
+
+    Settings settings = new Settings();   
+    settings.setProperty(language.getPluginProperty(CxxOtherSensor.REPORT_PATH_KEY), "something");
+    settings.setProperty("something", "something");
+    context.setSettings(settings);
+
+    context.fileSystem().add(new DefaultInputFile("myProjectKey", "sources/utils/code_chunks.cpp").setLanguage("cpp").initMetadata("asd\nasdas\nasda\n"));
+    sensor = new CxxOtherSensor(language, settings);
+    sensor.execute(context);
+    assertThat(logTester.logs(LoggerLevel.ERROR)).contains("someInput file is not defined.");
+  }
+  
 }