alibaba/DataX · error · RuntimeException

Failed to cast %s to Boolean

Error message

Failed to cast %s to Boolean

What it means

boolColumnMapper(Object o) in gdbreader converts Integer (non-zero -> true), Long (non-zero -> true), Boolean, and String (via Boolean.valueOf) to a BoolColumn. Any other type — Double, Float, Date, List — triggers this RuntimeException with the class name.

Source

Thrown at gdbreader/src/main/java/com/alibaba/datax/plugin/reader/gdbreader/mapping/ValueType.java:114

            } else {
                throw new RuntimeException("Failed to cast " + o.getClass() + " to Double");
            }

            return new DoubleColumn(v);
        }

        private static BoolColumn boolColumnMapper(Object o) {
            boolean v;
            if (o instanceof Integer) {
                v = ((int) o != 0);
            } else if (o instanceof Long) {
                v = ((long) o != 0);
            } else if (o instanceof Boolean) {
                v = (boolean) o;
            } else if (o instanceof String) {
                v = Boolean.valueOf((String) o);
            } else {
                throw new RuntimeException("Failed to cast " + o.getClass() + " to Boolean");
            }

            return new BoolColumn(v);
        }

        private static StringColumn stringColumnMapper(Object o) {
            if (o instanceof String) {
                return new StringColumn((String) o);
            } else {
                return new StringColumn(String.valueOf(o));
            }
        }
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 80ec23d5c5)

Solutions

1. Re-declare the column as its real type ('double'/'long'/'string') in the gdbreader mapping
2. If the property is genuinely 0/1, re-store it as int in GDB so the Integer branch applies
3. For multi-valued properties, read the single-cardinality variant or map to string

Example fix

// before
{"columnName": "flag", "Type": "boolean"}
// after
{"columnName": "flag", "Type": "double"}

static boolean mapsToBoolean(Object o) {
    return o instanceof Integer || o instanceof Long || o instanceof Boolean || o instanceof String;
    // beware: Boolean.valueOf("1") is false — validate string content separately
}

catch (RuntimeException e) {
    if (e.getMessage() != null && e.getMessage().contains(" to Boolean")) {
        // the class in the message (often Double or Date) cannot map; fix column Type
    }
    throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Column declared 'boolean' in the reader mapping but the GDB property is a Float/Double (e.g. 1.0) or a temporal/complex type. Note Boolean.valueOf(String) never throws — any string silently maps (numeric strings like "1" become false), so this error comes only from non-handled object types.

Common situations: Numbers stored as double in GDB mapped to boolean; multi-cardinality properties arriving as collections; java.util.Date properties; version changes in the GDB client altering returned numeric types (Integer -> Double).

Related errors

• Failed to cast %s to Long
• Failed to cast %s to Double
• File not found: ${name}
• to or from missed in edge
• id or label missed

AI-assisted analysis of alibaba/DataX@80ec23d5c5 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/dcd4445b49f68680. Report an issue: GitHub.