apache/beam · error · UnsupportedOperationException

Loading all tables from DataCatalog is not supported

Error message

Loading all tables from DataCatalog is not supported

What it means

getTables() must enumerate every table the provider serves, but DataCatalog has no cheap bulk listing that maps to this contract, so the provider throws UnsupportedOperationException. Only point lookups via getTable(tableName) are supported.

Source

Thrown at sdks/java/extensions/sql/datacatalog/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/extensions/sql/meta/provider/datacatalog/DataCatalogTableProvider.java:105

  public String getTableType() {
    return "google.cloud.datacatalog";
  }

  @Override
  public void createTable(Table table) {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
        "Creating tables is not supported with DataCatalog table provider.");
  }

  @Override
  public void dropTable(String tableName) {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
        "Dropping tables is not supported with DataCatalog table provider");
  }

  @Override
  public Map<String, Table> getTables() {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Loading all tables from DataCatalog is not supported");
  }

  @Override
  public @Nullable Table getTable(String tableName) {
    return loadTable(tableName);
  }

  @Override
  public Table getTableByFullName(TableName fullTableName) {

    ImmutableList<String> allNameParts =
        ImmutableList.<String>builder()
            .addAll(fullTableName.getPath())
            .add(fullTableName.getTableName())
            .build();

    String fullEscapedTableName = ZetaSqlIdUtils.escapeAndJoin(allNameParts);

View on GitHub (pinned to 12126d8942)

Solutions

Use getTable(name) / the SQL `SELECT` against a known table name instead of enumerating.
List DataCatalog entries with the DataCatalog search/lookup APIs directly and look them up individually.
Avoid operations that require full-table enumeration against this provider.

Example fix

// before
Map<String, Table> all = provider.getTables(); // throws

// after
Table t = provider.getTable("project:dataset.table");
if (t != null) { /* use t */ }

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

if ("google.cloud.datacatalog".equals(provider.getTableType()) && needFullListing) {
  throw new IllegalStateException("getTables unsupported; use getTable(name)");
}

Try / catch

try {
  provider.getTables();
} catch (UnsupportedOperationException e) {
  // enumerate via DataCatalog search API or use known table names
}

Prevention

Never rely on full table enumeration for this provider
Use getTable(name) with known names
List entries with DataCatalog search/lookup APIs outside Beam if enumeration is needed

When it happens

Trigger: Calling provider.getTables() directly, or operations that need the full table list: metadata queries against the catalog, Calcite schema enumeration, or tools listing all available Beam SQL tables.

Common situations: Schema-browsing tools, dashboards that list tables, or test harnesses that call getTables() to validate provider contents.

Understand the failure class

Background: UnsupportedOperationException and "is not supported" errors: when a library deliberately refuses a call — this error's family across 30 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/beam@12126d8942 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cb462666f2c654f7. Report an issue: GitHub.