apache/beam · error · UnsupportedOperationException

Unsupported Data Catalog entry

Error message

Unsupported Data Catalog entry: %s

What it means

DataCatalogTableProvider.toCalciteTable throws this when the Data Catalog Entry exists but no registered TableFactory can build a Beam Table from it. Only GCS fileset entries (and Pubsub via linkedResource) are supported; other entry types (e.g. BigTable, arbitrary linked resources) are rejected. The message includes the entry's linkedResource and whether it has a GCS fileset spec to aid diagnosis.

Solutions

  1. Verify the Data Catalog entry has a GCS fileset spec with exactly one gs:// file pattern, or a Pubsub topic linkedResource
  2. Create a new Data Catalog entry of the supported type instead of reusing an unrelated one
  3. Register a custom TableFactory that supports this entry type
  4. Print the entry's linkedResource and inspect its type in the Data Catalog console

Example fix

// before: entry has no gcsFilesetSpec -> factory returns empty
Table table = tableProvider.getTable("my_table");
// after: use an entry with a GCS fileset spec
// gcloud data-catalog entries update --linked-resource=... or create entry with file_patterns=['gs://bucket/path/*.json']
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

com.google.cloud.datacatalog.v1beta1.Entry e = entry;
boolean supported = (e.hasGcsFilesetSpec() && e.getGcsFilesetSpec().getFilePatternsCount() == 1)
    || (e.getLinkedResource() != null && e.getLinkedResource().contains("/topics/"));
if (!supported) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unsupported DC entry: " + e.getName()); }

Type guard

static boolean isSupportedEntry(Entry e) {
  return e.hasGcsFilesetSpec() || (e.getLinkedResource() != null && e.getLinkedResource().contains("/topics/"));
}

Try / catch

try {
  Table t = provider.getTable(name);
} catch (UnsupportedOperationException ex) {
  LOG.warn("Unsupported Data Catalog entry {}, falling back", name, ex);
  return null; // or use an inline table definition
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling loadTable on a Data Catalog entry whose type has no matching factory: entry.getGcsFilesetSpec() absent and linkedResource not a Pubsub topic, or a factory returns Optional.empty() from tableBuilder.

Common situations: Pointing Beam SQL at a Data Catalog entry created for another system (BigQuery dataset, custom template), or an entry where the GCS fileset spec was never filled in.

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/5d36c4141c0d218a. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at sdks/java/extensions/sql/datacatalog/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/extensions/sql/meta/provider/datacatalog/DataCatalogTableProvider.java:201

      return DataCatalogClient.create(builder.build());
    } catch (IOException e) {
      throw new RuntimeException("Error creating Data Catalog client", e);
    }
  }

  private Table toCalciteTable(String tableName, Entry entry) {
    if (entry.getSchema().getColumnsCount() == 0) {
      throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
          "Entry doesn't have a schema. Please attach a schema to '"
              + tableName
              + "' in Data Catalog: "
              + entry.toString());
    }
    Schema schema = SchemaUtils.fromDataCatalog(entry.getSchema());

    Optional<Table.Builder> tableBuilder = tableFactory.tableBuilder(entry);
    if (!tableBuilder.isPresent()) {
      throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
          String.format(
              "Unsupported Data Catalog entry: %s",
              MoreObjects.toStringHelper(entry)
                  .add("linkedResource", entry.getLinkedResource())
                  .add("hasGcsFilesetSpec", entry.hasGcsFilesetSpec())
                  .toString()));
    }

    return tableBuilder.get().schema(schema).name(tableName).build();
  }

  @Internal
  public boolean setSchemaIfNotPresent(String resource, Schema schema) {
    com.google.cloud.datacatalog.v1beta1.Schema dcSchema = SchemaUtils.toDataCatalog(schema);
    Entry entry =
        dataCatalog.lookupEntry(LookupEntryRequest.newBuilder().setSqlResource(resource).build());
    if (entry.getSchema().getColumnsCount() == 0) {
      dataCatalog.updateEntry(

View on GitHub (pinned to 12126d8942)