apache/flink · error · IllegalArgumentException

Unexpected object type for TIME logical type. Received: {}

Error message

Unexpected object type for TIME logical type. Received: {}

What it means

convertToTime accepts only Integer (millis of day) or java.time.LocalTime (plus Joda when available). Any other object decoded for a TIME logical-type field throws IllegalArgumentException with the received value.

Source

Thrown at flink-formats/flink-avro/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/formats/avro/AvroToRowDataConverters.java:261

            } else {
                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                        "Unexpected object type for DATE logical type. Received: " + object);
            }
        }
    }

    private static int convertToTime(Object object) {
        final int millis;
        if (object instanceof Integer) {
            millis = (Integer) object;
        } else if (object instanceof LocalTime) {
            millis = ((LocalTime) object).get(ChronoField.MILLI_OF_DAY);
        } else {
            JodaConverter jodaConverter = JodaConverter.getConverter();
            if (jodaConverter != null) {
                millis = jodaConverter.convertTime(object);
            } else {
                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                        "Unexpected object type for TIME logical type. Received: " + object);
            }
        }
        return millis;
    }

    private static byte[] convertToBytes(Object object) {
        if (object instanceof GenericFixed) {
            return ((GenericFixed) object).bytes();
        } else if (object instanceof ByteBuffer) {
            ByteBuffer byteBuffer = (ByteBuffer) object;
            byte[] bytes = new byte[byteBuffer.remaining()];
            byteBuffer.get(bytes);
            return bytes;
        } else {
            return (byte[]) object;
        }
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to 2f3c205e92)

Solutions

Declare {"type":"int","logicalType":"time-millis"} in the writer schema and encode as int millis-of-day.
Read string-encoded times as STRING and CAST to TIME in SQL.
Pre-convert time values to millis-of-day before writing Avro.

Example fix

// before
// field encoded as "12:30:00" string, mapped to TIME(3)

// after
// writer schema: {"name":"t","type":{"type":"int","logicalType":"time-millis"}}
// or SQL: CAST(t AS TIME(3)) over a STRING column

Defensive patterns

Strategy: type-guard

Validate before calling

Object v = record.get(fieldPos);
if (!(v instanceof Integer) && !(v instanceof LocalTime)
        && JodaConverter.getConverter() == null) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unconvertible time value class: " + v.getClass());
}

Type guard

static boolean isAvroTimeValue(Object v) {
    return v instanceof Integer || v instanceof LocalTime;
}

Prevention

Encode times as int millis-of-day with the time-millis logicalType.
Use SQL CAST for string-encoded times instead of the logical-type path.

When it happens

Trigger: Writer schema has no 'time-millis' logicalType on the int field (yielding a non-Integer decode path is rare, but strings/longs appear with mismatched schemas), or the producer encodes times as strings/longs.

Common situations: Time stored as 'HH:mm:ss' strings by another tool; schema evolution removing logical type annotations; precision mismatch producing Long where Integer expected.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/flink@2f3c205e92 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1f168d248c91ba7f. Report an issue: GitHub.