apache/seatunnel · error · IllegalArgumentException

Unknown format type:

Error message

Unknown format type: 

What it means

DataFormatType.fromString maps a user-supplied format string (e.g. json, string) to the DataFormatType enum by case-insensitive comparison; if no enum constant matches it throws IllegalArgumentException 'Unknown format type: <format>'. It guards the aerospike connector against misspelled format config values.

Source

Thrown at seatunnel-connectors-v2/connector-aerospike/src/main/java/org/apache/seatunnel/connectors/seatunnel/aerospike/config/DataFormatType.java:42

@Getter
public enum DataFormatType implements Serializable {
    MAP("map"),
    STRING("string"),
    KV("kv");

    private final String format;

    DataFormatType(String format) {
        this.format = format;
    }

    public static DataFormatType fromString(String format) {
        for (DataFormatType type : DataFormatType.values()) {
            if (type.format.equalsIgnoreCase(format)) {
                return type;
            }
        }
        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown format type: " + format);
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to cf67b549a7)

Solutions

1. Check the configured format value and correct it to a supported one (json or string, per DataFormatType)
2. Trim whitespace from the config value
3. Consult the aerospike connector docs for the allowed format options
4. Add a new enum constant + parsing branch if a new format is genuinely needed

Example fix

// before
format = csv
// after
format = json

Set<String> allowed = Set.of("json", "string");
if (!allowed.contains(format.trim().toLowerCase())) throw new IllegalArgumentException("format must be one of " + allowed);

boolean isValidFormat(String f) { return f != null && ("json".equalsIgnoreCase(f.trim()) || "string".equalsIgnoreCase(f.trim())); }

try { type = DataFormatType.fromString(format); } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) { /* default to JSON or surface a clear config error */ type = DataFormatType.JSON; }

When it happens

Trigger: Setting the aerospike source/sink 'format' option to a value not in the enum (anything other than the supported JSON/STRING values), which is then passed to DataFormatType.fromString.

Common situations: Typo like 'JSON ' with whitespace, 'jsonline', 'csv', or a format copied from another connector's docs; case is tolerated but spelling is not.

Understand the failure class

Background: Invalid enum value errors: "Unknown type", "Invalid scope", "must be one of" — when a string is not on the library's allowed list — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

• Unknown ftp connection mode: ${mode}
• input.on-error must be "skip" or "fail".
• input.multiline.match must be "after" or "before".
• input.output-format.type must be "line" or "json".
• Unsupported agent.delivery-guarantee: ${value}. Supported: B

AI-assisted analysis of apache/seatunnel@cf67b549a7 (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f015b56cd155c77d. Report an issue: GitHub.