apache/seatunnel · error · UnsupportedOperationException

Unsupported convert to Boolean

Error message

Unsupported convert ${value.getClass()} to Boolean

What it means

The TypeDefine-less overload of convertBoolean in BasicDataConverter dispatches on Number and String only; any other runtime type reaches the terminal throw. The message includes the value's class so you can see what unexpected type arrived.

Solutions

1. Convert the value to Number or String before calling convertBoolean
2. Inspect the printed class and add a targeted pre-processing step or custom converter
3. If the value is actually valid boolean data, fix the upstream deserialization so it yields a standard type

Example fix

// before
converter.convertBoolean(byteArrayValue); // throws
// after
boolean b = byteArrayValue.length > 0 && byteArrayValue[0] != 0;
// or pass a Number
converter.convertBoolean(byteArrayValue[0] != 0 ? 1 : 0);

if (!(value instanceof Number) && !(value instanceof String)) {
    value = normalizeToNumber(value);
}

static boolean canConvertBoolean(Object v) {
    return v instanceof Number || v instanceof String;
}

try {
    boolean b = converter.convertBoolean(value);
} catch (UnsupportedOperationException e) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unexpected boolean value type " + value.getClass(), e);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking BasicDataConverter.convertBoolean(Object) with a value whose class is not Number and not String.

Common situations: Deserialization producing byte[] or driver-specific objects (e.g. from CDC formats) fed into generic boolean conversion.

Understand the failure class

Background: Type mismatch errors: IllegalArgumentException, TypeError and type guards across 150 open-source libraries — this error's family across 150 libraries.

Related errors

• Unsupported convert to Boolean, typeDefine
• Unsupported convert to Byte
• Unsupported convert to Byte, typeDefine
• Unsupported convert to Float, typeDefine
• Unsupported convert to Float

AI-assisted analysis of apache/seatunnel@cf67b549a7 (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c14aed6e927ff695. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at seatunnel-api/src/main/java/org/apache/seatunnel/api/table/converter/BasicDataConverter.java:1319

    default boolean convertBoolean(T typeDefine, Number value) {
        return convertBoolean(value);
    }

    default boolean convertBoolean(T typeDefine, String value) {
        return convertBoolean(value);
    }

    default boolean convertBoolean(Object value) throws UnsupportedOperationException {
        if (value instanceof Boolean) {
            return (Boolean) value;
        }
        if (value instanceof Number) {
            return convertBoolean((Number) value);
        }
        if (value instanceof String) {
            return convertBoolean((String) value);
        }
        throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
                "Unsupported convert " + value.getClass() + " to Boolean");
    }

    default boolean convertBoolean(Number value) {
        return value.intValue() != 0;
    }

    default boolean convertBoolean(String value) {
        return Boolean.parseBoolean(value);
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to cf67b549a7)