clientError.message || clientError.error || t('Sorry, an err

Error message

clientError.message || clientError.error || t('Sorry, an error occurred')

What it means

Thrown by getDatasourceSamples' catch block in chartAction.ts when the POST to /datasource/samples fails. getClientErrorObject extracts the server's message/error field from the failed response; if neither exists, the generic 'Sorry, an error occurred' text is used, with the original error attached as cause. The thrown message is therefore whatever the backend reported.

Source

Thrown at superset-frontend/src/components/Chart/chartAction.ts:1000

      searchParams.dashboard_id = dashboardId;
    }

    if (isDefined(perPage) && isDefined(page)) {
      searchParams.per_page = perPage;
      searchParams.page = page;
    }

    const response = await SupersetClient.post({
      endpoint: '/datasource/samples',
      jsonPayload,
      searchParams,
      parseMethod: 'json-bigint',
    });

    return response.json.result;
  } catch (err) {
    const clientError = await getClientErrorObject(err);
    throw new Error(
      clientError.message || clientError.error || t('Sorry, an error occurred'),
      { cause: err },
    );
  }
};

View on GitHub (pinned to f4587218dd)

Solutions

Read err.cause and the network response for the backend's specific message — this error is a wrapper, the root cause is attached.
Verify the database connection works (Settings > Database > Test Connection) and the dataset still resolves.
Check the requesting user's access to the datasource; log in as Admin to distinguish permissions from connectivity.
If sampling times out, sample a narrower table or fix the source-database performance issue.

Example fix

// before
const samples = await getDatasourceSamples(...);

// after
try {
  const samples = await getDatasourceSamples(...);
} catch (e) {
  notify({ message: e instanceof Error ? e.message : 'sample fetch failed' });
  console.error('sample error cause:', (e as Error).cause);
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// Verify datasource is reachable before sampling:
const { json } = await SupersetClient.get({ endpoint: `/api/v1/dataset/${id}` });
if (!json?.result?.database?.id) throw new Error('dataset database missing');

Try / catch

try {
  const rows = await getDatasourceSamples(...);
} catch (e) {
  const reason = (e as Error)?.cause instanceof Error ? (e as Error).cause : e;
  notify({ message: (e as Error).message });
  logger.error('datasource samples failed', reason);
}

Prevention

Always read err.cause — the wrapper hides the server detail
Test database connectivity from Superset when sampling suddenly fails

When it happens

Trigger: Requesting sample rows for a dataset and the endpoint failing — invalid datasource id/type, database unreachable, permission denied on the database/dataset, or SQL error while the backend executed the sample query.

Common situations: Dataset points at a dropped/moved database; credentials rotated on the source database; Gamma user without datasource access; very wide tables timing out during sampling.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/superset@f4587218dd (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/af41591e8fe423f7. Report an issue: GitHub.