pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · InvocationTargetException

Couldn't get a result because of an error :

Error message

Couldn't get a result because of an error :

What it means

In GetTableSizeProgressDialog.run, if the SELECT COUNT(*) query (via db.getOneRow) throws a KettleException, it is rethrown as an InvocationTargetException with message 'Couldn't get a result because of an error : ' plus the exception details.

Solutions

  1. Inspect the InvocationTargetException cause for the underlying SQL error and address it (table name, permissions).
  2. Re-test the connection and retry the size calculation.
  3. Verify the table exists in the current schema using db.checkTableExists(tableName) before computing size.
  4. If COUNT(*) times out on huge tables, use approximate statistics from the database catalog instead.

Example fix

// before
long size = new GetTableSizeProgressDialog( shell, dbMeta, tableName ).openSize();
// after
if ( db.checkTableExists( tableName ) ) {
  long size = new GetTableSizeProgressDialog( shell, dbMeta, tableName ).openSize();
}
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// verify table exists before computing size
Database db = new Database( loggingObject, dbMeta );
db.connect();
boolean exists = db.checkTableExists( tableName );
db.disconnect();

Try / catch

try {
  size = new GetTableSizeProgressDialog( shell, dbMeta, tableName ).openSize();
} catch ( InvocationTargetException e ) {
  logError( "Couldn't get table size: " + e.getCause(), e.getCause() );
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Opening the table-size dialog when the count query fails: connection loss, table doesn't exist, permission denied, or driver-level SQL error.

Common situations: Checking table size in Spoon after the table was dropped; connected user lacks SELECT on the table; database unavailable or session timed out.

Understand the failure class

Background: "query failed", "%w: SQL error" — wrapped database query errors in Go libraries explained — this error's family across 3 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0b5d58bb505ca4d5. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at ui/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/ui/core/database/dialog/GetTableSizeProgressDialog.java:77

  }

  public Long open() {
    IRunnableWithProgress op = new IRunnableWithProgress() {
      public void run( IProgressMonitor monitor ) throws InvocationTargetException, InterruptedException {
        db = new Database( Spoon.loggingObject, dbMeta );
        try {
          db.connect();

          String sql = dbMeta.getDatabaseInterface().getSelectCountStatement( tableName );
          RowMetaAndData row = db.getOneRow( sql );
          size = row.getRowMeta().getInteger( row.getData(), 0 );

          if ( monitor.isCanceled() ) {
            throw new InvocationTargetException( new Exception( "This operation was cancelled!" ) );
          }

        } catch ( KettleException e ) {
          throw new InvocationTargetException( e, "Couldn't get a result because of an error :" + e.toString() );
        } finally {
          db.close();
        }
      }
    };

    try {
      final ProgressMonitorDialog pmd = new ProgressMonitorDialog( shell );
      // Run something in the background to cancel active database queries, forecably if needed!
      Runnable run = new Runnable() {
        public void run() {
          IProgressMonitor monitor = pmd.getProgressMonitor();
          while ( pmd.getShell() == null || ( !pmd.getShell().isDisposed() && !monitor.isCanceled() ) ) {
            try {
              Thread.sleep( 100 );
            } catch ( InterruptedException e ) {
              // Ignore
            }

View on GitHub (pinned to f3058517a1)