What causes "e (wrapped exception)" in pentaho/pentaho-kettle?

Unwrap and inspect e.getCause() for the underlying KettleException message

pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · RuntimeException

e (wrapped exception)

Error message

e (wrapped exception)

What it means

In streaming mode, GetXMLData's onEnd callback processes each matched row via processStreaming(row). If processStreaming throws (e.g. a KettleException from applyXPath inside), it is rethrown wrapped in a RuntimeException so the SAX content handler can propagate it. The underlying cause is the actual step failure.

Solutions

Unwrap and inspect e.getCause() for the underlying KettleException message
Verify the XPath / loop XPath expressions are valid against a sample document
Test the same file in non-streaming mode to isolate streaming-specific issues
Check the XML's namespaces and adjust the XPath (or enable namespace handling) accordingly

Example fix

// before
catch (RuntimeException re) { logError(re.getMessage()); }
// after
catch (RuntimeException re) { logError("Streaming row processing failed", re); logError("Cause:", re.getCause()); }

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// validate XPath before running streaming mode
try { org.dom4j.DocumentHelper.createXPath(loopXPath); }
catch (Exception e) { failFast("Invalid loop XPath: " + loopXPath); }

Try / catch

try { runTransformation(); }
catch (RuntimeException re) {
  Throwable cause = re.getCause();
  if (cause instanceof KettleException) logError("Streaming step failed: " + cause.getMessage(), cause);
}

Prevention

Test XPath expressions on sample files before streaming runs
Match file structure to the configured loop path
Fall back to non-streaming mode when documents are small

When it happens

Trigger: Streaming-mode XML input where a matched node fails processing — typically applyXPath failing or row field extraction erroring inside processStreaming, triggered during SAX end-of-element handling.

Common situations: Invalid XPath expression in step settings; XML document structure not matching the loop path; namespace-prefixed XPath on documents without namespace awareness.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4e96191f97f135be. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/xml/core/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/trans/steps/getxmldata/GetXMLData.java:145

              }
              data.stopPruning = true;
              path.getCurrent().getDocument().detach(); // trick to stop reader
              return;
            }

            // process a ROW element
            if ( log.isDebug() ) {
              logDebug( BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "GetXMLData.Log.StreamingMode.StartProcessing" ) );
            }
            Element row = path.getCurrent();
            try {
              // Pass over the row instead of just the document. If
              // if there's only one row, there's no need to
              // go back to the whole document.
              processStreaming( row );
            } catch ( Exception e ) {
              // catch the KettleException or others and forward to caller, e.g. when applyXPath() has a problem
              throw new RuntimeException( e );
            }
            // prune the tree
            row.detach();
            if ( log.isDebug() ) {
              logDebug( BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "GetXMLData.Log.StreamingMode.EndProcessing" ) );
            }
          }
        } );
      }

      if ( IsInXMLField ) {
        // read string to parse
        data.document = reader.read( new StringReader( StringXML ) );
      } else if ( readurl && KettleVFS.startsWithScheme( StringXML ) ) {
        data.document = reader.read( KettleVFS.getInstance( getTransMeta().getBowl() ).getInputStream( StringXML ) );
      } else if ( readurl ) {
        // read url as source
        HttpClient client = HttpClientManager.getInstance().createDefaultClient();

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