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

Inspect the chained cause to identify the offending field; check its Format mask in the Fields tab.

pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleStepException

e (wrapped exception)

Error message

e (wrapped exception)

What it means

In getFields (StepMetaInterface), while converting each configured XML field into a ValueMeta (applying format, decimal/grouping/currency symbols), any exception is wrapped in a KettleStepException with the original exception as the sole cause. It signals a bad field definition (usually an invalid format mask).

Solutions

Inspect the chained cause to identify the offending field; check its Format mask in the Fields tab.
Fix or clear the Format value (e.g. use a valid SimpleDateFormat/DecimalFormat pattern for the runtime locale).
Test the step in isolation and preview data to confirm the corrected mask parses sample values.
If the field is a string anyway, set its type to String and drop the conversion mask.

Example fix

// before
field.setFormat( "YYYY-MM-DD" ); // DecimalFormat-style caps, wrong for java.text.SimpleDateFormat
// after
field.setFormat( "yyyy-MM-dd" );

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Validate a date format mask before configuring the field
new SimpleDateFormat( "yyyy-MM-dd" ); // throws IllegalArgumentException on invalid mask

Try / catch

try { stepMeta.getFields( rowMeta, origin, null, null, space, null ); } catch ( KettleStepException e ) { log.error( "Bad field definition: " + e.getCause(), e ); }

Prevention

Test Format masks on sample values in Spoon's preview before saving.
Use java.text.SimpleDateFormat/DecimalFormat-compatible patterns.
Prefer String type with no mask when no conversion is actually needed.

When it happens

Trigger: GetXMLDataMeta.getFields loop: new ValueMeta(...)/setConversionMask/setDecimalSymbol or r.addValueMeta throws while building the output row layout for a field whose Format/Length/Precision is invalid.

Common situations: Invalid or locale-inconsistent number/date format masks entered in the Fields tab, copy-pasted masks from other locales, empty format strings on typed fields.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid value" and "allowed values are" config errors: what your library rejected and how to fix it — this error's family across 41 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/23b209933892b4d0. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/xml/core/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/trans/steps/getxmldata/GetXMLDataMeta.java:946

    for ( i = 0; i < inputFields.length; i++ ) {
      GetXMLDataField field = inputFields[i];

      int type = field.getType();
      if ( type == ValueMeta.TYPE_NONE ) {
        type = ValueMeta.TYPE_STRING;
      }
      try {
        ValueMetaInterface v = ValueMetaFactory.createValueMeta( space.environmentSubstitute( field.getName() ), type );
        v.setLength( field.getLength() );
        v.setPrecision( field.getPrecision() );
        v.setOrigin( name );
        v.setConversionMask( field.getFormat() );
        v.setDecimalSymbol( field.getDecimalSymbol() );
        v.setGroupingSymbol( field.getGroupSymbol() );
        v.setCurrencySymbol( field.getCurrencySymbol() );
        r.addValueMeta( v );
      } catch ( Exception e ) {
        throw new KettleStepException( e );
      }
    }

    if ( includeFilename ) {
      ValueMetaInterface v = new ValueMeta( space.environmentSubstitute( filenameField ), ValueMeta.TYPE_STRING );
      v.setLength( 250 );
      v.setPrecision( -1 );
      v.setOrigin( name );
      r.addValueMeta( v );
    }

    if ( includeRowNumber ) {
      ValueMetaInterface v = new ValueMeta( space.environmentSubstitute( rowNumberField ), ValueMeta.TYPE_INTEGER );
      v.setLength( ValueMetaInterface.DEFAULT_INTEGER_LENGTH, 0 );
      v.setOrigin( name );
      r.addValueMeta( v );
    }
    // Add additional fields

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