pentaho/pentaho-kettle · warning · KettleFileException

Error getting file resource!

Error message

Error getting file resource!

What it means

In getResourcesFromMeta of ExcelOutputMeta's external resource consumer, a null IExternalResourceInfo from ExternalResourceInfoFactory.createFileResource triggers this KettleFileException. It is immediately caught and swallowed by the adjacent catch block ('TODO throw or ignore?'), so it never propagates to callers.

Solutions

1. Note this exception is currently swallowed — debug by logging inside the catch block or stepping through getResourcesFromMeta.
2. Verify the Excel output filename resolves to a concrete, existing path after environment substitution.
3. If resources must be reported, change the catch block to rethrow or collect the failure instead of ignoring it.
4. Check that no null/empty filename is passed into KettleVFS.getFileObject before factory creation.

Example fix

// before
} catch ( KettleFileException kfe ) {
  // TODO throw or ignore?
}
// after
} catch ( KettleFileException kfe ) {
  log.logError( "Could not resolve file resource for path: " + path, kfe );
}

FileObject fo = KettleVFS.getInstance( bowl ).getFileObject( path );
if ( fo == null || !fo.exists() ) logBasic( "Resource path not resolvable: " + path );

// exception is currently swallowed by the library; treat resource listing as best-effort and check logs

When it happens

Trigger: createFileResource() returns null for the resolved file path of the Excel output while listing resources — typically when the FileObject for the step's filename cannot be turned into a file resource descriptor.

Common situations: Testing external resource dependencies (resources()/testExcelOutputExternalResourceConsumer) with an unresolvable or variable-substituted-wrong filename; filename points to a VFS location the factory cannot describe; running the step's resource test before the output file/path is valid.

Understand the failure class

Background: 'Could not be found', 'does not exist', 'not found in database': the resource-not-found family when an ID, slug, key, or URI lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• ExcelInputLog.ImageFileNotExists
• KettleException( e )
• KettleException( e )
• Unable to add filename to the result
• Unable to load step info from XML

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b903dbb8a2a92e52. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/excel/core/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/trans/steps/exceloutput/ExcelOutputExternalResourceConsumer.java:63

    if ( !isDataDriven( meta ) /* TODO */ ) {
      StepMeta parentStepMeta = meta.getParentStepMeta();
      if ( parentStepMeta != null ) {
        TransMeta parentTransMeta = parentStepMeta.getParentTransMeta();
        if ( parentTransMeta != null ) {
          String[] paths = meta.getFiles( parentTransMeta );
          if ( paths != null ) {
            resources = new ArrayList<IExternalResourceInfo>( paths.length );

            for ( String path : paths ) {
              if ( !Const.isEmpty( path ) ) {
                try {

                  IExternalResourceInfo resource = ExternalResourceInfoFactory.createFileResource(
                    KettleVFS.getInstance( parentTransMeta.getBowl() ).getFileObject( path ), false );
                  if ( resource != null ) {
                    resources.add( resource );
                  } else {
                    throw new KettleFileException( "Error getting file resource!" );
                  }
                } catch ( KettleFileException kfe ) {
                  // TODO throw or ignore?
                }
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
    return resources;
  }

  @Override
  public Collection<IExternalResourceInfo> getResourcesFromRow( ExcelOutput excelOutput, RowMetaInterface rowMeta,
                                                                Object[] row ) {
    Collection<IExternalResourceInfo> resources = new LinkedList<IExternalResourceInfo>();
    // For some reason the step doesn't return the StepMetaInterface directly, so go around it

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