What causes "Error inserting row into table [ ] with values: " in pentaho/pentaho-kettle?

Inspect the wrapped KettleDatabaseException cause (dbe) for the actual SQL error and fix the data/schema issue.

pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleException

Error inserting row into table

Error message

Error inserting row into table [<tableName>] with values: <row>

What it means

Thrown in lookupValues()'s catch of KettleDatabaseException when the step is not doing row-level error handling: the step rolls back the transaction and rethrows a KettleException naming the target table and the full offending input row, so the developer sees exactly which row and table caused the insert/update/delete to fail.

Solutions

Inspect the wrapped KettleDatabaseException cause (dbe) for the actual SQL error and fix the data/schema issue.
Compare the printed row values against the target table column definitions for type/length mismatches.
Enable error handling on the step to route failing rows to an error stream instead of failing the whole transformation.
Verify the connection user has INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE privileges on the target table.

Example fix

// before: stream field String into NUMBER column
// after: add a 'Select values' step converting the field to Integer before SynchronizeAfterMerge

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// Pre-validate row fits target schema
if (rowValue.length(targetColumn) > columnMaxLen) {
  throw new ValidationException("Value too long for column: " + targetColumn);
}

Try / catch

catch (KettleException e) {
  if (e.getMessage().startsWith("Error inserting row into table")) {
    logError("Row failed: " + e.getMessage() + "; cause: " + e.getCause());
  }
  throw e;
}

Prevention

Match stream field types and lengths to target column definitions.
Grant the connection user required DML privileges.
Enable error handling to capture failing rows instead of rolling back the whole run.

When it happens

Trigger: A KettleDatabaseException (SQLException from executing the DML for the current row) is caught; getStepMeta().isDoingErrorHandling() is false; the code increments errors, rolls back data.db, and throws with data.realTableName and data.inputRowMeta.getString(row).

Common situations: Constraint violations (PK/unique/FK/not null), value too long for column, type mismatch between stream field and column, table dropped or renamed, permission denied on the target table.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e2a15919e975955f. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at engine/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/trans/steps/synchronizeaftermerge/SynchronizeAfterMerge.java:446

        if ( log.isRowLevel() ) {
          logRowlevel( "Written row to error handling : " + getInputRowMeta().getString( row ) );
        }

        if ( data.specialErrorHandling && data.supportsSavepoints ) {
          if ( data.savepoint != null || !data.lookupFailure ) {
            // do this when savepoint was set, and this is not lookup failure PDI-10878
            data.db.rollback( data.savepoint );
            if ( data.releaseSavepoint ) {
              data.db.releaseSavepoint( data.savepoint );
            }
          }
        }
        sendToErrorRow = true;
        errorMessage = dbe.toString();
      } else {
        setErrors( getErrors() + 1 );
        data.db.rollback();
        throw new KettleException( "Error inserting row into table [" + data.realTableName + "] with values: "
          + data.inputRowMeta.getString( row ), dbe );
      }
    }

    if ( data.batchMode ) {
      if ( sendToErrorRow ) {
        if ( batchProblem ) {
          data.batchBuffer.add( row );
          processBatchException( errorMessage, updateCounts, exceptionsList );
        } else {
          // Simply add this row to the error row
          putError( data.inputRowMeta, row, 1L, errorMessage, null, "SUYNC002" );
        }
      } else {
        if ( !lineSkipped ) {
          data.batchBuffer.add( row );
        }

View on GitHub (pinned to f3058517a1)