pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleException

ExcelInput.Exception.InvalidTypeNumber

ExcelInput.Exception.InvalidTypeNumber

Error message

ExcelInput.Exception.InvalidTypeNumber

What it means

ExcelInput.checkType() throws this KettleException when an Excel cell contains a NUMBER but the field's declared target type is not String, None, Integer, BigNumber, or Number. A numeric cell cannot be fed to Boolean, Date, or other incompatible types.

Solutions

1. Change the field's Type to Number, Integer, BigNumber, or String in the Excel Input step dialog
2. If a Date is expected, fix the sheet cell formatting to a real date (Excel stores dates as numbers) and keep the field type as Date
3. Read as Number and convert downstream (Calculator / Select values) if a different type is required
4. Preview rows to confirm detected cell types before executing the transformation

Example fix

// before
field: columnName=created, type=Date  // Excel cell is a raw number
// after
field: columnName=created, type=Number  // then convert serial to date downstream
// or fix the Excel column format to a Date type

int cellType = cell.getType();
int fieldType = v.getType();
boolean ok = cellType == KCellType.NUMBER
  && ( fieldType == ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_STRING
    || fieldType == ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_NONE
    || fieldType == ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_INTEGER
    || fieldType == ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_BIGNUMBER
    || fieldType == ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_NUMBER );
if ( !ok ) { /* fix field type or sheet cell formatting */ }

boolean acceptsNumberCell( ValueMetaInterface v ) {
  int t = v.getType();
  return t == ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_STRING
    || t == ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_NONE
    || t == ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_INTEGER
    || t == ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_BIGNUMBER
    || t == ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_NUMBER;
}

try {
  row = excelInput.fillRow( cells, ... );
} catch ( KettleException e ) {
  if ( e.getMessage().contains( "InvalidTypeNumber" ) ) {
    // change the field to Number/String or fix the sheet to emit real dates
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: fillRow() encounters a numeric cell while the mapped field is declared as Boolean, Date, or another non-numeric-accepting type in the Excel Input step metadata.

Common situations: A column that previously contained dates/text now contains numeric serial numbers or values, while the field is still typed as Date or Boolean.

Understand the failure class

Background: Type mismatch errors: IllegalArgumentException, TypeError and type guards across 150 open-source libraries — this error's family across 150 libraries.

Related errors

• ExcelInput.Exception.InvalidTypeBoolean
• ExcelInput.Exception.InvalidTypeDate
• ExcelInput.Exception.InvalidTypeLabel
• GPLoadDataOutput.Exception.TypeNotSupported
• MondrianInputErrorUnhandledType

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/600d56905e5125b5. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/excel/core/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/trans/steps/excelinput/ExcelInput.java:354

      case LABEL:
        if ( v.getType() == ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_BOOLEAN
          || v.getType() == ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_DATE || v.getType() == ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_INTEGER
          || v.getType() == ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_NUMBER ) {
          throw new KettleException( BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "ExcelInput.Exception.InvalidTypeLabel", cell
            .getContents(), v.getTypeDesc() ) );
        }
        break;

      case EMPTY:
        // OK
        break;

      case NUMBER:
        if ( !( v.getType() == ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_STRING
          || v.getType() == ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_NONE || v.getType() == ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_INTEGER
          || v.getType() == ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_BIGNUMBER || v.getType() == ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_NUMBER ) ) {
          throw new KettleException( BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "ExcelInput.Exception.InvalidTypeNumber", cell
            .getContents(), v.getTypeDesc() ) );
        }
        break;

      default:
        throw new KettleException( BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "ExcelInput.Exception.UnsupportedType", cell
          .getType().getDescription(), cell.getContents() ) );
    }
  }

  public boolean processRow( StepMetaInterface smi, StepDataInterface sdi ) throws KettleException {
    meta = (ExcelInputMeta) smi;
    data = (ExcelInputData) sdi;

    if ( first ) {
      first = false;

      data.outputRowMeta = new RowMeta(); // start from scratch!

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