pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleException

GetTableNamesMeta.Exception.UnexpectedErrorReadingStepInfo

GetTableNamesMeta.Exception.UnexpectedErrorReadingStepInfo

Error message

GetTableNamesMeta.Exception.UnexpectedErrorReadingStepInfo

What it means

GetTableNamesMeta.readRep loads the step's settings from repository step attributes and wraps any exception in a KettleException with this localized 'Unexpected error reading step info' message. It indicates the step's stored attributes could not be read from the repository (read failure, bad stored value, or repository error).

Solutions

Inspect the cause chain for the underlying repository exception.
Reconnect to the repository and retry loading the transformation.
Open the step in Spoon and re-save it to rewrite its attributes cleanly.
Verify repository schema/version matches your Pentaho client version.

Example fix

// before
try {
  loadTransformationFromRepository( rep, id_step );
} catch ( KettleException e ) {
  // Unexpected error reading step info - no recovery
}
// after
try {
  loadTransformationFromRepository( rep, id_step );
} catch ( KettleException e ) {
  rep.disconnect();
  rep.connect( env, user, pass );
  loadTransformationFromRepository( rep, id_step ); // retry after reconnect
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

if ( rep == null || !rep.isConnected() ) {
  throw new IllegalStateException( "Repository not connected before readRep" );
}

Try / catch

try {
  transMeta.readRep( rep, metaStore, idStep, null );
} catch ( KettleException e ) {
  logError( "Repository read failed: " + e.getCause() );
  // reconnect and retry once
}

Prevention

Verify repository connectivity and credentials before loading transformations.
Re-save steps after Pentaho version upgrades to refresh stored attributes.
Monitor repository DB availability in scheduled jobs.

When it happens

Trigger: readRep throws while calling rep.getStepAttributeString / numeric getters for the step's attributes — e.g. repository connection drops, attribute value cannot be converted to a number/boolean, or the id_step no longer exists.

Common situations: Repository partially migrated between Pentaho versions so stored attribute types changed; repository connection lost during transformation load; stale id_step after repository cleanup.

Understand the failure class

Background: "failed to read file", EACCES, ENOENT and "could not read <path>" errors: when a program can't read a file from disk — this error's family across 49 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d205796e75667b6c. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at engine/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/trans/steps/gettablenames/GetTableNamesMeta.java:433

      includeCatalog = rep.getStepAttributeBoolean( id_step, "includeCatalog" );
      includeSchema = rep.getStepAttributeBoolean( id_step, "includeSchema" );
      includeTable = rep.getStepAttributeBoolean( id_step, "includeTable" );
      includeView = rep.getStepAttributeBoolean( id_step, "includeView" );
      includeProcedure = rep.getStepAttributeBoolean( id_step, "includeProcedure" );
      includeSynonym = rep.getStepAttributeBoolean( id_step, "includeSynonym" );
      addSchemaInOutput = rep.getStepAttributeBoolean( id_step, "addSchemaInOutput" );
      dynamicSchema = rep.getStepAttributeBoolean( id_step, "dynamicSchema" );
      schemaNameField = rep.getStepAttributeString( id_step, "schemaNameField" );

      if ( rep.getStepAttributeString( id_step, "schenameNameField" ) != null ) {
        /*
         * Fix for wrong field name in the 7.0. Can be removed if we don't want to keep backward compatibility with 7.0
         * tranformations.
         */
        schemaNameField = rep.getStepAttributeString( id_step, "schenameNameField" );
      }
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new KettleException( BaseMessages.getString(
        PKG, "GetTableNamesMeta.Exception.UnexpectedErrorReadingStepInfo" ), e );
    }
  }

  public void saveRep( Repository rep, IMetaStore metaStore, ObjectId id_transformation, ObjectId id_step ) throws KettleException {
    try {
      rep.saveDatabaseMetaStepAttribute( id_transformation, id_step, "id_connection", database );
      rep.saveStepAttribute( id_transformation, id_step, "schemaname", schemaname );
      rep.saveStepAttribute( id_transformation, id_step, "tablenamefieldname", tablenamefieldname );
      rep.saveStepAttribute( id_transformation, id_step, "objecttypefieldname", objecttypefieldname );
      rep.saveStepAttribute( id_transformation, id_step, "sqlcreationfieldname", sqlcreationfieldname );

      rep.saveStepAttribute( id_transformation, id_step, "issystemobjectfieldname", issystemobjectfieldname );
      // Also, save the step-database relationship!
      if ( database != null ) {
        rep.insertStepDatabase( id_transformation, id_step, database.getObjectId() );
      }
      rep.saveStepAttribute( id_transformation, id_step, "includeCatalog", includeCatalog );

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