pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleException

\nFailed to update object, error message was: \n

Error message

\nFailed to update object, error message was: \n

What it means

In SalesforceUpdate.flushBuffers(), when the batch update call itself throws (connection error, SOAP fault, anything before SaveResults are produced) and the step is NOT configured for error handling, it throws KettleException('\\nFailed to update object, error message was: \\n' + e.getMessage()). If error handling IS enabled, the row is instead routed to the error stream. This signals the entire Salesforce update call failed, not a single record.

Solutions

  1. Read the message after 'error message was:' — it carries the underlying connection/SOAP error.
  2. Test the Salesforce connection from the step dialog (Test connection) and re-enter the security token if the password changed.
  3. Reduce the batch size in the step settings to avoid oversized/timeout-prone requests.
  4. Enable error handling on the step so failed rows go to an error stream rather than killing the transformation.
Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Validate before calling

// Verify endpoint reachability before running
try {
  HttpURLConnection c = (HttpURLConnection) new URL(endpointUrl).openConnection();
  c.setConnectTimeout(5000);
  if (c.getResponseCode() >= 500) throw new IllegalStateException("Salesforce endpoint unhealthy");
} catch (IOException e) {
  throw new IllegalStateException("Cannot reach Salesforce endpoint", e);
}

Try / catch

try {
  trans.execute(null);
  trans.waitUntilFinished();
} catch (KettleException e) {
  if (e.getMessage().contains("Failed to update object")) {
    // transient Salesforce/network failure: back off and retry the transformation
  }
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: data.sf.update(...) (or equivalent batch call) throwing an exception: unreachable Salesforce endpoint, invalid session/login, SOAP connection reset, oversized batch, or API version incompatibility.

Common situations: Firewall/proxy blocking the Salesforce endpoint; expired password changed by admin invalidating the security token; batchSize too large causing timeouts; wrong API URL configured in the connection dialog.

Understand the failure class

Background: 'Something went wrong' / 'Request failed (500)' / 'HTTP error! status: 404' — what failed HTTP requests actually mean and how to find the real cause — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fb9d6ae1a94ad235. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/salesforce/core/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/trans/steps/salesforceupdate/SalesforceUpdate.java:249

          // Simply add this row to the error row
          if ( log.isDebug() ) {
            logDebug( "Passing row to error step" );
          }

          putError( getInputRowMeta(), data.outputBuffer[j], 1, errorMessage, null, "SalesforceUpdate001" );

        }

      }

      // reset the buffers
      data.sfBuffer = new SObject[meta.getBatchSizeInt()];
      data.outputBuffer = new Object[meta.getBatchSizeInt()][];
      data.iBufferPos = 0;

    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      if ( !getStepMeta().isDoingErrorHandling() ) {
        throw new KettleException( "\nFailed to update object, error message was: \n" + e.getMessage() );
      }

      // Simply add this row to the error row
      if ( log.isDebug() ) {
        logDebug( "Passing row to error step" );
      }

      for ( int i = 0; i < data.iBufferPos; i++ ) {
        putError( data.inputRowMeta, data.outputBuffer[i], 1, e.getMessage(), null, "SalesforceUpdate002" );
      }

    } finally {
      if ( data.saveResult != null ) {
        data.saveResult = null;
      }
    }

  }

View on GitHub (pinned to f3058517a1)