pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleXMLException

PGPEncryptStreamMeta.Exception.UnableToReadStepInfo

Error message

PGPEncryptStreamMeta.Exception.UnableToReadStepInfo

What it means

KettleXMLException thrown by PGPEncryptStreamMeta.readData when parsing the step's XML node fails. The method reads attributes (keyname, keynameInField, keynameFieldName, streamfield, resultfieldname) via XMLHandler; any exception while reading these tags is wrapped with this message. It indicates the transformation XML is malformed or missing expected elements for the PGP Encrypt Stream step.

Solutions

  1. Open the .ktr in a text editor and validate the XML well-formedness and the <step> node for the PGP Encrypt Stream step.
  2. Re-create the step in Spoon and re-save the transformation to regenerate correct XML.
  3. Check that the file was exported from a compatible Pentaho Data Integration version; re-export if not.

Example fix

// before: hand-edited XML with missing/corrupt step node
<step><name>PGP</name><type>PGPEncryptStream</type>
// after: re-save from Spoon so loadXML sees a complete node
<step><name>PGP</name><type>PGPEncryptStream</type><keyname/><keynameInField>N</keynameInField><streamfield/><resultfieldname/>...</step>
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// Validate XML before loadXML
Document doc = XMLHandler.loadXMLFile(new File(ktrPath)); // throws on malformed
Node step = XMLHandler.getSubNode(XMLHandler.getSubNode(doc, "transformation"), "step");
if (step == null || XMLHandler.getTagValue(step, "type") == null) throw new IllegalStateException("invalid step XML");

Try / catch

try { meta.loadXML(stepNode, databases, metaStore); } catch (KettleXMLException e) { log.error("Corrupt PGP step XML: " + e.getCause(), e); throw e; }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: loadXML calls readData with a step node whose XML is corrupt, hand-edited, produced by an incompatible Pentaho version, or missing tags that XMLHandler.getTagValue cannot process; XMLHandler itself throws a parse exception.

Common situations: Opening a ktr file edited manually or by another tool; importing transformations exported from a different PDI version; XML file truncated or with encoding issues.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e0259102f2eb2861. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at engine/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/trans/steps/pgpencryptstream/PGPEncryptStreamMeta.java:230

    retval.append( "    " + XMLHandler.addTagValue( "keyname", keyname ) );
    retval.append( "    " + XMLHandler.addTagValue( "keynameInField", keynameInField ) );
    retval.append( "    " + XMLHandler.addTagValue( "keynameFieldName", keynameFieldName ) );
    retval.append( "    " + XMLHandler.addTagValue( "streamfield", streamfield ) );
    retval.append( "    " + XMLHandler.addTagValue( "resultfieldname", resultfieldname ) );
    return retval.toString();
  }

  private void readData( Node stepnode, List<DatabaseMeta> databases ) throws KettleXMLException {
    try {
      gpglocation = XMLHandler.getTagValue( stepnode, "gpglocation" );
      keyname = XMLHandler.getTagValue( stepnode, "keyname" );

      keynameInField = "Y".equalsIgnoreCase( XMLHandler.getTagValue( stepnode, "keynameInField" ) );
      keynameFieldName = XMLHandler.getTagValue( stepnode, "keynameFieldName" );
      streamfield = XMLHandler.getTagValue( stepnode, "streamfield" );
      resultfieldname = XMLHandler.getTagValue( stepnode, "resultfieldname" );
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new KettleXMLException( BaseMessages.getString(
        PKG, "PGPEncryptStreamMeta.Exception.UnableToReadStepInfo" ), e );
    }
  }

  @Override
  public void readRep( Repository rep, IMetaStore metaStore, ObjectId id_step, List<DatabaseMeta> databases ) throws KettleException {
    try {
      gpglocation = rep.getStepAttributeString( id_step, "gpglocation" );
      keyname = rep.getStepAttributeString( id_step, "keyname" );
      keynameInField = rep.getStepAttributeBoolean( id_step, "keynameInField" );
      keynameFieldName = rep.getStepAttributeString( id_step, "keynameFieldName" );
      streamfield = rep.getStepAttributeString( id_step, "streamfield" );
      resultfieldname = rep.getStepAttributeString( id_step, "resultfieldname" );
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new KettleException( BaseMessages.getString(
        PKG, "PGPEncryptStreamMeta.Exception.UnexpectedErrorReadingStepInfo" ), e );
    }
  }

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