pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleException

RepositoryExplorerDialog.Exception.NameCanNotBeEmpty

Error message

RepositoryExplorerDialog.Exception.NameCanNotBeEmpty

What it means

renameTransformation() validates that the new transformation name is non-empty before renaming it in the repository. If Utils.isEmpty(newname), it throws KettleException 'RepositoryExplorerDialog.Exception.NameCanNotBeEmpty'. The repository rejects renames to an empty string because object names are required keys.

Solutions

1. Provide a non-empty new name in the rename dialog before confirming.
2. Trim and validate the new name in code before calling renameTransformation.
3. If the UI allows empty confirmation, guard the dialog's ok() handler to reject blank input.

Example fix

// before
explorer.renameTransformation( name, newNameInput, repdir );
// after
String trimmed = newNameInput == null ? "" : newNameInput.trim();
if ( !trimmed.isEmpty() ) {
  explorer.renameTransformation( name, trimmed, repdir );
}

public static boolean isValidNewName( String name ) {
  return name != null && !name.trim().isEmpty();
}
// before calling:
if ( !isValidNewName( newName ) ) { /* block rename */ }

try {
  explorer.renameTransformation( name, newName, repdir );
} catch ( KettleException e ) {
  if ( e.getMessage().contains( "NameCanNotBeEmpty" ) ) {
    showWarning( "Name cannot be empty" );
  } else {
    throw e;
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking renameTransformation(name, newname, repdir) with newname == null or "" — typically from the explorer's rename dialog after the user clears the name field and confirms.

Common situations: User pastes whitespace-only text or deletes the default name in the rename dialog; scripted repository maintenance calls passing an empty new name.

Understand the failure class

Background: "must not be empty", "cannot be empty" — required-field validation errors across open-source libraries — this error's family across 41 libraries.

Related errors

• PurRepository.fileCannotBeSavedInRootDirectory
• AbsSecurityProvider.ERROR_0002_UNABLE_TO_ACCESS_IS_ALLOWED
• AccessInputMeta.Exception.ErrorReadingRepository
• AddSequenceMeta.Exception.UnableToReadStepInfo
• AddSequenceMeta.Exception.UnableToSaveStepInfo

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/13d111792e87eb33. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at ui/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/ui/repository/dialog/RepositoryExplorerDialog.java:1828

      editor.grabHorizontal = true;
      editor.grabVertical = true;
      editor.minimumWidth = 50;

      text.selectAll();
      text.setFocus();

      editor.layout();
      editor.setEditor( text );
    }
    return retval;
  }

  public boolean renameTransformation( String name, String newname, RepositoryDirectoryInterface repdir ) {
    boolean retval = false;

    try {
      if ( Utils.isEmpty( newname ) ) {
        throw new KettleException( BaseMessages.getString(
          PKG, "RepositoryExplorerDialog.Exception.NameCanNotBeEmpty" ) );
      }
      if ( !name.equals( newname ) ) {
        ObjectId id = rep.getTransformationID( name, repdir );
        if ( id != null ) {
          // System.out.println("Renaming transformation ["+name+"] with ID = "+id);
          String comment = BaseMessages.getString( REPOSITORY_PKG, "Repository.Rename", name, newname );
          rep.renameTransformation( id, comment, repdir, newname );
          retval = true;
        }
      } else {
        MessageBox mb = new MessageBox( shell, SWT.ICON_ERROR | SWT.OK );
        mb
          .setMessage( BaseMessages.getString(
            PKG, "RepositoryExplorerDialog.Trans.Rename.ErrorFinding.Message1" )
            + name + "]" + Const.CR
            + BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "RepositoryExplorerDialog.Trans.Rename.ErrorFinding.Message2" ) );
        mb.setText( BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "RepositoryExplorerDialog.Trans.Rename.ErrorFinding.Title" ) );

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