pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleException

Unable to get ID for [type] [name]

Error message

Unable to get ID for [type] [name]

What it means

getObjectID(name, type) failed: it resolves an object name of a given RepositoryObjectType to its ObjectId by listing all files of that type and matching the title; any exception is wrapped as 'Unable to get ID for [type] [name]'. Returns null-ish objectId when not found; throws only when the lookup itself fails.

Solutions

1. Check the wrapped cause first: distinguish lookup failure (throw) from not-found (returns null).
2. Verify the object exists via the repository browser UI before resolving its ID by name.
3. Ensure the user has read access to the folder containing that object type.
4. Handle the null return for missing names instead of relying on exceptions.

Example fix

// before
ObjectId id = repo.getDatabaseID("MySQL DW");
// after
ObjectId id = repo.getDatabaseID("MySQL DW");
if (id == null) {
  throw new KettleException("Database 'MySQL DW' not found");
}

if (name == null || name.isBlank()) throw new IllegalArgumentException("Name required for ID lookup");

null

try {
  id = repo.getDatabaseID(name);
} catch (KettleException e) {
  log.error("ID lookup for {} failed: {}", name, e.getCause());
  throw e;
}
if (id == null) throw new KettleException(name + " not found");

When it happens

Trigger: Calling getDatabaseID/getClusterID/etc. (all delegating to getObjectID) when the listing of all files of the type throws, or when matching logic fails unexpectedly — bad type, service error, unreadable folder.

Common situations: Looking up a transformation/job/database by name against a folder the user cannot read; passing a name that never existed (not an exception here, returns null); server connectivity loss.

Understand the failure class

Background: Record Not Found Errors: "not found", RecordNotFound, and "was not found" — what they mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• AbsSecurityProvider.ERROR_0002_UNABLE_TO_ACCESS_IS_ALLOWED
• AddSequenceMeta.Exception.UnableToReadStepInfo
• AddSequenceMeta.Exception.UnableToSaveStepInfo
• Attempting to create PDI Repository with no Active…
• Cannot delete another users home directory

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5b2968bb0417df69. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/pur/core/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/repository/pur/PurRepository.java:1037

  private ObjectId getObjectID( String name, RepositoryObjectType type ) throws KettleException {
    try {
      ObjectId objectId = getObjectId( name, null, type, false );
      if ( objectId == null ) {
        List<RepositoryFile> allFilesOfType = getAllFilesOfType( null, type, false );
        String[] existingNames = new String[ allFilesOfType.size() ];
        for ( int i = 0; i < allFilesOfType.size(); i++ ) {
          RepositoryFile file = allFilesOfType.get( i );
          existingNames[ i ] = file.getTitle();
        }
        int index = DatabaseMeta.indexOfName( existingNames, name );
        if ( index != -1 ) {
          return new StringObjectId( allFilesOfType.get( index ).getId().toString() );
        }
      }
      return objectId;
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new KettleException( "Unable to get ID for " + type + " [" + name + "]", e );
    }
  }

  /**
   * Copying the behavior of the original JCRRepository, this implementation returns IDs of deleted objects too.
   */
  private ObjectId getObjectId( final String name, final RepositoryDirectoryInterface dir,
                                final RepositoryObjectType objectType, boolean includedDeleteFiles ) {
    final String absPath = getPath( name, dir, objectType );

    readWriteLock.readLock().lock();
    try {
      RepositoryFile file;
      file = pur.getFile( absPath );

      if ( file != null ) {
        // file exists
        return new StringObjectId( file.getId().toString() );

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