pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleException

Unable to load job entry from the repository for…

Error message

Unable to load job entry from the repository for id_jobentry={}

What it means

HL7MLLPInput.loadRep() loads the entry's attributes (server, port, message_variable, type_variable, version_variable) from the Pentaho repository. A KettleException from rep.getJobEntryAttributeString(...) is caught and rethrown as 'Unable to load job entry from the repository for id_jobentry=<id>' with the original error chained.

Solutions

Inspect the chained cause for the underlying repository error
Confirm the repository database is reachable and credentials work
Check r_jobentry_attribute rows for the reported id_jobentry and re-save the entry if missing
Re-create the job entry if its repository rows are orphaned

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

try { entry.loadRep(rep, metaStore, idJobentry, dbs, slaves); } catch (KettleException e) { log.error("Repo load failed for id_jobentry=" + idJobentry, e.getCause()); }

Prevention

Verify repository connectivity before opening jobs
Keep repositories in sync when migrating between environments
Re-save entries whose attributes fail to load

When it happens

Trigger: Calling loadRep when reading attributes for idJobentry throws — missing r_jobentry_attribute rows, repository DB unreachable, or repository API failure.

Common situations: Repository corruption or partial saves; jobs migrated between repositories without attribute rows; repository connectivity/authentication problems; orphaned entries after failed deletes.

Understand the failure class

Background: Database query failed: Internal Server Error 500s wrapping SQL, Prisma, and connection failures — what to check first — this error's family across 16 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5d4e73d697c5e25f. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/hl7/core/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/job/entries/hl7mllpin/HL7MLLPInput.java:124

      messageVariableName = XMLHandler.getTagValue( entrynode, "message_variable" );
      messageTypeVariableName = XMLHandler.getTagValue( entrynode, "type_variable" );
      versionVariableName = XMLHandler.getTagValue( entrynode, "version_variable" );
    } catch ( KettleXMLException xe ) {
      throw new KettleXMLException( "Unable to load job entry from XML node", xe );
    }
  }

  @Override
  public void loadRep( Repository rep, IMetaStore metaStore, ObjectId idJobentry, List<DatabaseMeta> databases,
      List<SlaveServer> slaveServers ) throws KettleException {
    try {
      server = rep.getJobEntryAttributeString( idJobentry, "server" );
      port = rep.getJobEntryAttributeString( idJobentry, "port" );
      messageVariableName = rep.getJobEntryAttributeString( idJobentry, "message_variable" );
      messageTypeVariableName = rep.getJobEntryAttributeString( idJobentry, "type_variable" );
      versionVariableName = rep.getJobEntryAttributeString( idJobentry, "version_variable" );
    } catch ( KettleException dbe ) {
      throw new KettleException( "Unable to load job entry from the repository for id_jobentry=" + idJobentry, dbe );
    }
  }

  public void saveRep( Repository rep, IMetaStore metaStore, ObjectId id_job ) throws KettleException {
    try {
      rep.saveJobEntryAttribute( id_job, getObjectId(), "server", server );
      rep.saveJobEntryAttribute( id_job, getObjectId(), "port", port );
      rep.saveJobEntryAttribute( id_job, getObjectId(), "message_variable", messageVariableName );
      rep.saveJobEntryAttribute( id_job, getObjectId(), "type_variable", messageTypeVariableName );
      rep.saveJobEntryAttribute( id_job, getObjectId(), "version_variable", versionVariableName );
    } catch ( KettleDatabaseException dbe ) {
      throw new KettleException( "Unable to save job entry of type 'ftp' to the repository for id_job=" + id_job, dbe );
    }
  }

  public Result execute( Result previousResult, int nr ) {
    Result result = previousResult;

View on GitHub (pinned to f3058517a1)