pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleXMLException

Unable to load job entry of type 'create file' from XML node

Error message

Unable to load job entry of type 'create file' from XML node

What it means

KettleXMLException thrown by JobEntryWriteToFile.loadXML when parsing the 'create file' (Write To File) job entry's XML node fails. The message is legacy ('create file') but the entry is the Write to File entry; the parse exception is chained as the cause.

Solutions

  1. Validate the job XML is well-formed
  2. Restore the kjb from backup/version control
  3. Recreate the Write to File job entry in Spoon
  4. Inspect the chained KettleXMLException for the exact parse failure

Example fix

// before
entry.loadXML(entrynode, databases, slaveServers); // throws
// after
try {
  entry.loadXML(entrynode, databases, slaveServers);
} catch (KettleXMLException e) {
  logError("Bad XML for write-to-file entry: " + e.getCause(), e);
}
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

Document doc = XMLHandler.loadXMLFile(inputStream);
if (doc == null) throw new IllegalArgumentException("invalid job XML");

Try / catch

try {
  entry.loadXML(entrynode, databases, slaveServers);
} catch (KettleXMLException e) {
  logError("XML load failed for write-to-file entry: " + e.getCause(), e);
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling loadXML on a node where XMLHandler.getTagValue fails — malformed XML, missing tags, or invalid characters in filename/content/encoding fields.

Common situations: Corrupted or hand-edited kjb files; XML truncated in transit; encoding mismatches when the content contains special characters.

Understand the failure class

Background: JSON parse error: "Unexpected token" / "not valid JSON" / "failed to parse" — what JSON parsers are really complaining about — this error's family across 45 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/30d0e2e82ad3458c. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at engine/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/job/entries/writetofile/JobEntryWriteToFile.java:112

    retval.append( "      " ).append( XMLHandler.addTagValue( "encoding", encoding ) );
    if ( parentJobMeta != null ) {
      parentJobMeta.getNamedClusterEmbedManager().registerUrl( filename );
    }

    return retval.toString();
  }

  public void loadXML( Node entrynode, List<DatabaseMeta> databases, List<SlaveServer> slaveServers,
    Repository rep, IMetaStore metaStore ) throws KettleXMLException {
    try {
      super.loadXML( entrynode, databases, slaveServers );
      filename = XMLHandler.getTagValue( entrynode, "filename" );
      createParentFolder = "Y".equalsIgnoreCase( XMLHandler.getTagValue( entrynode, "createParentFolder" ) );
      appendFile = "Y".equalsIgnoreCase( XMLHandler.getTagValue( entrynode, "appendFile" ) );
      content = XMLHandler.getTagValue( entrynode, "content" );
      encoding = XMLHandler.getTagValue( entrynode, "encoding" );
    } catch ( KettleXMLException xe ) {
      throw new KettleXMLException( "Unable to load job entry of type 'create file' from XML node", xe );
    }
  }

  public void loadRep( Repository rep, IMetaStore metaStore, ObjectId id_jobentry, List<DatabaseMeta> databases,
    List<SlaveServer> slaveServers ) throws KettleException {
    try {
      filename = rep.getJobEntryAttributeString( id_jobentry, "filename" );
      createParentFolder = rep.getJobEntryAttributeBoolean( id_jobentry, "createParentFolder" );
      appendFile = rep.getJobEntryAttributeBoolean( id_jobentry, "appendFile" );
      content = rep.getJobEntryAttributeString( id_jobentry, "content" );
      encoding = rep.getJobEntryAttributeString( id_jobentry, "encoding" );
    } catch ( KettleException dbe ) {
      throw new KettleException(
        "Unable to load job entry of type 'create file' from the repository for id_jobentry=" + id_jobentry, dbe );
    }
  }

  public void saveRep( Repository rep, IMetaStore metaStore, ObjectId id_job ) throws KettleException {

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