pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleXMLException

Unable to load step info from XML

Error message

Unable to load step info from XML

What it means

KettleXMLException with the literal message 'Unable to load step info from XML' thrown by FieldsChangeSequenceMeta.readData() (called via loadXML) when parsing the step's <fields> node fails — e.g. reading the nrfields count or per-field <field>/<name> tags. It wraps the original exception so the transformation cannot load.

Solutions

  1. Validate the .ktr XML and ensure the FieldsChangeSequence step node contains a <fields> element with <field><name> entries.
  2. Inspect getCause() of the KettleXMLException for the exact parse/NPE cause.
  3. Recreate the step in Spoon and re-save the transformation.
  4. Restore the transformation file from backup or version control.

Example fix

// before: fields block missing
<fields/>
// after: valid fields block
<fields>
  <field><name>status</name></field>
  <field><name>region</name></field>
</fields>
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance().newDocumentBuilder().parse(new File(ktrPath)); // pre-validate XML

Try / catch

try { transMeta = new TransMeta(ktrPath); } catch (KettleXMLException e) { log.error("step XML invalid: " + e.getCause(), e); }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: An Exception occurs in readData() while calling XMLHandler.getNodes/getSubNodeByNr/getTagValue on the stepnode — malformed XML, missing <fields> element, or null fnode causing NPE when reading 'name'.

Common situations: Hand-edited .ktr where the fields block was deleted; truncated/corrupt file from a failed save; step XML copied between transformations missing the fields section; version drift in the XML layout.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/729c03eed25fa618. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at engine/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/trans/steps/fieldschangesequence/FieldsChangeSequenceMeta.java:149

  }

  private void readData( Node stepnode ) throws KettleXMLException {
    try {
      start = XMLHandler.getTagValue( stepnode, "start" );
      increment = XMLHandler.getTagValue( stepnode, "increment" );
      resultfieldName = XMLHandler.getTagValue( stepnode, "resultfieldName" );

      Node fields = XMLHandler.getSubNode( stepnode, "fields" );
      int nrfields = XMLHandler.countNodes( fields, "field" );

      allocate( nrfields );

      for ( int i = 0; i < nrfields; i++ ) {
        Node fnode = XMLHandler.getSubNodeByNr( fields, "field", i );
        fieldName[i] = XMLHandler.getTagValue( fnode, "name" );
      }
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new KettleXMLException( "Unable to load step info from XML", e );
    }
  }

  @Override
  public String getXML() {
    StringBuilder retval = new StringBuilder();
    retval.append( "      " + XMLHandler.addTagValue( "start", start ) );
    retval.append( "      " + XMLHandler.addTagValue( "increment", increment ) );
    retval.append( "      " + XMLHandler.addTagValue( "resultfieldName", resultfieldName ) );

    retval.append( "    <fields>" + Const.CR );
    for ( int i = 0; i < fieldName.length; i++ ) {
      retval.append( "      <field>" + Const.CR );
      retval.append( "        " + XMLHandler.addTagValue( "name", fieldName[i] ) );
      retval.append( "        </field>" + Const.CR );
    }
    retval.append( "      </fields>" + Const.CR );

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