pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleXMLException

Unable to load step info from XML

Error message

Unable to load step info from XML

What it means

MondrianInputMeta.readData parses the step's XML node (connection, sql, catalog, role, variables_active tags) when a transformation is loaded from a .ktr file. Any exception during deserialization is wrapped in a KettleXMLException with this fixed message. It signals a malformed or incompatible step XML block in the transformation file.

Solutions

1. Open the .ktr in a text editor and verify the step XML node contains connection, sql, catalog, role and variables_active tags with valid values
2. Confirm the referenced connection name exists in the transformation's <connection> definitions
3. Recreate or re-save the Mondrian input step in Spoon to regenerate well-formed XML
4. Check PDI version compatibility between the file and the running engine

// Validate a .ktr before loading
String xml = new String(Files.readAllBytes(Paths.get("trans.ktr")), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
Document doc = XMLHandler.loadXMLString(xml);
Node step = XMLHandler.getSubNode(doc, "step");
for (String tag : new String[]{"connection", "sql", "catalog", "role", "variables_active"}) {
  if (XMLHandler.getTagValue(step, tag) == null) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Missing tag in Mondrian step XML: " + tag);
  }
}

null

try {
  transMeta = new TransMeta("trans.ktr", metaStore);
} catch (KettleXMLException e) {
  if (e.getMessage().contains("Unable to load step info from XML")) {
    logError("Corrupt .ktr Mondrian step block; check XML tags", e);
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: loadXML is called on a .ktr whose Mondrian input step node is missing expected child tags or contains values that make XMLHandler/DatabaseMeta.findDatabase throw (e.g. null stepnode, corrupt connection reference).

Common situations: Hand-edited or partially migrated .ktr files; transformations authored in a different PDI version with changed XML layout; truncated or corrupted exports.

Understand the failure class

Background: "failed to unmarshal" / json.Unmarshal errors: why parsing a response into a Go struct fails and how to fix it — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

• Unable to load step info from XML
• AbortMeta.Exception.UnexpectedErrorInReadingStepInfoFromRepo…
• CloneRowMeta.Exception.UnableToReadStepInfo
• ColumnExistsMeta.Exception.UnableToReadStepInfo
• CreditCardValidatorMeta.Exception.UnableToReadStepInfo

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a63236dfdec0722e. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/mondrianinput/impl/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/trans/steps/mondrianinput/MondrianInputMeta.java:136

  public void loadXML( Node stepnode, List<DatabaseMeta> databases, IMetaStore metaStore ) throws KettleXMLException {
    readData( stepnode, databases );
  }

  public Object clone() {
    MondrianInputMeta retval = (MondrianInputMeta) super.clone();
    return retval;
  }

  private void readData( Node stepnode, List<DatabaseMeta> databases ) throws KettleXMLException {
    try {
      databaseMeta = DatabaseMeta.findDatabase( databases, XMLHandler.getTagValue( stepnode, "connection" ) );
      sql = XMLHandler.getTagValue( stepnode, "sql" );
      catalog = XMLHandler.getTagValue( stepnode, "catalog" );
      role = XMLHandler.getTagValue( stepnode, "role" );
      variableReplacementActive = "Y".equals( XMLHandler.getTagValue( stepnode, "variables_active" ) );
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new KettleXMLException( "Unable to load step info from XML", e );
    }
  }

  public void setDefault() {
    databaseMeta = null;
    sql =
      "select\n"
        + " {([Gender].[F], [Measures].[Unit Sales]),\n" + "  ([Gender].[M], [Measures].[Store Sales]),\n"
        + "  ([Gender].[F], [Measures].[Unit Sales])} on columns,\n"
        + " CrossJoin([Marital Status].Members,\n" + "           [Product].Children) on rows\n"
        + "from [Sales]";
    variableReplacementActive = false;
  }

  @Override
  public void getFields( Bowl bowl, RowMetaInterface row, String origin, RowMetaInterface[] info, StepMeta nextStep,
    VariableSpace space, Repository repository, IMetaStore metaStore ) throws KettleStepException {
    if ( databaseMeta == null ) {

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