pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleXMLException

Unable to read Notepad info from XML

Error message

Unable to read Notepad info from XML

What it means

The NotePadMeta(Node) constructor parses the <notepad> XML node of a transformation/job file; any exception while reading its tag values (bounds, colors, fonts, shadow flag) is wrapped as KettleXMLException 'Unable to read Notepad info from XML'. It indicates a malformed or incomplete note element in the .ktr/.kjb file.

Solutions

  1. Open the file, locate the <notepad> element, and fix/remove the malformed attributes; the chained cause (getCause()) names the exact problem.
  2. If the note is dispensable, delete the whole <notepad> node from the XML and reopen the file.
  3. Re-save the transformation/job from Spoon to regenerate valid XML.
  4. Restore the file from version control or backup.

Example fix

// before
<notepad>
  <xlocation>abc</xlocation>
</notepad>
// after
<notepad>
  <xlocation>100</xlocation>
  <ylocation>100</ylocation>
  <width>200</width>
  <height>50</height>
  <fontname>Arial</fontname>
</notepad>
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

Node np = XMLHandler.getSubNode(transNode, "notepad");
if (np != null && Const.toInt(XMLHandler.getTagValue(np, "xlocation"), -1) < 0) {
  throw new KettleXMLException("Invalid <notepad> block");
}

Try / catch

try { NotePadMeta n = new NotePadMeta(notepadNode); } catch (KettleXMLException e) { logError("Skipping corrupt note: " + e.getCause(), e); }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Constructing NotePadMeta from an XML node whose child tags (xlocation, ylocation, width, height, fontname, borderscolor, etc.) are missing, non-numeric, or the node itself is null.

Common situations: Hand-edited or externally generated .ktr/.kjb files with damaged <notepad> blocks; older file versions lacking newer attributes combined with stricter parsing; corrupted files from failed VCS merges or truncation.

Understand the failure class

Background: "failed to read file", EACCES, ENOENT and "could not read <path>" errors: when a program can't read a file from disk — this error's family across 49 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9a6896edad198478. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at engine/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/core/NotePadMeta.java:165

      this.fontcolorblue =
        Const.toInt( XMLHandler.getTagValue( notepadnode, "fontcolorblue" ), COLOR_RGB_BLACK_BLUE );
      // background color
      this.backgroundcolorred =
        Const.toInt( XMLHandler.getTagValue( notepadnode, "backgroundcolorred" ), COLOR_RGB_DEFAULT_BG_RED );
      this.backgroundcolorgreen =
        Const.toInt( XMLHandler.getTagValue( notepadnode, "backgroundcolorgreen" ), COLOR_RGB_DEFAULT_BG_GREEN );
      this.backgroundcolorblue =
        Const.toInt( XMLHandler.getTagValue( notepadnode, "backgroundcolorblue" ), COLOR_RGB_DEFAULT_BG_BLUE );
      // border color
      this.bordercolorred =
        Const.toInt( XMLHandler.getTagValue( notepadnode, "bordercolorred" ), COLOR_RGB_DEFAULT_BORDER_RED );
      this.bordercolorgreen =
        Const.toInt( XMLHandler.getTagValue( notepadnode, "bordercolorgreen" ), COLOR_RGB_DEFAULT_BORDER_GREEN );
      this.bordercolorblue =
        Const.toInt( XMLHandler.getTagValue( notepadnode, "bordercolorblue" ), COLOR_RGB_DEFAULT_BORDER_BLUE );
      this.drawshadow = "Y".equalsIgnoreCase( XMLHandler.getTagValue( notepadnode, "drawshadow" ) );
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new KettleXMLException( "Unable to read Notepad info from XML", e );
    }
  }

  public ObjectId getObjectId() {
    return id;
  }

  public void setObjectId( ObjectId id ) {
    this.id = id;
  }

  public void setLocation( int x, int y ) {
    if ( x != location.x || y != location.y ) {
      setChanged();
    }
    location.x = x;
    location.y = y;
  }

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