pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleValueException

Unknown value for enum

Error message

Unknown value ${v} for enum ${enumClass}

What it means

DefaultInjectionTypeConverter.string2enum converts a string to an enum constant by exact name match across enumClass.getEnumConstants(). When no constant's name() equals the input, Kettle throws KettleValueException. This guards metadata-injection value parsing from silently producing null enums.

Solutions

1. Fix the injected value to exactly match an enum constant name (case-sensitive, no whitespace).
2. Check the target enum class (printed in the message) for the valid constant names in your Kettle version.
3. If values come from an older version, map legacy names to current enum constants before injection.
4. If you control the converter pipeline, normalize the string (trim, upper/lower) before conversion.

Example fix

// before
converter.string2enum("Batchl", updateMode.getClass());
// after
converter.string2enum("Batch", updateMode.getClass()); // exact enum name

boolean valid = java.util.Arrays.stream(MyEnum.values()).anyMatch(e -> e.name().equals(candidateValue));
if (!valid) throw new IllegalArgumentException("Value not a valid " + MyEnum.class.getSimpleName() + ": " + candidateValue);

static <E extends Enum<E>> boolean isValidEnumValue(Class<E> type, String v) {
  if (v == null) return false;
  return Arrays.stream(type.getEnumConstants()).anyMatch(e -> e.name().equals(v));
}

try {
  Enum<?> mode = converter.string2enum(value, MyEnum.class);
} catch (KettleValueException e) {
  log.logError("Invalid enum value for injection: " + e.getMessage());
  mode = defaultValue;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling string2enum(v, enumClass) (directly or via metadata injection of a field whose converter is the enum converter) with a string that is not an exact enum constant name, including wrong case or trailing whitespace.

Common situations: Importing a transformation exported from a different Pentaho/Kettle version where the enum gained/lost constants; hand-edited XML or injection spreadsheets with misspelled or case-mismatched enum values.

Understand the failure class

Background: Invalid enum value errors: "Unknown type", "Invalid scope", "must be one of" — when a string is not on the library's allowed list — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

• Wrong value conversion to
• Wrong value conversion to
• Calculator.Log.UnknownCalculationType + fn.getCalcType()
• : can't be converted to an Internet Address
• CheckSum.Error.UnknownChecksumType

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5e9c02f2a40424d7. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at core/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/core/injection/DefaultInjectionTypeConverter.java:71

  }

  @Override
  public Boolean string2boolean( String v ) {
    return v == null ? null : string2booleanPrimitive( v );
  }

  @Override
  public Enum<?> string2enum( Class<?> enumClass, String v ) throws KettleValueException {
    if ( v == null ) {
      return null;
    }
    for ( Object eo : enumClass.getEnumConstants() ) {
      Enum<?> e = (Enum<?>) eo;
      if ( e.name().equals( v ) ) {
        return e;
      }
    }
    throw new KettleValueException( "Unknown value " + v + " for enum " + enumClass );
  }

  @Override
  public String boolean2string( Boolean v ) throws KettleValueException {
    if ( v == null ) {
      return null;
    }
    return v ? "Y" : "N";
  }

  @Override
  public int boolean2intPrimitive( Boolean v ) throws KettleValueException {
    return v ? 1 : 0;
  }

  @Override
  public Integer boolean2integer( Boolean v ) throws KettleValueException {
    return v == null ? null : boolean2intPrimitive( v );

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