pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleXMLException

WebResult.Error.UnableCreateResult

Error message

WebResult.Error.UnableCreateResult

What it means

WebResult.fromXMLString parses an XML string and builds a WebResult from it; any failure loading the XML, locating the XML_TAG root node, or constructing WebResult(node) is wrapped in KettleXMLException with the localized 'WebResult.Error.UnableCreateResult' message. It signals the response XML could not be converted into a WebResult.

Solutions

  1. Log/inspect the cause (e.getCause()) and the raw input string to see what was actually received.
  2. Verify the HTTP response status/content-type before parsing — only parse bodies that are the expected WebResult XML.
  3. Check that the XML contains the <webresult> root tag; if parsing server output, fix the server-side handler.
  4. Handle non-XML error responses (auth pages, proxy errors) separately before calling fromXMLString.

Example fix

// before
WebResult result = WebResult.fromXMLString( responseBody );
// after
if ( responseBody != null && responseBody.contains( "<webresult>" ) ) {
  WebResult result = WebResult.fromXMLString( responseBody );
} else {
  // handle unexpected/non-XML response
}
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

if ( xml == null || !xml.trim().startsWith( "<" ) || !xml.contains( "<webresult>" ) ) {
  throw new IllegalStateException( "Not a WebResult XML payload" );
}

Type guard

boolean looksLikeWebResult( String xml ) {
  return xml != null && xml.contains( "<webresult" );
}

Try / catch

try {
  WebResult r = WebResult.fromXMLString( xml );
} catch ( KettleXMLException e ) {
  log.error( "Unable to create WebResult from payload: " + xml, e.getCause() );
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Passing malformed XML, an empty/non-XML string, or XML lacking the expected <webresult> root element (XML_TAG) to WebResult.fromXMLString.

Common situations: Parsing the response of a Pentaho Carte/HTTP web service when the server returned an HTML error page, an empty body, or a non-standard payload instead of the expected WebResult XML.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4a30d567d22cfe9a. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at core/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/www/WebResult.java:100

    this.result = result;
  }

  public String getMessage() {
    return message;
  }

  public void setMessage( String message ) {
    this.message = message;
  }

  public static WebResult fromXMLString( String xml ) throws KettleXMLException {
    try {
      Document doc = XMLHandler.loadXMLString( xml );
      Node node = XMLHandler.getSubNode( doc, XML_TAG );

      return new WebResult( node );
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new KettleXMLException( BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "WebResult.Error.UnableCreateResult" ), e );
    }
  }

  /**
   * @return the id
   */
  public String getId() {
    return id;
  }

  /**
   * @param id
   *          the id to set
   */
  public void setId( String id ) {
    this.id = id;
  }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to f3058517a1)