Pentaho Data Integration - General Error in Dialog

Question

When I try to edit my database connections, I get the "General Error in Dialog" message. Upon clicking details, I get the following:

java.lang.NullPointerException at org.pentaho.di.ui.core.database.dialog.XulDatabaseDialog.open(XulDatabaseDialog.java:113) at org.pentaho.di.ui.core.database.dialog.DatabaseDialog.open(DatabaseDialog.java:61) at org.pentaho.di.ui.spoon.delegates.SpoonDBDelegate.editConnection(SpoonDBDelegate.java:96) at org.pentaho.di.ui.spoon.Spoon.editConnection(Spoon.java:2725) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62) at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498) at org.pentaho.ui.xul.impl.AbstractXulDomContainer.invoke(AbstractXulDomContainer.java:313) at org.pentaho.ui.xul.impl.AbstractXulComponent.invoke(AbstractXulComponent.java:157) at org.pentaho.ui.xul.impl.AbstractXulComponent.invoke(AbstractXulComponent.java:141) at org.pentaho.ui.xul.jface.tags.JfaceMenuitem.access$100(JfaceMenuitem.java:43) at org.pentaho.ui.xul.jface.tags.JfaceMenuitem$1.run(JfaceMenuitem.java:106) at org.eclipse.jface.action.Action.runWithEvent(Action.java:498) at org.eclipse.jface.action.ActionContributionItem.handleWidgetSelection(ActionContributionItem.java:545) at org.eclipse.jface.action.ActionContributionItem.access$2(ActionContributionItem.java:490) at org.eclipse.jface.action.ActionContributionItem$5.handleEvent(ActionContributionItem.java:402) at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.EventTable.sendEvent(EventTable.java:89) at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.sendEvent(Display.java:4385) at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.sendEvent(Widget.java:1512) at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.sendEvent(Widget.java:1535) at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.sendEvent(Widget.java:1520) at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.notifyListeners(Widget.java:1324) at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.runDeferredEvents(Display.java:4172) at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.readAndDispatch(Display.java:3789) at org.pentaho.di.ui.spoon.Spoon.readAndDispatch(Spoon.java:1385) at org.pentaho.di.ui.spoon.Spoon.waitForDispose(Spoon.java:7968) at org.pentaho.di.ui.spoon.Spoon.start(Spoon.java:9350) at org.pentaho.di.ui.spoon.Spoon.main(Spoon.java:711) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62) at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498) at org.pentaho.commons.launcher.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:92)

I'm using Java version 8 update 261. I know that PDI requires Java 8 so I don't understand why I'm having this issue. Currently, I have to delete and then create a new database connection for each job, which is really tedious.

How do I resolve this issue? Or is there another way to set my database connections so that I don't have to create a new one for each job?

Answer 1

I don't know about your error message, but to share connections IN YOUR PC you have the option in the View tab:

I have an empty transformation, so all the DB connections shown are the shared ones, if I had a new connection in the transformation it would be also shown but the connection name wouldn't be in bold letters.

Beware, the shared connections information are only available in your PC, and the connection information is copied to the transformation or job, so if you change the information in your shared connection, you need to reopen all the transformations and jobs that use it and save them with the new information.

In the .kettle folder in your user folder there's a shared.xml file with the shared connections information.