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Asked: 2026-06-11T23:05:14+00:00

I’m doing an ETL-process with Pentaho (Spoon / Kettle) where I’d like to read

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I’m doing an ETL-process with Pentaho (Spoon / Kettle) where I’d like to read XML-file and store element values to db.

This works just fine with “Get data from XML” -component…but the XML file is quite big, several giga bytes, and there fore reading the file takes too long.

Pentaho Wiki says:

The existing Get Data from XML step is easier to use but uses DOM
parsers that need in memory processing and even the purging of parts
of the file is not sufficient when these parts are very big.

The XML Input Stream (StAX) step uses a completely different approach
to solve use cases with very big and complex data stuctures and the
need for very fast data loads…

There fore I’m now trying to do the same with StAX, but it just doesn’t seem to work out like planned. I’m testing this with XML-file which only has one element group. The file is read and then mapped/inserted to table…but now I get multiple rows to table where all the values are “undefined” and some rows where I have the right values. In total I have 92 rows in the table, even though it should only have one row.

Flow goes like:

1) read with StAX

2) Modified Java Script Value

3) Output to DB

At step 2) I’m doing as follow:

var id;

if ( xml_data_type_description.equals(“CHARACTERS”) &&
xml_path.equals(“/labels/label/id”) ) {
id = xml_data_value; }
…

I’m using positional-staz.zip from http://forums.pentaho.com/showthread.php?83480-XPath-in-Get-data-from-XML-tool&p=261230#post261230 as an example.

How to use StAX for reading XML-file and storing the element values to DB?

I’ve been trying to look for examples but haven’t found much. The above example uses “Filter Rows” -component before inserting the rows. I don’t quite understand why it’s being used, can’t I just map the values I need? It might be that this problem occurs because I don’t use, or know how to use, Filter Rows -component.

Cheers!

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    I posted a possible StAX-based solution on the forum listed above, but I’ll post the gist of it here since it is awaiting moderator approval.

    Using the StAX parser, you can select just those elements that you care about, namely those with a data type of CHARACTERS. For the forum example, you basically need to denormalize the rows in sets of 4 (EXPR, EXCH, DATE, ASK). To do this you add the row number to the stream (using an Add Sequence step) then use a Calculator to determine a “bucket number” = INT((rownum-1)/4). This will give you a grouping field for a Row Denormaliser step.

    When the post is approved, you’ll see a link to a transformation that uses StAX and the method I describe above.

    Is this what you’re looking for? If not please let me know where I misunderstood and maybe I can help.

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