Are null values in the first column preventing import of Excel files in Pentaho Spoon?

I am trying to import Excel files using the 'Excel Input' transformation in Pentaho Kettle/Spoon. Spoon spits out a 'NullPo开发者_JS百科interException' for row 67, which has a null value in the first column. (The first 66 rows have non-null values in the first column.)

Here are the error logs:

2011/07/19 15:07:17 - Excel Input.0 - ERROR (version 4.1.0-stable, build 14410 from 2010-11-16 16.43.28 by buildguy) : Error processing row from Excel file [D:\Documents and Settings\kdrapkin\Desktop\Dataset creation\PDA data Saudi Arabia\input files\100 w.xlsx] : java.lang.NullPointerException
2011/07/19 15:07:17 - Excel Input.0 - ERROR (version 4.1.0-stable, build 14410 from 2010-11-16 16.43.28 by buildguy) : java.lang.NullPointerException
2011/07/19 15:07:17 - Excel Input.0 - ERROR (version 4.1.0-stable, build 14410 from 2010-11-16 16.43.28 by buildguy) : org.pentaho.di.trans.steps.excelinput.ExcelInput.fillRow(ExcelInput.java:122)
2011/07/19 15:07:17 - Excel Input.0 - ERROR (version 4.1.0-stable, build 14410 from 2010-11-16 16.43.28 by buildguy) : org.pentaho.di.trans.steps.excelinput.ExcelInput.getRowFromWorkbooks(ExcelInput.java:644)
2011/07/19 15:07:17 - Excel Input.0 - ERROR (version 4.1.0-stable, build 14410 from 2010-11-16 16.43.28 by buildguy) : org.pentaho.di.trans.steps.excelinput.ExcelInput.processRow(ExcelInput.java:450)
2011/07/19 15:07:17 - Excel Input.0 - ERROR (version 4.1.0-stable, build 14410 from 2010-11-16 16.43.28 by buildguy) : org.pentaho.di.trans.step.RunThread.run(RunThread.java:40)
2011/07/19 15:07:17 - Excel Input.0 - ERROR (version 4.1.0-stable, build 14410 from 2010-11-16 16.43.28 by buildguy) : java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
2011/07/19 15:07:17 - Excel Input.0 - Finished processing (I=66, O=0, R=0, W=66, U=0, E=1)

Is there a way around the problem?

I was getting the same error and here is a solution which worked out for me.

Copied the ENTIRE data from that sheet to another Sheet

I too got the same problem, I copied the rows to another file and it worked fine.

Cause:
1. I used a Vlookup in my Sheet1, and the value was not available in that file. so Null pointer exception occurred.

After copying it to another file, the lookup values became Empty, and the Null pointer exception gone

I was getting the same error. If your file is not very big, you can change the "Spread Sheet type (engine)" option (on the Files tab of the Microsoft Excel Input step) from "Excel 2007 XLSX (Apache POI Streaming)" to "Excel 2007 XLSX (Apache POI)".