IBM Directory Integrator error "unknown format type at"

So here's a strange one that I didn't find anywhere in my numerous searches, so I figured I would post it here. When running a TDI AssemblyLine, I got the following exception / error:

12:14:43,274 ERROR - [My-JDBC-Connector] CTGDIS810E handleException - cannot handle exception , addonly

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: unknown format type at

        at com.ibm.icu.text.MessageFormat.makeFormat(MessageFormat.java:2086)

        at com.ibm.icu.text.MessageFormat.applyPattern(MessageFormat.java:589)

        at com.ibm.icu.text.MessageFormat.<init>(MessageFormat.java:437)

        at com.ibm.icu.text.MessageFormat.format(MessageFormat.java:1137)

        at com.ibm.di.util.ParameterSubstitution.substitute(ParameterSubstitution.java:229)

        at com.ibm.di.util.ParameterSubstitution.substitute(ParameterSubstitution.java:173)

        at com.ibm.di.util.ParameterSubstitution.substitute(ParameterSubstitution.java:245)

        at com.ibm.di.connector.JDBCConnector.putEntry(JDBCConnector.java:1202)

        at com.ibm.di.server.AssemblyLineComponent.executeOperation(AssemblyLineComponent.java:3351)

        at com.ibm.di.server.AssemblyLineComponent.add1(AssemblyLineComponent.java:2012)

        at com.ibm.di.server.AssemblyLineComponent.add(AssemblyLineComponent.java:1965)

        at com.ibm.di.server.AssemblyLine.msExecuteNextConnector(AssemblyLine.java:3780)

        at com.ibm.di.server.AssemblyLine.executeMainStep(AssemblyLine.java:3391)

        at com.ibm.di.server.AssemblyLine.executeMainLoop(AssemblyLine.java:2989)

        at com.ibm.di.server.AssemblyLine.executeMainLoop(AssemblyLine.java:2972)

        at com.ibm.di.server.AssemblyLine.executeAL(AssemblyLine.java:2939)

        at com.ibm.di.server.AssemblyLine.run(AssemblyLine.java:1317)

12:14:43,276 ERROR - CTGDIS266E Error in NextConnectorOperation. Exception occurred: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: unknown format type at

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: unknown format type at

        at com.ibm.icu.text.MessageFormat.makeFormat(MessageFormat.java:2086)

        at com.ibm.icu.text.MessageFormat.applyPattern(MessageFormat.java:589)

        at com.ibm.icu.text.MessageFormat.<init>(MessageFormat.java:437)

        at com.ibm.icu.text.MessageFormat.format(MessageFormat.java:1137)

        at com.ibm.di.util.ParameterSubstitution.substitute(ParameterSubstitution.java:229)

        at com.ibm.di.util.ParameterSubstitution.substitute(ParameterSubstitution.java:173)

        at com.ibm.di.util.ParameterSubstitution.substitute(ParameterSubstitution.java:245)

        at com.ibm.di.connector.JDBCConnector.putEntry(JDBCConnector.java:1202)

        at com.ibm.di.server.AssemblyLineComponent.executeOperation(AssemblyLineComponent.java:3351)

        at com.ibm.di.server.AssemblyLineComponent.add1(AssemblyLineComponent.java:2012)

        at com.ibm.di.server.AssemblyLineComponent.add(AssemblyLineComponent.java:1965)

        at com.ibm.di.server.AssemblyLine.msExecuteNextConnector(AssemblyLine.java:3780)

        at com.ibm.di.server.AssemblyLine.executeMainStep(AssemblyLine.java:3391)

        at com.ibm.di.server.AssemblyLine.executeMainLoop(AssemblyLine.java:2989)

        at com.ibm.di.server.AssemblyLine.executeMainLoop(AssemblyLine.java:2972)

        at com.ibm.di.server.AssemblyLine.executeAL(AssemblyLine.java:2939)

        at com.ibm.di.server.AssemblyLine.run(AssemblyLine.java:1317)

The problem was that I had a scriptable field in a connector that was set as "Text w/substitution", but needed to be set to "Advanced (JavaScript)". Sometimes (with only a tiny bit of JavaScript, for example), you can get away with this. But in my case, I had a LOT of JavaScript and this error was the result.

To figure that out, I put lots of debugging code in the JavaScript itself and in the Component Hooks around when this field should have been evaluated.

Tivoli Directory Integrator Certificate Chain Exception

 Saw this error today in an HTTP Client Connector in TDI 7.1.1:

 java.security.cert.CertPathValidatorException: Certificate chaining error

I had the remote host's entire certificate chain imported into serverapi/testadmin.jks . I also made certain that my solution.properties file was pointing to the correct JKS file, restarted the TDI CE multiple times, and it simply kept failing. I thought I was going crazy, so I:

• stopped TDI CE
• moved testadmin.jks
• zeroed out testadmin.jks
• started TDI CE
• Went to the connector and clicked "Get Certificate" and it complained, whereas before it said "Certificate is already trusted", so I knew I was dealing with the correct JKS file.
• FINALLY, out of desperation, I deleted the server certificate, but left the other two certs in the chain (the signer and the signer of THAT certificate), and THEN IT WORKED.

So I'm not certain what the moral of the story is, but that's how I solved this problem, which is slightly different than I've seen anywhere else and I wanted to record it to hopefully help anyone who runs into this in the future.

Installing ITIC and TDI on Windows Server 2012

Both of these tools use the ZeroG InstallAnywhere installer, which doesn't completely get along with Windows Server 2012. Luckily, there's an easy fix within Windows. You need to set the "Compatibility mode" to run with compatibility for "Windows 7". You need to perform this procedure on the setup.exe file for ITIC (under Install\ITIC wherever you've extracted the install images) and the install_tdiv71_win_x86_64.exe file in the TDI installer directory.

On each file, right click and select Properties.

Then on the Compatibility tab, click the "Change settings for all users" button at the bottom.

In the "Compatibility mode" section, select "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" checkbox.

Select "Windows 7" from the drop down list.

Click OK, then OK again.

And now you're ready to install

UPDATE: You do also need to ensure that the java executable is in your path. If not, it will fail when trying to create the Java Virtual Machine.

UPDATE 2: And it MUST be the Java 1.7 executable in your path. 1.8 will fail.

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