# Paraview Cannot load VTKHDF file that contains string Datasets

**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-cannot-load-vtkhdf-file-that-contains-string-datasets/17134
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Tags:** vtkhdf, vtk
**Created:** [August 25, 2025, 8:38pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-cannot-load-vtkhdf-file-that-contains-string-datasets/17134 "2025-08-25T20:38:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![jpmorr](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/jpmorr/32/8745_2.png) [@jpmorr](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/jpmorr)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2025, 8:38pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-cannot-load-vtkhdf-file-that-contains-string-datasets/17134/1 "2025-08-25T20:38:10Z")

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I write vtk files as vtkhdf and I’ve come across a problem loading strings in Paraview. I’m not sure if this is a ParaView, vtkhdf or general hdf5 problem.

I’ve taken the vtp map example from the online test files and created a vtkhdf version of it.  
[map\_base64.vtp](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/short-url/8dRnRNjhSbMiMGWDroqKyXmplZK.vtp) (2.5 MB)  
[map.vtkhdf](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/short-url/q6aD3QU2ENqYOFbt7y32VIOaZo8.vtkhdf) (2.0 MB)

```auto
ERROR: In vtkHDFUtilities.cxx, line 904
(nullptr): Unknown native datatype: 216172782113784160

ERROR: In vtkHDFReader.cxx, line 111
(nullptr): Cannot read the GMI_CNTRY_0 array from file

ERROR: In vtkHDFReader.cxx, line 1280
vtkHDFReader (00000219590FAAD0): Error reading array GMI_CNTRY

ERROR: In vtkExecutive.cxx, line 730
vtkPVCompositeDataPipeline (000002195A04BD70): Algorithm vtkFileSeriesReader (0000021959EBFE30) returned failure for request: vtkInformation (000002195EC99B80)
  Debug: Off
  Modified Time: 537591
  Reference Count: 1
  Registered Events: (none)
  Request: REQUEST_DATA
  FORWARD_DIRECTION: 0
  ALGORITHM_AFTER_FORWARD: 1
  FROM_OUTPUT_PORT: 0

```

I can open the vtkhdf file in any hdf5 fileviewer so I believe the issue lies in one of ParaView or the vtkhdf attributes for string datasets.

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### Author: ![mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/mwestphal/32/17_2.png) [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2025, 7:32am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-cannot-load-vtkhdf-file-that-contains-string-datasets/17134/2 "2025-08-26T07:32:23Z")

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@Louis_Gombert @Lucas_Givord

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### Author: ![Louis\_Gombert](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/louis_gombert/32/14576_2.png) [@Louis\_Gombert](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Louis_Gombert)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-cannot-load-vtkhdf-file-that-contains-string-datasets/17134/3 "2025-08-26T15:09:22Z")

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Hello, string cell and point field values are not currently supported by VTKHDF.

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### Author: ![Louis\_Gombert](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/louis_gombert/32/14576_2.png) [@Louis\_Gombert](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Louis_Gombert)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2025, 7:55am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/paraview-cannot-load-vtkhdf-file-that-contains-string-datasets/17134/4 "2025-08-27T07:55:32Z")

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Opened an issue here: [https://gitlab.kitware.com/vtk/vtk/-/issues/19771](https://gitlab.kitware.com/vtk/vtk/-/issues/19771)