NPE raised when training model with unknown weights column

[exalate-issue-sync]

trying to train a model with an non-existing {{weights_column}}:

{code:python}df = h2o.import_file("smalldata/prostate/prostate.csv")
gbm = H2OGradientBoostingEstimator()
gbm.train(y=-1, training_frame=df, weights_column='foo'){code}

raises the following error:

{noformat}h2o/estimators/estimator_base.py:297: UserWarning:

`weights_column` parameter has been already set and had a different value in `train` method. The last passed value "foo" is used.

self._check_and_save_parm(parms, "weights_column", weights_column)

H2OServerError Traceback (most recent call last)
...
H2OServerError: HTTP 500 Server Error:
Server error java.lang.NullPointerException:
Error: Caught exception: java.lang.NullPointerException
Request: None{noformat}

in the logs:

{noformat}08-16 18:20:02.646 192.168.0.144:54321 66415 3610597-40 ERROR water.default: _weights_column: Weights column 'foo' not found in the training frame
08-16 18:20:02.646 192.168.0.144:54321 66415 3610597-40 ERROR water.default:
java.lang.NullPointerException
at hex.tree.SharedTree.init(SharedTree.java:159)
at hex.tree.gbm.GBM.init(GBM.java:73)
at water.api.ModelBuilderHandler.handle(ModelBuilderHandler.java:47)
at water.api.ModelBuilderHandler.handle(ModelBuilderHandler.java:16)
at water.api.RequestServer.serve(RequestServer.java:470){noformat}

Please also note the confusing {{UserWarning}}

{noformat}weights_column parameter has been already set [...]{noformat}

printed before the error, when it shouldn’t apply here.

[h2o-ops-ro]

JIRA Issue Details

Jira Issue: PUBDEV-8276
Assignee: Veronika Maurerová
Reporter: Sebastien Poirier
State: Resolved
Fix Version: 3.34.0.1
Attachments: N/A
Development PRs: Available

[h2o-ops-ro]

Linked PRs from JIRA

#5630