HelenusInvalidRequestException: cannot parse '0' as hex bytes

[tristanls]

Versions and setup:

helenus@0.6.2

$ cassandra -v
1.2.5
$ cqlsh --version
cqlsh 3.0.2
cqlsh> create keyspace foo with replication = { 'class': 'SimpleStrategy', 'replication_factor' : 1 };
cqlsh> use foo;
cqlsh:foo> create table foos (foo text, column text, value double, primary key (foo, column));

In helenus:

var pool = new helenus.ConnectionPool({
  hosts: ["localhost:9160"],
  keyspace: "foo"
});

pool.connect(function (error) {
  if (error) return explode("!");
  pool.cql("INSERT INTO foos (foo, column, value) VALUES (?, ?, ?);", ['foo.bar.baz', '1370528287:170164551', 0], function (error) {
    console.dir(error);
    console.error(stack.error);
  });
});

The above results in:

HelenusInvalidRequestException: cannot parse '0' as hex bytes

:/

[tristanls]

Here is a more precise (copy and pasteable) demonstration of the bug:

$ cassandra -v
1.2.5

cqlsh path

$ cqlsh --version
cqlsh 3.0.2

cqlsh> describe keyspaces;

system  system_auth  system_traces

cqlsh> create keyspace foo with replication = { 'class': 'SimpleStrategy', 'replication_factor' : 1 };
cqlsh> use foo;
cqlsh:foo> create table foos (foo text, column text, value double, primary key (foo, column));
cqlsh:foo> desc table foos;

CREATE TABLE foos (
  foo text,
  column text,
  value double,
  PRIMARY KEY (foo, column)
) WITH
  bloom_filter_fp_chance=0.010000 AND
  caching='KEYS_ONLY' AND
  comment='' AND
  dclocal_read_repair_chance=0.000000 AND
  gc_grace_seconds=864000 AND
  read_repair_chance=0.100000 AND
  replicate_on_write='true' AND
  populate_io_cache_on_flush='false' AND
  compaction={'class': 'SizeTieredCompactionStrategy'} AND
  compression={'sstable_compression': 'SnappyCompressor'};

cqlsh:foo> select * from foos;
cqlsh:foo> INSERT INTO foos (foo, column, value) VALUES ('foo.bar.baz', '1370528287:170164551', 0);
cqlsh:foo> select * from foos;

 foo         | column               | value
-------------+----------------------+-------
 foo.bar.baz | 1370528287:170164551 |     0

cqlsh:foo> 

cassandra-cli path

$ cassandra-cli
Connected to: "Test Cluster" on 127.0.0.1/9160
Welcome to Cassandra CLI version 1.2.5

[default@unknown] use foo;
Authenticated to keyspace: foo
[default@foo] set foos['foo.bar.baz']['1370528287:170164552'] = 0;
cannot parse '0' as hex bytes

This is the same error as in the helenus path below. Looks like Thrift / CQL3 incompatibility.

helenus path

var helenus = require('helenus');
var pool = new helenus.ConnectionPool({
  hosts: ["localhost:9160"],
  keyspace: "foo"
});
pool.connect(function (error) {
  if (error) return console.error(error);
  pool.cql("INSERT INTO foos (foo, column, value) VALUES (?, ?, ?);", ['foo.bar.baz','1370528287:170164551', 0], function (error) {
    console.dir(error);
  });
});
// outputs: { [HelenusInvalidRequestException: cannot parse '0' as hex bytes] name: 'HelenusInvalidRequestException' }
pool.connect(function (error) {
  if (error) return console.error(error);
  pool.cql("INSERT INTO foos (foo, column, value) VALUES ('foo.bar.baz', '1370528287:170164551', 0);", function (error) {
    console.dir(error);
  });
});
// outputs: { [HelenusInvalidRequestException: cannot parse '0' as hex bytes] name: 'HelenusInvalidRequestException' }

[tristanls]

Found a solution, the cqlVersion has to be explicitly set as it defaults to undefined :/

var helenus = require('helenus');
var pool = new helenus.ConnectionPool({
  hosts: ["localhost:9160"],
  keyspace: "foo",
  cqlVersion: "3.0.0"
});

There should be a sane error messages if cqlVersion is undefined.