# \[bug?\] \[kafka-connect-gcp-bigtable 2.0.26\] Invalid serialization of byte array fields in structs when generating message key

**URL:** <https://forum.confluent.io/t/bug-kafka-connect-gcp-bigtable-2-0-26-invalid-serialization-of-byte-array-fields-in-structs-when-generating-message-key/36099>\
**Category:** Managed Connectors\
**Created:** [20 January 2025 09:04 UTC](https://forum.confluent.io/t/bug-kafka-connect-gcp-bigtable-2-0-26-invalid-serialization-of-byte-array-fields-in-structs-when-generating-message-key/36099 "2025-01-20T09:04:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![due](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@due](https://forum.confluent.io/u/due)\
**Post date:** [20 January 2025 09:04 UTC](https://forum.confluent.io/t/bug-kafka-connect-gcp-bigtable-2-0-26-invalid-serialization-of-byte-array-fields-in-structs-when-generating-message-key/36099/1 "2025-01-20T09:04:37Z")

</div>

Hello,  
I think I encountered a bug when evaluating Google Cloud BigTable Sink Connector in a docker compose setup based on [cp-all-in-one/cp-all-in-one-community/docker-compose.yml at dd2eb847f183e65b6a1cca4045649ba0d48cf51d · confluentinc/cp-all-in-one · GitHub](https://github.com/confluentinc/cp-all-in-one/blob/dd2eb847f183e65b6a1cca4045649ba0d48cf51d/cp-all-in-one-community/docker-compose.yml).

In keys, the byte array fields are serialized improperly when serialized as a field of a Struct. From my looking at Kafka Connect source code, it looks like a too optimistic call of `Struct#toString()`.

Connector config:

```json
{
  "name": "confluent_nothing",
  "config": {
    "connector.class": "io.confluent.connect.gcp.bigtable.BigtableSinkConnector",
    "row.key.definition": "",
    "table.name.format": "kafka_nothing",
    "confluent.topic.bootstrap.servers": "kafka:29092",
    "gcp.bigtable.credentials.path": "/gcp_key.json",
    "tasks.max": "1",
    "topics": "topic_confluent_nothing",
    "gcp.bigtable.project.id": "unoperate-test",
    "confluent.license": "",
    "row.key.delimiter": "#",
    "confluent.topic.replication.factor": "1",
    "name": "confluent_nothing",
    "gcp.bigtable.instance.id": "prawilny-dataflow",
    "auto.create.tables": "true",
    "auto.create.column.families": "true",
    "insert.mode": "upsert"
  },
  "tasks": [
    {
      "connector": "confluent_nothing",
      "task": 0
    }
  ],
  "type": "sink"
}

```

Key and value converters are `org.apache.kafka.connect.json.JsonConverter` with schema enabled.

Key:

```json
{
    "schema": {
        "type": "struct",
        "fields": [
            {
                "type": "struct",
                "fields": [
                    {
                        "type": "bytes",
                        "optional": false,
                        "field": "b"
                    }      
                ],
                "optional": false,
                "field": "a"
            }
        ],
        "optional": false,
        "name": "record"
    },
    "payload": {
        "a": {
            "b": "eEQK"
        }
    }
}

```

Value:

```json
{
    "schema": {
        "type": "int64",
        "optional": false,
        "name": "record"
    },
    "payload": 1
}

```

`cbt read` output:

```auto
----------------------------------------
Struct{b=[B@7c0d7049}
  topic_confluent_nothing:KAFKA_VALUE @ 2025/01/17-16:17:14.768000
    "\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x01"

```

I can provide a reproducer in form of `docker-compose.yml` and related scripts if needed.