OrchardCMS/OrchardCore · error · ArgumentException

Invalid query

Error message

Invalid query

What it means

MatchFilterProvider.CreateFilteredQuery builds a Lucene boolean query from a JSON filter node. After handling Object and Array value kinds, the switch's default branch throws ArgumentException("Invalid query") because the 'match' filter's value was neither a JSON object nor an array. The library only supports those two shapes for match filters.

Solutions

1. Wrap the raw value in an object: use {"match": {"Content": {"value": "hello"}}} instead of {"match": {"Content": "hello"}}.
2. If matching multiple terms, pass an array of terms as the value instead of a scalar.
3. Inspect the query JSON in the admin Query editor and validate each filter's value kind before saving/running.
4. Log the offending filter JSON before calling CreateFilteredQuery to identify which filter node has the wrong shape.

Example fix

// before
{"query": {"match": {"Content": "orchard"}}}
// after
{"query": {"match": {"Content": {"value": "orchard", "boost": 1.0}}}}

if (filter.TryGetPropertyValue(field, out var v) &&
    v.ValueKind is not (JsonValueKind.Object or JsonValueKind.Array))
{
    throw new InvalidOperationException(
        $"'match' filter for '{field}' must be an object or array, got {v.ValueKind}.");
}

static bool IsValidMatchValue(JsonElement v) =>
    v.ValueKind is JsonValueKind.Object or JsonValueKind.Array;

try
{
    var query = filterProvider.CreateFilteredQuery(context);
}
catch (ArgumentException ex)
{
    _logger.LogError(ex, "Invalid Lucene match filter: {Json}", filterJson);
    throw new QueryValidationException("Malformed match filter value; expected object or array.", ex);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing a Lucene query filter where the 'match' property's value is a JSON string, number, true/false, or null — e.g. {"match": {"Content": "hello"}} — instead of the required object ({"value": ..., "boost": ...}) or array-of-terms form.

Common situations: Hand-writing Lucene query JSON in a Query module or recipe and using the simpler shape copied from the SQL/Elasticsearch query syntax; typing the value as a plain string because that reads naturally; a saved query breaking after validation rules were tightened in a newer Orchard Core version.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid ... format", "must be in format X", "does not look like a ..." — invalid argument format errors across CLI tools and libraries — this error's family across 17 libraries.

Related errors

• Invalid wildcard query
• Invalid prefix query
• Missing value in match phrase query
• Prefix query misses prefix value
• Invalid range query

AI-assisted analysis of OrchardCMS/OrchardCore@4306c0717f (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1d188d3473ada6da. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/OrchardCore/OrchardCore.Lucene.Core/QueryProviders/Filters/MatchFilterProvider.cs:72

                {
                    if (obj.TryGetPropertyValue("zero_terms_query", out var zeroTermsQuery))
                    {
                        if (zeroTermsQuery.ToString() == "all")
                        {
                            var matchAllDocsQuery = new MatchAllDocsQuery();
                            booleanQuery.Add(matchAllDocsQuery, Occur.MUST);
                            break;
                        }
                    }
                }

                foreach (var term in terms)
                {
                    boolQuery.Add(new TermQuery(new Term(first.Key, term)), occur);
                }

                break;
            default: throw new ArgumentException("Invalid query");
        }

        booleanQuery.Add(boolQuery, Occur.MUST);
        queryFilter = new QueryWrapperFilter(boolQuery);

        return new FilteredQuery(booleanQuery, queryFilter);
    }
}

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