SonarSource/sonarqube · error · IllegalArgumentException

Invalid type: %s

Error message

Invalid type: %s

What it means

validateType converts the submitted type string to a NewCodePeriodType enum (upper-cased first) and rethrows any IllegalArgumentException as 'Invalid type: <value>'. Only the enum's constant names are accepted, so free-form or lowercase-only variants that do not match a constant fail.

Source

Thrown at server/sonar-webserver-webapi/src/main/java/org/sonar/server/newcodeperiod/ws/SetAction.java:254

  }

  private ProjectDto getProject(DbSession dbSession, String projectKey) {
    return componentFinder.getProjectByKey(dbSession, projectKey);
  }

  private BranchDto getMainBranch(DbSession dbSession, ProjectDto project) {
    return dbClient.branchDao().selectByProject(dbSession, project)
      .stream().filter(BranchDto::isMain)
      .findFirst()
      .orElseThrow(() -> new NotFoundException(format("Main branch in project '%s' is not found", project.getKey())));
  }

  private static NewCodePeriodType validateType(String typeStr, boolean isOverall, boolean isBranch) {
    NewCodePeriodType type;
    try {
      type = NewCodePeriodType.valueOf(typeStr.toUpperCase(Locale.US));
    } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid type: " + typeStr);
    }

    if (isOverall) {
      checkType("Overall setting", OVERALL_TYPES, type);
    } else if (isBranch) {
      checkType("Branches", BRANCH_TYPES, type);
    } else {
      checkType("Projects", PROJECT_TYPES, type);
    }
    return type;
  }

  private SnapshotDto getAnalysis(DbSession dbSession, String analysisUuid, ProjectDto project, BranchDto branch) {
    SnapshotDto snapshotDto = dbClient.snapshotDao().selectByUuid(dbSession, analysisUuid)
      .orElseThrow(() -> new NotFoundException(format("Analysis '%s' is not found", analysisUuid)));
    checkAnalysis(dbSession, project, branch, snapshotDto);
    return snapshotDto;
  }

View on GitHub (pinned to 184c821202)

Solutions

1. Use one of the exact NewCodePeriodType names: PREVIOUS_VERSION, SPECIFIC_ANALYSIS, REFERENCE_BRANCH, or NUMBER_OF_DAYS.
2. Trim whitespace and avoid quoting errors in the type parameter.
3. Note that case does not matter (it is upper-cased), but spelling must match the enum constant exactly.

Example fix

// before
type=days
// after
type=NUMBER_OF_DAYS

const VALID = ['PREVIOUS_VERSION', 'SPECIFIC_ANALYSIS', 'REFERENCE_BRANCH', 'NUMBER_OF_DAYS'];
if (!VALID.includes(String(params.type).trim().toUpperCase())) throw new Error('Invalid New Code Period type: ' + params.type);

const isNCType = (t) => typeof t === 'string' && ['PREVIOUS_VERSION','SPECIFIC_ANALYSIS','REFERENCE_BRANCH','NUMBER_OF_DAYS'].includes(t.trim().toUpperCase());

try { ... } catch (e) { if (/^Invalid type: /.test(String(e.message))) { log('Use one of: PREVIOUS_VERSION, SPECIFIC_ANALYSIS, REFERENCE_BRANCH, NUMBER_OF_DAYS'); } throw e; }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling api/new_code_periods/set with a type parameter not matching any NewCodePeriodType constant — e.g. 'days', 'previous_version ' with trailing space, or 'since_previous_version'.

Common situations: Typos or abbreviations in CI pipelines; assuming snake_case HTTP-style keys instead of enum names; documentation drift between SonarQube versions where enum constants were renamed.

Understand the failure class

Background: Invalid enum value errors: "Unknown type", "Invalid scope", "must be one of" — when a string is not on the library's allowed list — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

• Failed to set the New Code Definition. The given value is no
• Invalid type '%s'. %s can only be set with types: %s
• Transition '%s' not supported. Only %s are supported.
• If branch key is specified, project key needs to be specifie
• Failed to parse number of days: %s

AI-assisted analysis of SonarSource/sonarqube@184c821202 (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4b13556af527f6ec. Report an issue: GitHub.