flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableIllegalArgumentException

disabledBefore is null

Error message

disabledBefore is null

What it means

planItemInstanceLastDisabledBefore(Date) throws FlowableIllegalArgumentException 'disabledBefore is null' when the argument is null. Flowable validates non-null date filters inside the query builder so that malformed criteria are rejected immediately. A null value yields no usable comparison predicate.

Solutions

1. Pass a non-null Date to the method.
2. Wrap the builder call in a null check and skip the filter when absent.
3. Assign a default date when the input is missing.
4. Catch FlowableIllegalArgumentException as a last resort and drop the filter.

Example fix

// before
query.planItemInstanceLastDisabledBefore(dto.getDisabledBefore()); // null when not set
// after
if (dto.getDisabledBefore() != null) {
    query.planItemInstanceLastDisabledBefore(dto.getDisabledBefore());
}

if (disabledBefore == null) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("disabledBefore must be a non-null Date");
}
query.planItemInstanceLastDisabledBefore(disabledBefore);

boolean nonNull(Date d) { return d != null; }

try {
    query.planItemInstanceLastDisabledBefore(disabledBefore);
} catch (FlowableIllegalArgumentException e) {
    query = cmmnRuntimeService.createPlanItemInstanceQuery();
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling createPlanItemInstanceQuery().planItemInstanceLastDisabledBefore(null) — commonly because the disabledBefore field on a filter DTO was never populated.

Common situations: Report builders composing many optional date filters where one is left null; JSON request bodies omitting the field; timezone-parsing helpers returning null on bad input; tests exercising null handling.

Related errors

• activatedBefore is null
• completedBefore is null
• disabledAfter is null
• enabledAfter is null
• enabledBefore is null

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ce539c949c0f83a4. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable-cmmn-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/cmmn/engine/impl/runtime/PlanItemInstanceQueryImpl.java:441

    }

    @Override
    public PlanItemInstanceQuery planItemInstanceLastEnabledAfter(Date enabledAfter) {
        if (enabledAfter == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("enabledAfter is null");
        }
        if (inOrStatement) {
            this.currentOrQueryObject.lastEnabledAfter = enabledAfter;
        } else {
            this.lastEnabledAfter = enabledAfter;
        }
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public PlanItemInstanceQuery planItemInstanceLastDisabledBefore(Date disabledBefore) {
        if (disabledBefore == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("disabledBefore is null");
        }
        if (inOrStatement) {
            this.currentOrQueryObject.lastDisabledBefore = disabledBefore;
        } else {
            this.lastDisabledBefore = disabledBefore;
        }
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public PlanItemInstanceQuery planItemInstanceLastDisabledAfter(Date disabledAfter) {
        if (disabledAfter == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("disabledAfter is null");
        }
        if (inOrStatement) {
            this.currentOrQueryObject.lastDisabledAfter = disabledAfter;
        } else {
            this.lastDisabledAfter = disabledAfter;

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