flowable/flowable-engine · error · IllegalArgumentException

Invalid event-type

Error message

Invalid event-type: ${typeName}

What it means

FlowableIdmEventType.getTypesFromString parses a comma-separated list of event-type names into FlowableIdmEventType values. If any token does not match a known event type constant, it throws this IllegalArgumentException naming the unknown type. This typically runs while parsing event-listener configuration for the IDM engine.

Solutions

1. Correct the event-type string to one of the supported FlowableIdmEventType constant names.
2. Check the FlowableIdmEventType class for the exact valid names in your version.
3. If migrating versions, update renamed event types in your listener configuration.

Example fix

// before
FlowableIdmEventType.getTypesFromString("USER_CREATED,USER_DELETED");

// after
FlowableIdmEventType.getTypesFromString("USER_INITIALIZED,USER_DELETED"); // names must match enum constants

Set<String> valid = Arrays.stream(FlowableIdmEventType.values())
    .flatMap(t -> Arrays.stream(t.getTypes()))
    .collect(Collectors.toSet());
for (String name : typeString.split(",")) {
    if (!valid.contains(name.trim())) {
        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown IDM event type: " + name.trim());
    }
}

try {
    FlowableIdmEventType.getTypesFromString(cfg);
} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
    logger.error("Unknown event type in config: {}", e.getMessage());
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling getTypesFromString (or configuring IDM event listeners) with a type name that is not one of the enum's supported names, e.g. 'USER_CREATED' when only 'USER_INITIALIZED' variants exist, or a typo/case mismatch.

Common situations: Typo in flowable.idm.cfg.xml or Spring event-listener XML/property config; upgrading Flowable where an event type was renamed or removed; using engine event names in IDM listener config interchangeably.

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

• ackMode in definition
• couldn't initialize idm engine from spring configuration…
• Trying to use idm identity service when it is not…
• Unsupported multipart mode
• A channel key detection value is required for the channel…

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6a42b76dc691c4c7. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable-idm-api/src/main/java/org/flowable/idm/api/event/FlowableIdmEventType.java:102

     * @return an array of {@link FlowableIdmEventType} based on the given string.
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException
     *             when one of the given string is not a valid type name
     */
    public static FlowableIdmEventType[] getTypesFromString(String string) {
        List<FlowableIdmEventType> result = new ArrayList<>();
        if (string != null && !string.isEmpty()) {
            String[] split = string.split(",");
            for (String typeName : split) {
                boolean found = false;
                for (FlowableIdmEventType type : values()) {
                    if (typeName.equals(type.name())) {
                        result.add(type);
                        found = true;
                        break;
                    }
                }
                if (!found) {
                    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid event-type: " + typeName);
                }
            }
        }

        return result.toArray(EMPTY_ARRAY);
    }
}

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