flowable/flowable-engine · error · ActivitiIllegalArgumentException

Invalid query usage: cannot set both taskNameIn and…

Error message

Invalid query usage: cannot set both taskNameIn and taskNameLikeIgnoreCase

What it means

taskNameIn also conflicts with taskNameLikeIgnoreCase. The setter validates that the case-insensitive LIKE filter is not already set, throwing ActivitiIllegalArgumentException when both are present on the same query.

Solutions

Drop the taskNameLikeIgnoreCase call before applying taskNameIn — the IN list is exact, so a case-insensitive LIKE is redundant.
Use taskNameInIgnoreCase for a case-insensitive exact list match instead of taskNameLikeIgnoreCase.
Start a fresh query object rather than mutating one that already carries a filter.

Example fix

// before
query.taskNameLikeIgnoreCase("review%");
query.taskNameIn(names);
// after
query.taskNameInIgnoreCase(names);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (names != null && !names.isEmpty()) {
    if (caseInsensitivePattern) {
        query.taskNameLikeIgnoreCase(pattern);
    } else {
        query.taskNameIn(names); // or taskNameInIgnoreCase
    }
}

Type guard

boolean canUseTaskNameIn(HistoricTaskInstanceQueryImpl q) { return q.getTaskNameLikeIgnoreCase() == null; }

Try / catch

try {
    query.taskNameIn(names);
} catch (org.activiti.engine.ActivitiIllegalArgumentException e) {
    // taskNameLikeIgnoreCase already set — rebuild query with one name filter
    query = taskService.createHistoricTaskInstanceQuery().taskNameInIgnoreCase(names);
}

Prevention

Use taskNameInIgnoreCase when the goal was case-insensitive matching, not taskNameLikeIgnoreCase.
Reset or rebuild queries when switching filter strategies mid-request.
Keep name-filter assignment in one helper method.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling .taskNameIn(List<String>) after .taskNameLikeIgnoreCase("review%") on the same HistoricTaskInstanceQuery.

Common situations: Search screens that default to case-insensitive partial matching but switch to exact multi-select matching without resetting the query object.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e05e38228fb0ef8b. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable5-engine/src/main/java/org/activiti/engine/impl/HistoricTaskInstanceQueryImpl.java:391

    }

    @Override
    public HistoricTaskInstanceQuery taskNameIn(List<String> taskNameList) {
        if (taskNameList == null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("Task name list is null");
        }
        if (taskNameList.isEmpty()) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("Task name list is empty");
        }

        if (taskName != null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("Invalid query usage: cannot set both taskNameIn and taskName");
        }
        if (taskNameLike != null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("Invalid query usage: cannot set both taskNameIn and taskNameLike");
        }
        if (taskNameLikeIgnoreCase != null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("Invalid query usage: cannot set both taskNameIn and taskNameLikeIgnoreCase");
        }

        if (inOrStatement) {
            currentOrQueryObject.taskNameList = taskNameList;
        } else {
            this.taskNameList = taskNameList;
        }
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public HistoricTaskInstanceQuery taskNameInIgnoreCase(List<String> taskNameList) {
        if (taskNameList == null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("Task name list is null");
        }
        if (taskNameList.isEmpty()) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("Task name list is empty");
        }

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