flowable/flowable-engine · error · ActivitiIllegalArgumentException

Invalid query usage: cannot set both taskNameInIgnoreCase…

Error message

Invalid query usage: cannot set both taskNameInIgnoreCase and nameLikeIgnoreCase

What it means

taskNameInIgnoreCase also rejects combination with taskNameLikeIgnoreCase. If the case-insensitive LIKE filter is already set, the setter throws ActivitiIllegalArgumentException to prevent two conflicting name criteria.

Solutions

Remove the taskNameLikeIgnoreCase call; taskNameInIgnoreCase already performs case-insensitive exact matching.
If pattern semantics are truly needed, keep only taskNameLikeIgnoreCase and do not call the IN variant.
Refactor query construction so name filters are set in exactly one place.

Example fix

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

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

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

Type guard

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

Try / catch

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

Prevention

Remember taskNameInIgnoreCase already ignores case — taskNameLikeIgnoreCase is unnecessary with it.
After migrating to IN-list filters, remove legacy LIKE calls.
Keep name filtering in a single code path.

When it happens

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

Common situations: Migration from LIKE-based filtering to IN-list filtering (e.g. after a version change exposing taskNameInIgnoreCase) where the old filter call was not removed.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4b17065789103c92. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable5-engine/src/main/java/org/activiti/engine/impl/HistoricTaskInstanceQueryImpl.java:423

            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("Task name list is null");
        }
        if (taskNameList.isEmpty()) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("Task name list is empty");
        }
        for (String taskName : taskNameList) {
            if (taskName == null) {
                throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("None of the given task names can be null");
            }
        }

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

        final int nameListSize = taskNameList.size();
        final List<String> caseIgnoredTaskNameList = new ArrayList<>(nameListSize);
        for (String taskName : taskNameList) {
            caseIgnoredTaskNameList.add(taskName.toLowerCase());
        }

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

    @Override
    public HistoricTaskInstanceQuery taskNameLike(String taskNameLike) {

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