flowable/flowable-engine · error · ActivitiIllegalArgumentException

Invalid query usage: cannot set both taskNameInIgnoreCase…

Error message

Invalid query usage: cannot set both taskNameInIgnoreCase and name

What it means

taskNameInIgnoreCase cannot be combined with the single exact-name filter taskName. When taskName is already set on the query, the setter throws ActivitiIllegalArgumentException because the two filters are mutually exclusive for the name column.

Solutions

Include the single name inside the list and call only taskNameInIgnoreCase, or call only taskName.
Clear/rebuild the query object instead of adding both filters.
Branch in the caller based on how many names are available.

Example fix

// before
query.taskName("review");
query.taskNameInIgnoreCase(names);
// after
names.add("review");
query.taskNameInIgnoreCase(names);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// never set both; fold the single name into the list
if (singleName != null) {
    List<String> all = new ArrayList<>(namesOrDefault);
    all.add(singleName);
    query.taskNameInIgnoreCase(all);
} else if (namesOrDefault != null && !namesOrDefault.isEmpty()) {
    query.taskNameInIgnoreCase(namesOrDefault);
}

Type guard

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

Try / catch

try {
    query.taskNameInIgnoreCase(names);
} catch (org.activiti.engine.ActivitiIllegalArgumentException e) {
    // taskName already set — rebuild query using only the in-list filter
    query = taskService.createHistoricTaskInstanceQuery().taskNameInIgnoreCase(names);
}

Prevention

Merge single-name and multi-name inputs into one list before querying.
Do not reuse query objects configured in earlier code paths.
Centralize name-filter logic in one builder method.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling .taskNameInIgnoreCase(List<String>) on a query where .taskName("x") (or historic equivalents .taskName) was called earlier.

Common situations: Reusing a query object across request variants; combining a 'default name' with a dynamic list of names in one query.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c1b19ff3efbab554. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable5-engine/src/main/java/org/activiti/engine/impl/HistoricTaskInstanceQueryImpl.java:417

        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");
        }
        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;

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