flowable/flowable-engine · warning · FlowableIllegalArgumentException

name is null

Error message

name is null

What it means

Fluent-setter validation in DecisionQueryImpl.decisionName: a null name filter was passed to the DMN decision query; the builder rejects explicit nulls to keep 'unset' and 'null filter' distinguishable.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable-dmn-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/dmn/engine/impl/DecisionQueryImpl.java:115

            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("categoryLike is null");
        }
        this.categoryLike = categoryLike;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public DecisionQueryImpl decisionCategoryNotEquals(String categoryNotEquals) {
        if (categoryNotEquals == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("categoryNotEquals is null");
        }
        this.categoryNotEquals = categoryNotEquals;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public DecisionQueryImpl decisionName(String name) {
        if (name == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("name is null");
        }
        this.name = name;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public DecisionQueryImpl decisionNameLike(String nameLike) {
        if (nameLike == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("nameLike is null");
        }
        this.nameLike = nameLike;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public DecisionQueryImpl deploymentId(String deploymentId) {
        if (deploymentId == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("id is null");

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

  1. Guard with a null check before calling decisionName.
  2. Use decisionNameLike if you need partial matching, still guarding for null.
  3. Omit the filter entirely to query all decisions.

Example fix

// before
query.decisionName(decisionName); // may be null

// after
if (decisionName != null) {
    query.decisionName(decisionName);
}
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (name != null) { query.decisionName(name); }

Type guard

boolean hasName = (name instanceof String s) && !s.isBlank();

Try / catch

try {
    query.decisionName(name);
} catch (FlowableIllegalArgumentException e) {
    LOGGER.warn("decisionName called with null; filter skipped");
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling decisionName(name) where name is null, typically from an unset request field or lookup miss.

Common situations: REST layer passing through a missing 'name' query parameter; decision name resolved from another system returning null.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ad9eced4f7a18808. Report an issue: GitHub.