flowable/flowable-engine · error · ActivitiIllegalArgumentException

nameLike is null

Error message

nameLike is null

What it means

Fluent-setter validation in flowable5 ModelQueryImpl.modelNameLike: a null LIKE pattern was passed to the Activiti 5 compatibility query and is rejected before SQL generation.

Solutions

1. Validate the search pattern for null/blank before calling
2. Wrap the pattern with '%' wildcards only after the null check
3. Skip the filter when no search term is present

Example fix

// before
query.modelNameLike(term);
// after
if (term != null && !term.trim().isEmpty()) {
    query.modelNameLike("%" + term.trim() + "%");
}

if (nameLike != null && !nameLike.trim().isEmpty()) { query.modelNameLike("%" + nameLike.trim() + "%"); }

boolean hasText(String s) { return s != null && !s.trim().isEmpty(); }

try {
    query.modelNameLike(pattern);
} catch (ActivitiIllegalArgumentException e) {
    // fall back to unfiltered list
}

When it happens

Trigger: repositoryService.createModelQuery().modelNameLike(pattern) with a null pattern, e.g. an unset search input or uninitialized wildcard variable.

Common situations: Client-side search box left empty and bound to null; dynamic filter builder adding the like clause unconditionally; migration from empty-string to null semantics.

Related errors

• categoryLike is null
• category is null
• categoryNotEquals is null
• key is null
• name is null

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/10f0b21ead2ada9c. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable5-engine/src/main/java/org/activiti/engine/impl/ModelQueryImpl.java:103

            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("categoryNotEquals is null");
        }
        this.categoryNotEquals = categoryNotEquals;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public ModelQueryImpl modelName(String name) {
        if (name == null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("name is null");
        }
        this.name = name;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public ModelQueryImpl modelNameLike(String nameLike) {
        if (nameLike == null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("nameLike is null");
        }
        this.nameLike = nameLike;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public ModelQuery modelKey(String key) {
        if (key == null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("key is null");
        }
        this.key = key;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public ModelQueryImpl modelVersion(Integer version) {
        if (version == null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("version is null");

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