What causes "nameLike is null" in flowable/flowable-engine?

Pass a non-null like pattern, e.g. caseDefinitionNameLike("%order%").

flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableIllegalArgumentException

nameLike is null

Error message

nameLike is null

What it means

FlowableIllegalArgumentException thrown by CaseDefinitionQueryImpl.caseDefinitionNameLike(String) when the nameLike pattern is null. Like-style filters accept SQL wildcards (%, _) but never null; the engine validates eagerly so the query fails at build time instead of generating invalid SQL. To match all definitions, simply do not call the setter.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable-cmmn-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/cmmn/engine/impl/repository/CaseDefinitionQueryImpl.java:132

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

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

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

    @Override
    public CaseDefinitionQueryImpl caseDefinitionNameLikeIgnoreCase(String nameLikeIgnoreCase) {
        if (nameLikeIgnoreCase == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("nameLikeIgnoreCase is null");
        }
        this.nameLikeIgnoreCase = nameLikeIgnoreCase;
        return this;
    }

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

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

Pass a non-null like pattern, e.g. caseDefinitionNameLike("%order%").
Only invoke caseDefinitionNameLike when the pattern is non-null/non-empty.
If null means 'match all', omit the setter rather than passing null.

Example fix

// before
query.caseDefinitionNameLike(pattern); // pattern may be null

// after
if (pattern != null && !pattern.isEmpty()) {
    query.caseDefinitionNameLike("%" + pattern + "%");
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (nameLike != null && !nameLike.isEmpty()) {
    query.caseDefinitionNameLike(nameLike);
}

Type guard

boolean hasPattern = nameLike != null && !nameLike.isEmpty();

Try / catch

try {
    query.caseDefinitionNameLike(nameLike);
} catch (FlowableIllegalArgumentException e) {
    // pattern was null — skip filter or use a default pattern
}

Prevention

Apply like-pattern filters only for non-empty user input.
Decide explicitly what null/empty search input means (match-all vs match-none) and encode that before building the query.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling repositoryService.createCaseDefinitionQuery().caseDefinitionNameLike(null), typically when a search pattern variable is uninitialized.

Common situations: Search UIs where the user typed no pattern; code that builds "name LIKE ?" clauses from an optional input and forwards the null value.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2869e8673168d3b2. Report an issue: GitHub.