flowable/flowable-engine · error · ActivitiIllegalArgumentException

nameLike is null

Error message

nameLike is null

What it means

Flowable's ProcessDefinitionQueryImpl.processDefinitionNameLike(String) rejects a null nameLike parameter by throwing ActivitiIllegalArgumentException with message 'nameLike is null'. The query builder requires an actual LIKE pattern string; passing null would silently break the generated SQL filter, so the engine validates eagerly at API-call time rather than at query execution. This is a client-side argument contract violation, not a database or state problem.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable5-engine/src/main/java/org/activiti/engine/impl/ProcessDefinitionQueryImpl.java:132

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

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

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

    @Override
    public ProcessDefinitionQueryImpl deploymentId(String deploymentId) {
        if (deploymentId == null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("id is null");
        }
        this.deploymentId = deploymentId;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public ProcessDefinitionQueryImpl deploymentIds(Set<String> deploymentIds) {
        if (deploymentIds == null) {
            throw new ActivitiIllegalArgumentException("ids are null");

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

1. Ensure a non-null LIKE pattern is passed, e.g. nameLike("%order%")
2. If the filter is optional, only call processDefinitionNameLike when the value is non-null
3. Default the value to a wildcard pattern like "%%" if 'match all' is intended
4. Catch ActivitiIllegalArgumentException to surface a 400-style validation message to the caller

Example fix

// before
query.processDefinitionNameLike(request.getNameLike()); // NPE-ish if absent
// after
if (request.getNameLike() != null) {
    query.processDefinitionNameLike(request.getNameLike());
}

if (nameLike == null) throw new IllegalArgumentException("nameLike pattern is required");
query.processDefinitionNameLike(nameLike);

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

try {
    query.processDefinitionNameLike(nameLike);
} catch (ActivitiIllegalArgumentException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().contains("nameLike is null")) {
        throw new BadRequestException("nameLike filter must not be null");
    }
    throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ProcessDefinitionQuery.processDefinitionNameLike(null) directly, or indirectly when a caller-supplied filter variable that was expected to hold a name pattern is null (e.g. nameLike = request.getParameter(...) returning null, or an unset config field passed through).

Common situations: Web/API layers forwarding query-string filters into the query builder without checking for missing parameters; refactors where a default pattern constant was removed; mapping code copying optional DTO fields into the query unconditionally.

Related errors

• id is null
• key is null
• keyLike is null
• resourceName is null
• resourceNameLike is null

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a72a85b7e0d35958. Report an issue: GitHub.