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

Null-check before calling; skip the criterion when absent

flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableIllegalArgumentException

nameLike is null

Error message

nameLike is null

What it means

appDefinitionNameLike(null) throws FlowableIllegalArgumentException since a null cannot form a LIKE pattern against the app definition name column. Validation is performed immediately in the query builder.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable-app-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/app/engine/impl/repository/AppDefinitionQueryImpl.java:122

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

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

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

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

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

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

Null-check before calling; skip the criterion when absent
Normalize empty strings and null to 'no filter' in your input layer
Handle FlowableIllegalArgumentException and return a 400 to the caller

Example fix

// before
query.appDefinitionNameLike("%" + nameLike + "%");
// after
if (nameLike != null && !nameLike.isEmpty()) {
    query.appDefinitionNameLike("%" + nameLike + "%");
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

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

Type guard

boolean isApplicable(String v) { return v != null && !v.isEmpty(); }

Try / catch

try {
    query.appDefinitionNameLike(nameLike);
} catch (FlowableIllegalArgumentException e) {
    throw new ResponseStatusException(HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST, e.getMessage(), e);
}

Prevention

Treat empty and null search input as 'no filter' and skip the call
Build wildcard patterns only after null-checking the base value
Centralize query building in one helper that guards all optional criteria

When it happens

Trigger: Calling appDefinitionNameLike(nameLike) with null, typically when the search term comes from an optional request parameter or a nullable field of a search-criteria object.

Common situations: Empty search box bound as null instead of skipped; API clients omitting the nameLike query parameter; code that concatenates wildcards onto a possibly-null base value.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cd6f03b5f9ffb778. Report an issue: GitHub.