flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableIllegalArgumentException

Provided categoryLike is null

Error message

Provided categoryLike is null

What it means

Flowable's TimerJobQueryImpl.categoryLike(String) throws FlowableIllegalArgumentException when the categoryLike pattern is null. categoryLike performs SQL LIKE-style matching and requires an actual pattern string; null is rejected at query construction. An empty pattern is accepted, though it rarely matches anything useful.

Solutions

1. Skip the categoryLike call when the pattern is null/blank instead of passing null
2. Sanitize and default the pattern (e.g. "%" + input + "%") only when input is present
3. Null-check in your query-builder wrapper before delegating to the Flowable query
4. Catch FlowableIllegalArgumentException and treat as invalid search criteria

Example fix

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

if (categoryPattern != null && !categoryPattern.isEmpty()) { query.categoryLike("%" + categoryPattern + "%"); }

boolean hasLikePattern(String p) { return p != null && !p.isEmpty(); }

try { query.categoryLike(pattern); } catch (FlowableIllegalArgumentException e) { log.warn("Null categoryLike pattern", e); }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling createTimerJobQuery().categoryLike(null), typically when the pattern is built from an optional search input or an expression that evaluated to null.

Common situations: REST/GraphQL search endpoints where the user left the category filter blank; templated query builders that pass through null; mistaken assumption that null means 'no filter'.

Related errors

• Business key is null
• Business status is null
• Case definition category is null
• Case definition id is null
• Case definition ids is null

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d37096a907e9d42c. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable-job-service/src/main/java/org/flowable/job/service/impl/TimerJobQueryImpl.java:186

    }

    @Override
    public TimerJobQueryImpl category(String category) {
        if (category == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("Provided category is null");
        }
        if (inOrStatement) {
            this.currentOrQueryObject.category = category;
        } else {
            this.category = category;
        }
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public TimerJobQueryImpl categoryLike(String categoryLike) {
        if (categoryLike == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("Provided categoryLike is null");
        }
        if (inOrStatement) {
            this.currentOrQueryObject.categoryLike = categoryLike;
        } else {
            this.categoryLike = categoryLike;
        }
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public TimerJobQueryImpl elementId(String elementId) {
        if (elementId == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("Provided element id is null");
        }
        if (inOrStatement) {
            this.currentOrQueryObject.elementId = elementId;
        } else {
            this.elementId = elementId;

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