flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableIllegalArgumentException

Provided element ids are null

Error message

Provided element ids are null

What it means

ExternalWorkerJobQuery.elementIds(Collection<String>) throws FlowableIllegalArgumentException when the provided element-id collection is null. Like jobIds, the multi-value filter is validated eagerly; a null collection cannot be translated into an IN clause. Use an empty collection or conditionally apply the filter.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable-job-service/src/main/java/org/flowable/job/service/impl/ExternalWorkerJobQueryImpl.java:214

    }

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

    @Override
    public ExternalWorkerJobQuery elementIds(Collection<String> elementIds) {
        if (elementIds == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("Provided element ids are null");
        }
        if (inOrStatement) {
            this.currentOrQueryObject.elementIds = elementIds;
        } else {
            this.elementIds = elementIds;
        }
        return this;
    }

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

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

1. Pass Collections.emptyList() instead of null when there are no ids.
2. Only call elementIds(ids) when the collection is non-null and non-empty.
3. Default optional config fields to empty collections at load time.
4. Ensure deserialization frameworks populate collection fields with empty defaults.

Example fix

// before
query.elementIds(selectedElementIds);
// after
if (selectedElementIds != null && !selectedElementIds.isEmpty()) {
    query.elementIds(selectedElementIds);
}

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

boolean hasElementIds(Collection<String> ids) { return ids != null && !ids.isEmpty(); }

try {
    query.elementIds(ids);
} catch (FlowableIllegalArgumentException e) {
    query; // rebuild without the elementIds filter
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling externalWorkerJobQuery().elementIds(null), typically when the set of interesting element ids is computed conditionally and ends up null.

Common situations: Bulk job inspection tools built from config where 'elementIds' is an optional list; refactorings replacing a varargs helper with a collection argument; deserialized payloads missing the field.

Related errors

• ids are null
• categoryLike is null
• categoryNotEquals is null
• name is null
• nameLike is null

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6802ad97c1f137c0. Report an issue: GitHub.