flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableIllegalArgumentException

Provided userIdLike is null

Error message

Provided userIdLike is null

What it means

TokenQueryImpl.userIdLike(String) adds a LIKE filter on the token's user id. Passing null triggers FlowableIllegalArgumentException because a null pattern is invalid as a SQL LIKE criterion. Validation happens at query-build time, before any database access.

Solutions

1. Provide a non-null pattern such as "%admin%".
2. Apply the criterion conditionally when the filter value is present.
3. Omit the call to search across all user ids.

Example fix

// before
TokenQuery q = identityService.createTokenQuery().userIdLike(filter.userIdLike);

// after
TokenQuery q = identityService.createTokenQuery();
if (filter.userIdLike != null && !filter.userIdLike.isEmpty()) {
    q = q.userIdLike("%" + filter.userIdLike + "%");
}

if (userIdLike == null) { userIdLike = "%"; } // or skip the call
identityService.createTokenQuery().userIdLike(userIdLike);

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

try {
    query.userIdLike(pattern);
} catch (FlowableIllegalArgumentException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().contains("userIdLike is null")) { /* skip criterion */ } else { throw e; }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling TokenQuery.userIdLike(null) in a createTokenQuery() chain with an uninitialized or optional filter variable.

Common situations: Optional search filters from REST query parameters; DTO fields left null; code that applies every available criterion without null-guards.

Related errors

• Provided first name is null
• Provided id is null
• Provided ids is null
• Provided token data is null
• Provided tokenDataLike is null

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/74db6f5241457acb. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable-idm-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/idm/engine/impl/TokenQueryImpl.java:164

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

    @Override
    public TokenQuery userId(String userId) {
        if (userId == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("Provided user id is null");
        }
        this.userId = userId;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public TokenQuery userIdLike(String userIdLike) {
        if (userIdLike == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("Provided userIdLike is null");
        }
        this.userIdLike = userIdLike;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public TokenQuery tokenData(String tokenData) {
        if (tokenData == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("Provided token data is null");
        }
        this.tokenData = tokenData;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public TokenQuery tokenDataLike(String tokenDataLike) {
        if (tokenDataLike == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("Provided tokenDataLike is null");

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