flowable/flowable-engine · error · FlowableIllegalArgumentException

resourceName is null

Error message

resourceName is null

What it means

DecisionQueryImpl.decisionResourceName(String) validates that the resource name is non-null. The resource name is compared to the DMN resource (e.g. 'orders.dmn') stored with the deployment, and null is not a valid comparison value, so the builder throws FlowableIllegalArgumentException immediately.

Source

Thrown at modules/flowable-dmn-engine/src/main/java/org/flowable/dmn/engine/impl/DecisionQueryImpl.java:178

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

    @Override
    public DecisionQueryImpl decisionKeyLike(String keyLike) {
        if (keyLike == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("keyLike is null");
        }
        this.keyLike = keyLike;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public DecisionQueryImpl decisionResourceName(String resourceName) {
        if (resourceName == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("resourceName is null");
        }
        this.resourceName = resourceName;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public DecisionQueryImpl decisionResourceNameLike(String resourceNameLike) {
        if (resourceNameLike == null) {
            throw new FlowableIllegalArgumentException("resourceNameLike is null");
        }
        this.resourceNameLike = resourceNameLike;
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public DecisionQueryImpl decisionVersion(Integer version) {
        checkVersion(version);
        this.version = version;

View on GitHub (pinned to d6d39ce1c6)

Solutions

  1. Pass the actual resource name (e.g. "my-decision.dmn"); check the deployment to get the stored name if unsure.
  2. Guard the call: only add the resource-name filter when the value is non-null.
  3. If you meant exact-key filtering, use decisionKey; if pattern matching, use decisionResourceNameLike with a non-null pattern.

Example fix

// before
query.decisionResourceName(resourceName);
// after
if (resourceName != null) {
    query.decisionResourceName(resourceName);
} else {
    logger.warn("resourceName not set, skipping resource filter");
}
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (resourceName == null || resourceName.isEmpty()) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("resourceName must be provided");
}
query.decisionResourceName(resourceName);

Type guard

boolean hasResourceName(String r) { return r != null && !r.isEmpty(); }

Try / catch

try {
    query.decisionResourceName(resourceName);
} catch (FlowableIllegalArgumentException e) {
    if (e.getMessage() != null && e.getMessage().contains("resourceName")) {
        // run query without the resource filter
    } else { throw e; }
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling decisionResourceName(null) when looking up a decision by its .dmn resource file name — commonly when the file name comes from a variable, config property, or deployment descriptor that was not set.

Common situations: Code that reads a resource path from application config where the property is missing; generic query helper methods that pass through optional parameters unconditionally; renaming/relocating .dmn resources so the variable feeding the query is null.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2fbc70463a7f51b7. Report an issue: GitHub.