quarkusio/quarkus · error · UnableToParseMethodException

A field must by supplied after 'OrderBy' . Offending method

Error message

A field must by supplied after 'OrderBy' . Offending method is ${repositoryMethodDescription}.

What it means

When parsing the 'OrderBy' clause of a derived repository method name, the parser found 'OrderBy' as the last text with no field name following it. It throws UnableToParseMethodException because a sort field must be supplied after 'OrderBy'.

Source

Thrown at extensions/spring-data-jpa/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/spring/data/deployment/MethodNameParser.java:149

        if (methodName.substring(0, byIndex).contains("Distinct")) {
            throw new UnableToParseMethodException(
                    "Distinct is not yet supported. Offending method is " + repositoryMethodDescription + ".");
        }

        // handle 'AllIgnoreCase'
        String afterByPart = methodName.substring(byIndex + 2);
        boolean allIgnoreCase = false;
        if (afterByPart.contains(ALL_IGNORE_CASE)) {
            allIgnoreCase = true;
            afterByPart = afterByPart.replace(ALL_IGNORE_CASE, "");
        }

        // handle the 'OrderBy' clause which is assumed to be at the end of the query
        Sort sort = null;
        if (containsLogicOperator(afterByPart, ORDER_BY)) {
            int orderByIndex = afterByPart.indexOf(ORDER_BY);
            if (orderByIndex + ORDER_BY.length() == afterByPart.length()) {
                throw new UnableToParseMethodException(
                        "A field must by supplied after 'OrderBy' . Offending method is " + repositoryMethodDescription + ".");
            }
            String afterOrderByPart = afterByPart.substring(orderByIndex + ORDER_BY.length());
            afterByPart = afterByPart.substring(0, orderByIndex);
            boolean ascending = true;
            if (afterOrderByPart.endsWith("Asc")) {
                ascending = true;
                afterOrderByPart = afterOrderByPart.replace("Asc", "");
            } else if (afterOrderByPart.endsWith("Desc")) {
                ascending = false;
                afterOrderByPart = afterOrderByPart.replace("Desc", "");
            }
            String orderField = lowerFirstLetter(afterOrderByPart);
            if (!entityContainsField(orderField)) {
                throw new UnableToParseMethodException(
                        "Field " + orderField
                                + " which was configured as the order field does not exist in the entity. Offending method is "
                                + repositoryMethodDescription + ".");

View on GitHub (pinned to e1c734241f)

Solutions

Append the field name (and optionally Asc/Desc) after OrderBy: e.g. ...OrderByLastnameAsc
Remove the OrderBy clause entirely if sorting is not needed and sort at call time with Sort.by(...) or a Pageable

Example fix

// before
List<User> findByLastnameOrderBy(String lastname);
// after
List<User> findByLastnameOrderByLastnameAsc(String lastname);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Regex check in a unit test:
// assertTrue(methodName.matches(".*OrderBy[A-Z].*(Asc|Desc)?"), "OrderBy needs a field: " + methodName);

Try / catch

try {
    parser.parse(methodName);
} catch (UnableToParseMethodException e) {
    // complete the OrderBy clause or drop it
    log.error("Derived method incomplete: " + e.getMessage());
}

Prevention

Always follow OrderBy with a field name, optionally suffixed Asc/Desc
Run a QuarkusTest that boots the app — all repository methods are parsed at startup/build
Don't truncate long method names during refactoring

When it happens

Trigger: Declaring a method ending exactly in 'OrderBy' (e.g. findAllByLastnameOrderBy, findByAgeOrderBy) — the substring after 'OrderBy' is empty.

Common situations: Typo or truncation while renaming methods; deleting the sort field during refactoring; copy-paste of method names that got cut off at the end.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of quarkusio/quarkus@e1c734241f (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/03bf3aa2e1d061c2. Report an issue: GitHub.