theonedev/onedev · warning · ValidationException

Invalid working period

Error message

Invalid working period

What it means

TimeTrackingSetting.parseWorkingPeriod(String) parses a user-entered working period (e.g. '2d 4h', '1h 30m') into an amount using configured unit patterns. Blank input throws ValidationException 'Invalid working period', as does input that fails the configured pattern set. This is user-facing input validation for issue time tracking.

Source

Thrown at server-core/src/main/java/io/onedev/server/model/support/issue/TimeTrackingSetting.java:119

		return new ArrayList<>(choices);
	}

	public Usage onDeleteLink(String linkName) {
		Usage usage = new Usage();
		if (linkName.equals(aggregationLink))
			usage.add(_T("time aggregation link"));
		return usage;
	}

	public void onRenameLink(String oldName, String newName) {
		if (oldName.equals(aggregationLink))
			aggregationLink = newName;
	}

	public int parseWorkingPeriod(String period) {
		period = StringUtils.deleteWhitespace(period);
		if (StringUtils.isBlank(period))
			throw new ValidationException(_T("Invalid working period"));

		if (period.equals("0"))
			return 0;

		if (useHoursAndMinutesOnly) {
			Matcher matcher = HOURS_AND_MINUTES_ONLY_WORKING_PERIOD_PATTERN.matcher(period);
			if (!matcher.matches())
				throw new ValidationException(_T("Invalid working period"));
	
			int minutes = 0;	
			if (matcher.group(1) != null) {
				int hours = Integer.parseInt(StringUtils.stripEnd(matcher.group(1), "h"));
				minutes += hours*60;
			}
	
			if (matcher.group(2) != null)
				minutes += Integer.parseInt(StringUtils.stripEnd(matcher.group(2), "m"));
	

View on GitHub (pinned to d44925c47c)

Solutions

1. Enter the period in the format shown on the issue form, e.g. '2d 4h' or, if hours-and-minutes-only is enabled, '2h 30m'
2. If other time units (weeks, months) are needed, enable them in Administration → Issue Settings → Time Tracking
3. For '0', use the literal '0' which is accepted as a special case

Example fix

// before (invalid input with hours/minutes-only setting)
issue.getOwnTimeSpent(); // user entered "2 days"
// after: enter a valid period
"2h 30m"   // or enable day/week units in time tracking settings

// client-side check before submit
if (periodText.isBlank()) throw new ValidationException("Working period required");
// server-side pre-check
boolean blank = StringUtils.isBlank(StringUtils.deleteWhitespace(periodText));

try {
    int minutes = timeTrackingSetting.parseWorkingPeriod(periodText);
} catch (ValidationException e) {
    errors.add("Invalid working period; use e.g. 2d 4h or 1h 30m");
}

When it happens

Trigger: Entering an empty/whitespace-only working period, or a value not matching the enabled units' patterns (especially when useHoursAndMinutesOnly restricts to 'Xh Ym' format) when submitting time tracking on an issue.

Common situations: User types '2 days' when only h/m format is enabled; includes unsupported units (e.g. weeks/months pattern disabled); locale-specific number or spacing oddities; submitting the form with an empty field.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid ... format", "must be in format X", "does not look like a ..." — invalid argument format errors across CLI tools and libraries — this error's family across 17 libraries.

Related errors

• Time tracking needs to be enabled for the project
• An active subscription is required for this feature
• Title is required
• An active subscription is required for this feature
• Issue schedule permission required to set own estimated time

AI-assisted analysis of theonedev/onedev@d44925c47c (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e80bbd2e1ebcd5a3. Report an issue: GitHub.