Null Handling of Repository Methods not implemented correctly for "Containing" kind of methods

In the documentation we see that it is possible to manage nullability for the repository methods. Look at section 9.4.7 Null Handling of Repository Methods.

While it works for simple methods like: User findByEmailAddress(@Nullable EmailAddress emailAdress);

The same approach will cause an error for “Containing” kind of methods: User findByFirstnameContaining(@Nullable String name)

If I call this method with null name I get this error: "message": "Argument for creating $regex pattern for property 'section' must not be null!"

I think the more appropriate solution would be omitting any null input parameter during query building phase.

[mp911de]

Sounds that you have already a suggestion on your mind how the docs should look like. I’d be happy to review a pull request that changes https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-data-commons/blob/main/src/main/asciidoc/repository-query-keywords-reference.adoc by introducing another column whether the specific keyword would accept a nullable argument.

[vgarmash]

We could improve the wording to mention that nullability annotations make only sense for parameters in which it actually makes sense.

I would like to insist on more specific wording. “makes sense” is not specific enough. It should specifically mention incompatibility between @Nullable String input and all queries built using keywords: Like, StartingWith, EndingWith, NotLike, IsNotLike, Containing on String, NotContaining on String.