ClearOrbit / TAKE Search Outage: Missing <code>operation</code> Handler Parameter (<code>/shipping/findShipment</code>)

Solution

Error message (exact)

javax.servlet.ServletException: Request[/shipping/findShipment] does not contain handler parameter named 'operation'. This may be caused by whitespace in the label text.

Symptoms

• Users cannot search or retrieve results across multiple areas (commonly: Purchase Orders, Shipments, Packages/Packagers).
• The error is often triggered by a Search action (example request path shown in the message: /shipping/findShipment).
• Impact is typically broad (multiple modules), suggesting a shared UI/search component issue rather than a single record/data problem.

What the error usually means

The server received a request to a controller/handler (e.g., /shipping/findShipment) that expects a handler parameter named operation, but that parameter was not included in the request payload. This is consistent with:

• Stale/cached UI assets causing the browser to submit an older or incompatible form.
• UI/config changes where label/action text (including leading/trailing whitespace) no longer matches what the backend mapping expects, so operation is not populated.

Troubleshooting and mitigation steps

1) Confirm whether it is session- or browser-specific

1. Reproduce the issue with:
   • a different user account, and
   • a different browser (or a private/incognito window).
2. If it works in a clean session, the cause is likely cached UI resources or cookies tied to the original session.

2) Eliminate client-side cache as a factor (fastest safe check)

On an affected workstation:

1. Hard refresh the application page:
   • Windows: Ctrl + F5
   • macOS (varies by browser): use a hard refresh / “Empty cache and hard reload”
2. If still failing:
   • Clear site data for your_instance.domain.com (cached images/files + cookies).
   • Sign in again.
3. Re-test the same Search action (e.g., Search Shipments) and confirm whether searches now work across modules.

3) Check for recent UI/config changes that could break “operation” posting

If the issue started suddenly (for example, after a deployment window):

1. Compare the most recently deployed UI/config artifacts to the last known-good version.
2. Focus on shared search components and shipping/search screens.
3. Look specifically for:
   • Label/action text changes containing leading/trailing spaces
   • Renamed “Search” buttons/actions
   • Customizations that alter form field names or prevent operation from being submitted

4) Isolate scope: navigation vs. search

Confirm whether:

• Users can open modules/screens successfully, but
• any Search action triggers the ServletException

If only Search fails (across multiple modules), it strongly suggests a shared component/controller binding mismatch.

5) If Steps 1–2 do not resolve: validate deployment alignment or roll back

When cache/session clearing does not help, the remaining common causes are:

• UI/config package and backend controller expectations are out of sync
• A misaligned or partial deployment

Mitigation approach:

1. Restore/roll back to the last known-good application/config package (per your change management process).
2. Re-test searches across affected modules.

6) Collect JBoss server logs for root-cause confirmation

Gather the server-side logs from your JBoss host for the timeframe when the error occurs, then correlate:

• Request path (e.g., /shipping/findShipment)
• The missing parameter (operation)
• Any related mapping or binding errors around the search request

Additional note

In at least one reported production outage with this exact error, the environment was later restored by customer-side actions; however, the specific remediation steps were not recorded, so the applied fix is unknown and the guidance above was not explicitly confirmed as the final resolution.