JBPM(6.5) - Two start events in a event-subprocess

Question

I am using JBPM 6.5 and currently, I am stuck with the situation where I want to start a process with different events.

As we can see from this blog: http://blog.goodelearning.com/bpmn/common-bpmn-modeling-mistakes-best-practices-basic-events/

It makes sense to have multiple start events in one process. However, JBPM doesn't support it.

Error MSG: Process 'abc' [abc.abc]: Node 'Create child case process' [3] Event subprocess is not allowed to have more than one start node.

What I want to achieve is like this:

Is there any workaround of this?

One solution I can think of is to have 2 subprocesses. However, I don't think this is the best solution. Because I will have 2 repeat subprocesses.

Answer 1

A helpful way of thinking is using tokens (like in a casino). Every start event creates one, every end event destroys one, and gateways change their amount as well. Most importantly, the number of tokens of a pool has to be zero if all processes are finished. Or in other words (as in your tutorial):

If a process actually starts by different triggers or ends at different states, the names of the corresponding process events should be unique.

The issue in your case is exactly this, namely your two start events are not overlap free and may create more tokens than you destroy. This ambiguity can be avoided by a construction with a gateway after your two events, but I have not enough info about your case to be able to judge whether it is a XOR or and AND.

PS: I am not familiar with JBPM 6.5, but your question is clearly a syntax question, not software related.