Comparison in Gateways of jBPM: Inclusive vs Parallel vs Exclusive

When modeling business processes in jBPM, gateways are crucial elements that control how the workflow branches and merges. Choosing the right gateway ensures that your process logic behaves as expected. In this post, we’ll break down the differences between the three most common gateways: Inclusive (OR), Parallel (AND), and Exclusive (XOR) gateways.

🔹 Exclusive Gateway (XOR)

Behavior:

  • Only one outgoing path is taken, based on conditions.

  • Conditions are evaluated in order; the first one that evaluates to true is followed.

  • You can also configure a default path if no condition matches.

Use case:

  • Choosing a meal based on budget or preference (only one meal can be selected).

Example condition (MVEL):

budget >= 300 && isVegetarian == true

🔹 Parallel Gateway (AND)

Behavior:

  • All outgoing paths are taken simultaneously.

  • No conditions are checked—every branch runs in parallel.

  • At the merge point, the parallel gateway waits for all incoming flows to complete before moving on.

Use case:

  • When multiple tasks must happen at the same time, such as sending an email, updating a database, and notifying a manager.

🔹 Inclusive Gateway (OR)

Behavior:

  • One or more outgoing paths are taken, depending on conditions.

  • Unlike Exclusive, multiple conditions can be true, so multiple branches can execute simultaneously.

  • At the merge point, the inclusive gateway waits for only the active paths to finish (not all defined paths).

Use case:

  • Processing an order where you might need both shipping and invoicing if conditions match, but sometimes only one of them.

Example condition (MVEL):

technologies.contains("Java")

Comparison in Gateways of jBPM: Inclusive vs Parallel vs Exclusive

jBPM Gateway Comparison
Gateway Split Behavior Conditions Merge Behavior Typical Use Case jBPM/MVEL Example Common Pitfalls
Exclusive (XOR) Exactly one outgoing path is taken. Yes — first true condition wins; optional default flow. Continues when the single incoming branch completes. Pick one option: e.g., choose exactly one meal based on rules. budget >= 300 && isVegetarian == true
Default flow handles “no match”. 		Using assignment = instead of comparison ==; ordering conditions incorrectly.
Parallel (AND) All outgoing paths are started simultaneously. No — runs all branches (no expressions allowed). Converging parallel gateway waits for all incoming branches. Do everything in parallel: send email, log audit, update DB. N/A (no condition on flows) Forgetting the parallel join; placing conditions on outgoing flows (not supported).
Inclusive (OR) One or more outgoing paths may be taken. Yes — each flow with a true condition is activated. Converging inclusive gateway waits for only the activated branches. Flexible branching: invoice if required, ship if in stock, notify if VIP. technologies != null && technologies.contains("Java")
budget >= 300 		Accidentally setting a default that always fires; using wrong method name (e.g., contain vs contains).

Notes: Use MVEL on sequence flows for Exclusive and Inclusive gateways. Keep a converging gateway that matches your split type (XOR→XOR, AND→AND, OR→OR).

🛠 Best Practices

  • Use Exclusive Gateway when only one option must be selected.

  • Use Parallel Gateway when all tasks must run concurrently without conditions.

  • Use Inclusive Gateway when one or more conditions may be valid, and you need flexible branching.

  🚀 Summary




✅ Conclusion

Gateways give you fine-grained control over process logic in jBPM. By choosing the right type—Inclusive, Parallel, or Exclusive—you can model workflows that reflect real-world business rules accurately.


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Technologies covered include Java, Spring Boot, PL/SQL, Azure, and workflow automation (jBPM, Camunda BPM, RHPAM).

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