I have a process that contains a fork activity with two branches - one containing a sub-process and the other any type of node from which we can terminate the whole process directly. A simplified version for test purposes would be:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<process name="p1"
schemaLocation="http://jbpm.org/4.0/jpdl http://docs.jboss.org/jbpm/xsd/jpdl-4.0.xsd"
xmlns="http://jbpm.org/4.0/jpdl">

<start g="143,27,80,40" name="start">
<transition g="-54,-22" name="to fork1" to="fork1" />
</start>

<fork g="143,117,48,48" name="fork1">
<transition g="-38,-22" name="to p2" to="p2" />
<transition g="34,-14" name="to state1" to="state1" />
</fork>

<state g="199,214,108,52" name="state1">
<transition to="join1" />
<transition g="-11,-21" name="end" to="end2" />
</state>
<sub-process g="18,227,92,52" name="p2" sub-process-key="p2">
<transition to="join1" />
</sub-process>

<join g="141,334,48,48" name="join1">
<transition to="end" />
</join>

<end-cancel g="405,217,92,102" name="end2" />
<end g="141,446,80,40" name="end" />

</process>

When I run the process and try to signal node 'state1' to end the whole process I get a constraint violation :

org.hibernate.exception.ConstraintViolationException: could not delete: org.jbpm.pvm.internal.model.ExecutionImpl#10003
at org.hibernate.exception.SQLStateConverter.convert(SQLStateConverter.java:94)
at org.hibernate.exception.JDBCExceptionHelper.convert(JDBCExceptionHelper.java:66)
at org.hibernate.persister.entity.AbstractEntityPersister.delete(AbstractEntityPersister.java:2569)
at org.hibernate.persister.entity.AbstractEntityPersister.delete(AbstractEntityPersister.java:2725)
at org.hibernate.action.EntityDeleteAction.execute(EntityDeleteAction.java:97)
at org.hibernate.engine.ActionQueue.execute(ActionQueue.java:279)
at org.hibernate.engine.ActionQueue.executeActions(ActionQueue.java:263)
at org.hibernate.engine.ActionQueue.executeActions(ActionQueue.java:172)
at org.hibernate.event.def.AbstractFlushingEventListener.performExecutions(AbstractFlushingEventListener.java:321)
at org.hibernate.event.def.DefaultAutoFlushEventListener.onAutoFlush(DefaultAutoFlushEventListener.java:64)
at org.hibernate.impl.SessionImpl.autoFlushIfRequired(SessionImpl.java:996)
at org.hibernate.impl.SessionImpl.list(SessionImpl.java:1141)
at org.hibernate.impl.QueryImpl.list(QueryImpl.java:102)
at org.hibernate.impl.AbstractQueryImpl.uniqueResult(AbstractQueryImpl.java:835)
at org.jbpm.pvm.internal.hibernate.DbSessionImpl.findProcessInstanceByIdIgnoreSuspended(DbSessionImpl.java:211)
at org.jbpm.pvm.internal.hibernate.DbSessionImpl.deleteProcessInstance(DbSessionImpl.java:251)
at org.jbpm.pvm.internal.model.ExecutionImpl.end(ExecutionImpl.java:382)
at org.jbpm.jpdl.internal.activity.EndActivity.execute(EndActivity.java:82)
at org.jbpm.jpdl.internal.activity.EndActivity.execute(EndActivity.java:45)
at org.jbpm.pvm.internal.model.op.ExecuteActivity.perform(ExecuteActivity.java:60)
at org.jbpm.pvm.internal.model.ExecutionImpl.performAtomicOperationSync(ExecutionImpl.java:656)
at org.jbpm.pvm.internal.model.ExecutionImpl.performAtomicOperation(ExecutionImpl.java:616)
at org.jbpm.pvm.internal.model.ExecutionImpl.signal(ExecutionImpl.java:417)
at org.jbpm.pvm.internal.cmd.SignalCmd.execute(SignalCmd.java:61)
at org.jbpm.pvm.internal.cmd.SignalCmd.execute(SignalCmd.java:35)
at org.jbpm.pvm.internal.svc.DefaultCommandService.execute(DefaultCommandService.java:42)
at org.jbpm.pvm.internal.tx.SpringCommandCallback.doInTransaction(SpringCommandCallback.java:45)
at org.springframework.transaction.support.TransactionTemplate.execute(TransactionTemplate.java:128)
at org.jbpm.pvm.internal.tx.SpringTransactionInterceptor.execute(SpringTransactionInterceptor.java:55)
at org.jbpm.pvm.internal.svc.EnvironmentInterceptor.executeInNewEnvironment(EnvironmentInterceptor.java:53)
at org.jbpm.pvm.internal.svc.EnvironmentInterceptor.execute(EnvironmentInterceptor.java:40)
at org.jbpm.pvm.internal.svc.RetryInterceptor.execute(RetryInterceptor.java:55)
at org.jbpm.pvm.internal.svc.ExecutionServiceImpl.signalExecutionById(ExecutionServiceImpl.java:88)
at org.jbpm.test.SubprocessTest.testEndWithActiveSubprocesses(SubprocessTest.java:25)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringTestMethod.invoke(SpringTestMethod.java:160)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringMethodRoadie.runTestMethod(SpringMethodRoadie.java:233)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringMethodRoadie$RunBeforesThenTestThenAfters.run(SpringMethodRoadie.java:333)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringMethodRoadie.runWithRepetitions(SpringMethodRoadie.java:217)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringMethodRoadie.runTest(SpringMethodRoadie.java:197)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringMethodRoadie.run(SpringMethodRoadie.java:143)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.invokeTestMethod(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:160)
at org.junit.internal.runners.JUnit4ClassRunner.runMethods(JUnit4ClassRunner.java:51)
at org.junit.internal.runners.JUnit4ClassRunner$1.run(JUnit4ClassRunner.java:44)
at org.junit.internal.runners.ClassRoadie.runUnprotected(ClassRoadie.java:27)
at org.junit.internal.runners.ClassRoadie.runProtected(ClassRoadie.java:37)
at org.junit.internal.runners.JUnit4ClassRunner.run(JUnit4ClassRunner.java:42)
at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.run(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:97)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit4.runner.JUnit4TestReference.run(JUnit4TestReference.java:49)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.TestExecution.run(TestExecution.java:38)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:467)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:683)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.run(RemoteTestRunner.java:390)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.main(RemoteTestRunner.java:197)
Caused by: java.sql.SQLException: ORA-02292: violation de contrainte (BDOOA.FK_EXEC_SUPEREXEC) d'intégrité - enregistrement fils existant

at oracle.jdbc.driver.DatabaseError.throwSqlException(DatabaseError.java:112)
at oracle.jdbc.driver.T4CTTIoer.processError(T4CTTIoer.java:331)
at oracle.jdbc.driver.T4CTTIoer.processError(T4CTTIoer.java:288)
at oracle.jdbc.driver.T4C8Oall.receive(T4C8Oall.java:745)
at oracle.jdbc.driver.T4CPreparedStatement.doOall8(T4CPreparedStatement.java:216)
at oracle.jdbc.driver.T4CPreparedStatement.executeForRows(T4CPreparedStatement.java:966)
at oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleStatement.doExecuteWithTimeout(OracleStatement.java:1170)
at oracle.jdbc.driver.OraclePreparedStatement.executeInternal(OraclePreparedStatement.java:3339)
at oracle.jdbc.driver.OraclePreparedStatement.executeUpdate(OraclePreparedStatement.java:3423)
at org.hibernate.persister.entity.AbstractEntityPersister.delete(AbstractEntityPersister.java:2551)
... 54 more

I investigated the problem and I found out that it is due to the fact that we never try to terminate an existing sub-process from within the ExecutionImpl.end() method. It causes a delete of the parent execution row although it is still referenced by SUPEREXEC_ column of the sub-process.

I created a patch that works and that consists on adding the following code to ExecutionImpl.end(String state) (my code in the middle paragraph):

// end all child executions
// making a copy of the executions to prevent ConcurrentMoidificationException
List<ExecutionImpl> executionsToEnd = new ArrayList<ExecutionImpl>(executions);
for (ExecutionImpl child: executionsToEnd)

{ child.end(state); }

// terminates the sub-process if it exists
if(subProcessInstance != null)

{ // to avoid the return signal (see superProcessExecution.signal() in the end(String state) method) subProcessInstance.setSuperProcessExecution(null); subProcessInstance.end(state); }

setState(state);

I don't know if it is the right approach but it works pretty much fine. I join both the patch and the test module.