Start Event

Introduction

info

As the name implies, the Start Event indicates where a particular Process will start. In terms of Sequence Flows, the Start Event starts the flow of the Process, and thus, will not have any incoming Sequence Flows—no Sequence Flow can connect to a Start Event.

The Start Event shares the same basic shape of the Intermediate Event and End Event, a circle with an open center so that markers can be placed within the circle to indicate variations of the Event.

— BPMN 2.0.2 Standard, 10.4.2, Start Event

Untyped start event is also called the None Start Event. The Start event is the most common type of event. Processes that start with such an event are created without any pre-conditions. It is common to use this event when a human starts a process through a graphical user interface.

Properties

General

Common

Attribute	Type	Description	Category
Model Id	Text	Model Id identifies the element within the process model.	The model id, name and documentation properties can be found on any element. They are used respectively to uniquely identity the start event, to give the start event a user-friendly name and to add a free-form description.
Name	Text	The name of the element. This is the name displayed in the diagram.
Documentation	Multiline Text	A free-form text that can be used to explain details about the particular element.

Form

Attribute	Type	Description	Category
Start form reference	Reference	Reference of the form that will be displayed when a new process is created.	The properties here configure the start form of this BPMN process model. It will be shown to the user when a process instance is started and can be used to gather initial data to use in subsequent steps. Check the 'In same deployment' if the referenced form model should be referenced from within the same app deployment. Uncheck it to always use the latest deployed version.
In same deployment	Boolean	Set it to true if the referenced definition should be referenced from within the same app deployment. Set it to false to always use the newest definition.	The Same deployment flag is used to indicate that the start form model that needs to be used is part of the same app deployment package as where the current BPMN model is in. If unchecked, the latest version is used which can come from an app that is deployed at a later point in time.

Advanced Form

Attribute	Type	Description	Category
Form properties	List	Custom form properties which are used within the legacy Flowable form engine or a custom form engine.

Advanced

Execution

Attribute	Type	Description	Category
Asynchronous	Boolean	When enabled, the activity will be started as an asynchronous job. The process state is persisted before this element is executed. Then, the process execution will be resumed asynchroneously. This can be used when the execution an activity takes a long time to return the UI to the user quicker in case the user does not need to see the next step immediately. However, if an error occurs before the following wait state, there will be no direct user feedback. Please refer to the documentation for more details.	When making a start event asynchronous, the process instance will be created and the start form variable will be stored, but the next step(s) will be executed asynchronously. Choose exclusive to avoid other asynchronous steps of this process instance to run at the same time.
Exclusive	Boolean	Determines whether the activity or process is run as an exclusive job. An exclusive job makes sure that no other asynchronous exclusive activities within the same process are performed at the same time. This helps to prevent failing jobs in concurrent scenarios.
Leave asynchronously	Boolean	When enabled, the activity will be left as an asynchronous job. This means that the activity is ended asynchronously, including end execution listeners. Please refer to the documentation for more details.
Leave exclusive	Boolean	Determines whether the activity should leave as an exclusive job. An exclusive job makes sure that no other asynchronous exclusive activities within the same process are performed at the same time. This helps to prevent failing jobs in concurrent scenarios.
Job Category	Text	When set, the underlying generated job will have a Job Category, which will be executed only by Application Servers, where the Process Engine has enabledJobCategories set to this category.

Details

Attribute	Type	Description	Category
Initiator variable	Text	The variable that holds the user that will be used as the default user who initiated the process.	The initiator is the user who started the process instance. This user id is stored by default in the 'initiator' variable. That variable name can be changed here.
Interrupting	Boolean	If used in an event subprocess, determines whether parent executions will be terminated.	The interrupting setting can be used when the start event is used in an event subprocess. If checked, the main process will be interrupted, which means it will be terminated and the flow will continue in the event subprocess.

Listeners

Attribute	Type	Description	Category
Execution listeners	List	Allows invoking custom after certain lifecycle events. Start: Executes after the activity has been started. End: Executes after the activity was completed. Transition: When defined on a sequence flow, executes once the flow is transition is taken.	Execution listeners are used to add logic on certain lifecycle events. Typically it is used to add extra technical logic which shouldn't be visible in the BPMN process model.

Visual

Attribute	Type	Description	Category
Font size	Selection: 8 9 10 11 12 14 18 20 24 36 48 72	Font size.	Visual properties that determine how the start event is shown in the diagram. This has no impact on the runtime execution.
Font weight	Selection: Normal Bold	Select the style between bold and normal.
Border color	Color	The border color of the element in the diagram.
Font style	Selection: Normal Italic	Select the style between italic and normal.
Font color	Color	Select a font color.
Background color	Color	The background color of the element in the diagram.

List Attribute Details

Form properties

Attribute	Type	Description
Id	Text	A unique identifier for this form property.
Name	Text	A name for the form property.
Type	Selection: String Long Boolean Date Enum Custom	The type of the form property
Custom type	Text
Expression	Text	An expression used to determine the value of this form property
Variable	Text	The variable to map the value on to.
Default	Text	The default value if not set (an expression).
Required	Boolean
Readable	Boolean
writable	Boolean
Date pattern	Text	A java-compatible data pattern, such as dd-MMM-yyyy or yyy-MM-dd.
Form values	BasicFormList
Form values	List

Form values

Attribute	Type	Description
Id	Text	Model Id identifies the element within the process model.
Name	Text	The name of the element. This is the name displayed in the diagram.

Form values

Attribute	Type	Description
Id	Text	A unique identifier.
Name	Text	The name of the custom field value.

Execution listeners

Attribute	Type	Description
Event	Selection: Start End Take	The lifecycle event. The 'Take' event is only available for sequence flow.
Class	Text	Fully qualified classname of a class to be invoked when executing the task. The class must implement either JavaDelegate or ActivityBehavior.
Expression	Text	JUEL Expression to be executed when the task is started. Expressions allow you to interact with the backend by calling services, making calculations etc. You can find more information about expressions in the documentation.
Delegate expression	Text	Delegate Expression to be executed when the task is started. A delegate expression must resolve to a Java object, for instance a Spring bean. The object's class must implement either JavaDelegate or ActivityBehavior.
Fields	List

Fields

Attribute	Type	Description
Name	Text	The name of the element. This is the name displayed in the diagram.
String value	Text
Expression	Text	JUEL Expression to be executed when the task is started. Expressions allow you to interact with the backend by calling services, making calculations etc. You can find more information about expressions in the documentation.
String	Text