What is a Begin Activity?

The Begin activity provides an entry point into every process. The Begin Activity creates a Process Instance. Instance variables are set for each instance as it flows through the Begin activity.

When a new process is created, Studio automatically creates a Begin activity. There can be only one Begin activity in a process. Instances can enter a Begin activity with arguments initialized by any of the following:

A Global Creation activity in the process
A Global Automatic activity in the process
A Subflow activity in another process.
A Process Creation activity in another process.
An external application or web page (through a servlet) that uses the Process and ProcessInstance components to initiate an instance in a process, using PAPI or WAPI.

Note: There is always an implied path from any Global Creation Activity to the Begin Activity. This implied path is not displayed.

Using the Begin Activity

The following table outlines some of the considerations when using the Begin Activity within ALBPM Studio.

WorkSpace	The Begin Activity is the entry point into a process. It does not appear in WorkSpace.
Roles	The Begin activity automatically appears when you select File and New Process from the Studio menu options. The Begin activity can be moved around on the Process Designer workspace. The Begin activity can be either in an automatic or an interactive role.
Variables	The mapping between instance variables and process arguments is specified at the Begin activity. The Instance variables will be automatically completed with the received arguments, as designed in the Argument Mapping.
Pre Conditions	Argument variables come into the Begin activity from an external component or application, a Global Creation activity, a Global activity, a Global Automatic activity executing ProcessInstance component or from an activity type that starts a subprocess. These arguments respond to the Argument Mapping defined in the Begin Activity.
Post Conditions	An instance is created within the Begin activity. Instance variables are initialized from the incoming arguments, as mapped. The instance flows to the next activity according to transition rules.
Transitions	Incoming transitions are not allowed on Begin Activities. Begin activities must contain one or more out-going transitions. Begin activities cannot transition to a Grab Activity. If the Begin activity has multiple sets of arguments, then Message based transitions are available
Business Process Methods	In order to pass arguments between processes, the Argument Mapping function is available. Advance scripting is available but because of compatibility with previous version. It is not recommended to add code either in the Begin or End PBL.In case you need to execute some coding, you can include that in an automatic activity immediately after the activity. Note: If any of the instance variables used in the argument mapping are modified in the script, the values passed in the mapping are lost and the new ones become valid.