7.1 Start Activity

The Start activity is the first activity to execute in a workflow. It begins execution when the user makes a request to provision a resource. After the user makes the request, the Start activity displays the initial request form to the user. On the initial request form, the user can be asked to specify a comment that indicates the reason for the request.

You can customize the initial request form to suit your application requirements. For details on customizing forms, see Section 5.0, Creating Forms for a Provisioning Request Definition.

Before displaying the form to the user, the Start activity performs any pre-activity data mappings specified for the activity.

After the user submits the form, the Start activity performs any post-activity data mappings specified for the activity. These mappings typically include copying data from form fields into the flowdata object.

7.1.1 Properties

The Start activity has the following properties:

Table 7-1 Start Activity Properties

Property Name	Description
Name	Provides a name for the activity.
Display Name Override	Allows you to override the provisioning request definition’s display name. This is the name that displays in the Resource column when the user selects My Requests or Requests. The name can be a constant or the result of an ECMA expression, and it can be localized for each supported locale. To access the dialog boxes that let you specify the constant or ECMA expression, the Localize Strings button in the Value column. To specify a constant, click and type the value in the field. The value is displayed exactly as entered in this field. To specify an ECMA expression, click and specify the expression. HINT:If the value is an ECMA expression, any constants within the expression must be in single quotes. If you specify both a constant and ECMA expression, the runtime displays whichever value was the last one entered as shown in the dialog box (above).

Property Name

Description

Name

Provides a name for the activity.

Display Name Override

Allows you to override the provisioning request definition’s display name. This is the name that displays in the Resource column when the user selects My Requests or Requests. The name can be a constant or the result of an ECMA expression, and it can be localized for each supported locale. To access the dialog boxes that let you specify the constant or ECMA expression, the Localize Strings button in the Value column.

To specify a constant, click and type the value in the field. The value is displayed exactly as entered in this field.

To specify an ECMA expression, click and specify the expression.

HINT:If the value is an ECMA expression, any constants within the expression must be in single quotes.

If you specify both a constant and ECMA expression, the runtime displays whichever value was the last one entered as shown in the dialog box (above).

7.1.2 Data Item Mapping

To bind the data items associated with the Start activity, you define pre-activity and post-activity mappings. The pre-activity mappings initialize data in the request form with constants or values retrieved from the flowdata object. The post-activity mappings move form data back into the flowdata object.

Table 7-2 Start Activity Data Item Mappings

Setting	Description
Pre-Activity	Allows you to specify one or more pre-activity mappings. When this option is selected, you can double-click a cell in the Source Expression column to specify where the initial request form gets data for a particular target form field. The Pre-activity Mapping expression is evaluated twice before the form is presented, once during the initial presentation to the form and then again prior to the post to ensure that all the values on the form have a valid type, even those that were not initialized. Because of this behavior, any calls made to external systems are made twice. For example, a call that retrieves a unique counter for a value makes two calls that allocates two counters with the last one requested being used. NOTE:When the Pre-Activity option is selected, the cells in the Target Form Field column are not editable.
Post-Activity	Allows you to specify one or more post-activity mappings. When this radio button is selected, you can double-click a cell in the Target Expression column to specify where data from a form field should be copied after the form has been processed. The DNDisplay control is not available for post activity mappings. NOTE:When the Post-Activity option is selected, the cells in the Source Form Field column are not editable.
Source Expression	Specifies a source expression for a pre-activity mapping. When you click a cell in the Source Expression column, the ECMA Expression Builder displays to help you define your expression.
Target Expression	Specifies a target expression for a post-activity mapping. When you click a cell in the Target Expression column, the ECMA Expression Builder displays to help you define your expression.

For details on building ECMA expressions, see Section 9.0, Working with ECMA Expressions.

7.1.3 Email Notification

Not supported with this activity.