# Initiator Process Variable - Flowable Upgrade

**URL:** <https://forum.flowable.org/t/initiator-process-variable-flowable-upgrade/5997>\
**Category:** Flowable Engine\
**Created:** [May 11, 2020, 6:32pm UTC](https://forum.flowable.org/t/initiator-process-variable-flowable-upgrade/5997 "2020-05-11T18:32:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![binishprab](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/forum.flowable.org/binishprab/32/1649_2.png) [@binishprab](https://forum.flowable.org/u/binishprab)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 6:32pm UTC](https://forum.flowable.org/t/initiator-process-variable-flowable-upgrade/5997/1 "2020-05-11T18:32:28Z")

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Hi @joram @martin.grofcik and others!

I see some of our existing processes do not work after upgrade to flowable which had references to ${initiator} expression in start event.

Below use to work fine in activiti 5.15 - debugging through the code looks like below property is not resolved at all and fails with errors

ex.

[Request processing failed; nested exception is org.flowable.common.engine.api.FlowableException: Error while evaluating expression: ${initiator}] with root cause org.flowable.common.engine.impl.javax.el.PropertyNotWritableException: Cannot write property: initiator  
at org.flowable.common.engine.impl.javax.el.CouldNotResolvePropertyELResolver.setValue(CouldNotResolvePropertyELResolver.java:55)

Workaround for the same is to use activiti:initiator=“initiator” - any reason initiator expressions are not resolved in startevent?

Thanks!

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**Author:** ![joram](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/forum.flowable.org/joram/32/26_2.png) [@joram](https://forum.flowable.org/u/joram)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 8:21pm UTC](https://forum.flowable.org/t/initiator-process-variable-flowable-upgrade/5997/2 "2020-05-18T20:21:37Z")

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How does your xml for the start event looks like? How do you start the process instance?

If you have `flowable:initiator=${initiator}`, it’s actually trying to resolve the expression to a string variable name. The correct usage is without ${} to indicate a variable name.

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**Author:** ![binishprab](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/forum.flowable.org/binishprab/32/1649_2.png) [@binishprab](https://forum.flowable.org/u/binishprab)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 3:39am UTC](https://forum.flowable.org/t/initiator-process-variable-flowable-upgrade/5997/3 "2020-05-20T03:39:52Z")

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Hi @joram

Looks like the XML snippet in previous post got truncated.

This one works  
" startEvent id=“sid-4C7C5325-DABF-4ADD-9AA0-FC9B5B6B33D3” activiti:initiator=“initiator”  
startEvent"

Below with expression doesn’t work in flowable 6.5 but use to work in activiti5 - and in the code I see it tries to evaluate the below expression and probably its not ready?

" startEvent id=“sid-4C7C5325-DABF-4ADD-9AA0-FC9B5B6B33D3” activiti:initiator="${initiator}"  
startEvent"

We start the process instance invoking the org.flowable.rest.service.api.form.FormDataResource#submitForm API which internally starts the process instance using org.flowable.engine.impl.util.ProcessInstanceHelper#startProcessInstance.

Thanks!

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**Author:** ![martin.grofcik](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/forum.flowable.org/martin.grofcik/32/71_2.png) [@martin.grofcik](https://forum.flowable.org/u/martin.grofcik)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 12:30pm UTC](https://forum.flowable.org/t/initiator-process-variable-flowable-upgrade/5997/4 "2020-05-20T12:30:29Z")

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> [@binishprab](#):
>
> activiti:initiator=“${initiator}”

Initiator variable value is not initialized at the beginning of the process instance. `activiti:initiator` is used to name variable to store user who started the process instance.

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**Author:** ![binishprab](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/forum.flowable.org/binishprab/32/1649_2.png) [@binishprab](https://forum.flowable.org/u/binishprab)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 3:46pm UTC](https://forum.flowable.org/t/initiator-process-variable-flowable-upgrade/5997/5 "2020-05-20T15:46:06Z")

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Ok - some reason expressions in startevent worked fine in activiti 5.15 - anyways thanks we will need to change existing processes to reflect this new change.