Thanks for your response, David. What I actually wanted to know is whether a Process Definition without an start task (I understand that this is equivalent to a Process Definition with a task in the start-state node) is valid. Furthermore, the previous error showed because I deployed a process created from scratch using the Graphic Designer, where the 'start-state' node definition doesn't have a task. I've seen that the example process 'simple' created as a template by the 'new jpbm project' wizard, has an start-state containing: <start-state name="start"> | <task> | <controller> | <variable name="color" /> | <variable name="size" /> | </controller> | </task> | <transition name="to_state" to="first"> | <action name="action" class="com.sample.action.MessageActionHandler"> | <message>Going to the first state!</message> | </action> | </transition> | </start-state> So, it has an start task. Anyway, after deploying this process definition, I was not able to create a new process instance, as no 'forms.xml' file is bundled with the project: Caused by: org.jbpm.JbpmException: couldn't get inputstream for file 'forms.xml' | | at org.jbpm.file.def.FileDefinition.getInputStream(FileDefinition.java:1 | 29) | at org.jbpm.webapp.taskforms.TaskForms.getProcessFormPaths(TaskForms.jav | a:71) | at org.jbpm.webapp.taskforms.TaskForms.getTaskFormPath(TaskForms.java:44 | ) | at org.jbpm.webapp.bean.TaskBean.getTaskFormPath(TaskBean.java:93) | at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor252.invoke(Unknown Source) | at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAcces | sorImpl.java:25) | at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:585) | at javax.el.BeanELResolver.getValue(BeanELResolver.java:218) | at javax.el.CompositeELResolver.getValue(CompositeELResolver.java:135) | at com.sun.faces.el.FacesCompositeELResolver.getValue(FacesCompositeELRe | solver.java:62) | at com.sun.el.parser.AstValue.getValue(AstValue.java:96) | at com.sun.el.parser.AstNotEqual.getValue(AstNotEqual.java:20) | at com.sun.el.ValueExpressionImpl.getValue(ValueExpressionImpl.java:183) | | at com.sun.facelets.el.TagValueExpression.getValue(TagValueExpression.ja | va:71) | ... 47 more | Caused by: org.jbpm.JbpmException: file 'forms.xml' not found in db | at org.jbpm.file.def.FileDefinition.getByteArray(FileDefinition.java:210 | ) | at org.jbpm.file.def.FileDefinition.getInputStreamFromDb(FileDefinition. | java:169) | at org.jbpm.file.def.FileDefinition.getInputStream(FileDefinition.java:1 | 26) | ... 60 more | | Don't missunderstand me. I'm not just complaining about these errors. What I would like to know is if they are my mistake or just bugs that need to be corrected. I'm trying to gain knowledge about how the whole thing works, and need to understand basic concepts as whether a process instance needs an start task, or I'm facing just an artificial dependency created by the jbpm-console, or just a bug (or my fault). Thanks a lot and regards. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=3976975#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...