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To interact with case instances and executions, the process engine offers the case service. It can be retrieved by processEngine.getCaseService(). The CaseService offers two API variants. One is in the following referred to as the classic API, since it is very similar to the API offered by the RuntimeService for BPMN processes. The fluent API follows a different concept in that it allows composition of case service commands by method chaining.

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Classic and Fluent API by Example

As an example, the CaseService offers two classic methods to manually start a task: 
caseService.manuallyStartCaseExecution(caseExecutionId);

Map<String, Object> variables = new HashMap<String, Object>();
variables.put("aVariableToSet", "aValueToSet");

caseService.manuallyStartCaseExecution(caseExecutionId, variables);
The same can be expressed using the fluent API as follows: 
caseService
  .withCaseExecution(caseExecutionId)
  .manualStart();

Map<String, Object> variables = new HashMap<String, Object>();
variables.put("aVariableToSet", "aValueToSet");

caseService
  .withCaseExecution(caseExecutionId)
  .setVariables(variables)
  .manualStart();
In this way, the fluent API is another, fluently readable way of expressing the same functionality. On top, the fluent API, due to its flexibility, allows expression of very specific interactions that the classic API does not offer. For example, the following snippet manually starts a case execution, sets variables and removes another variable in one command (and therefore transaction): 
Map<String, Object> variables = new HashMap<String, Object>();
variables.put("aVariableToSet", "aValueToSet");

caseService
  .withCaseExecution(caseExecutionId)
  .setVariables(variables)
  .removeVariable("aVariableToRemove")
  .manualStart();

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Entry Points to the Fluent API

The fluent API can be used to work with case definitions and case executions. The entry points are as follows:
  • caseService.withCaseDefinition(caseDefinitionId): Offers interactions on the case definition that has the provided id, such as creating a new case instance.
  • caseService.withCaseDefinitionByKey(caseDefinitionKey): Offers interactions on the case definition that has the latest version of those that have the provided key.
  • caseService.withCaseExecution(caseExecutionId): Offers interactions on case executions, such as starting and completing tasks.