15

How can I return enums like this?

Before I was returing an int with 0 if no, 1 if yes and 2 if other. But this wasn't good way to do. So how should it be done. My code:

class SomeClass{
   public enum decizion{
      YES, NO, OTHER
   }

   public static enum yourDecizion(){
      //scanner etc
      if(x.equals('Y')){
         return YES;
      }
      else if (x.equals('N')){
         return NO;
      }
      else{
         return OTHER;
      }
   }
}
2
  • 2
    on a sidenote, according to java conventions enums should start with an upper case letter. Commented Aug 6, 2015 at 7:36
  • 1
    An enum is a (special type of) class, so you should declare it as the return type of your method. By the way, it would be better to name it Decision (it is a class). Commented Aug 6, 2015 at 7:37

4 Answers 4

16

I don't what the "//scanner etc." does, but the methods return type should be decizion:

    public static decizion yourDecizion() { ... }

Furthermore, you can add the Y, N, etc. values to the enum constants:

    public enum decizion{
         YES("Y"), NO("N"), OTHER;
          
         String key;
      
         decizion(String key) { this.key = key; }
     
         //default constructor, used only for the OTHER case, 
         //because OTHER doesn't need a key to be associated with. 
         decizion() { }

         static decizion getValue(String x) {
             if ("Y".equals(x)) { return YES; }
             else if ("N".equals(x)) { return NO; }
             else if (x == null) { return OTHER; }
             else throw new IllegalArgumentException();
         }
    }

Then, in the method, you can just do:

    public static decizion yourDecizion() {
        ...
       String key = ...
       return decizion.getValue(key);
    }
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9 Comments

Also, you could perhaps use a switch statement.
Personally, I tend to avoid switch statements, in order not to break the Open/Closed principle.
That is indeed a matter of personal opinion. I was merely mentioning the possibility :)
in JVM switch statements are optimized to be far faster than if statements: stackoverflow.com/a/6705977/557153
@Konstantin Yovkov that might be a good reason, but then I ask myself, why exits the option to use switch statements?
|
5

I think you should do something like these, an enum class. Then you can add as many types you want and the method yourDecizion() will return the enum type depending on the given parameter.

public enum SomeClass {

        YES(0),
        NO(1),
        OTHER(2);

    private int code;


    private SomeClass(int code) {
        this.code = code;
    }

    public int getCode() {
        return code;
    }

    public static SomeClass yourDecizion(int x) {
        SomeClass ret = null;
        for (SomeClass type : SomeClass.values()) {
            if (type.getCode() == x)
                ret = type;
        }
        return ret;
    }
}

Comments

1

Change your code to:

class SomeClass{
   public enum decizion {
      YES, NO, OTHER
   }

   public static decizion yourDecizion(){
      //scanner etc
      if(x.equals('Y')){
         return decizion.YES;
      }
      else if (x.equals('N')){
         return decizion.NO;
      }
      else{
         return decizion.OTHER;
      }
   }
}

Note: The method return type must be decizion instead of enum and decizion should have an upper case name (as all classes should).

Comments

1

You can get the value in below way. Here you have private constructor which will initialize the value you want to set and when the instance method value gets invoked simply return this.key.

public class Application {
    enum Day {
        MONDAY("Monday"), TUESDAY("Tuesday");

        String key;

        Day(String str) {
            key = str;
        }

        public String value() {
            return this.key;
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println(Day.MONDAY.value());
    }

}

Comments

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