Java – How to reference the Java Enum without specifying its type

enumsjava

I have a class that defines its own enum like this:

public class Test
{
    enum MyEnum{E1, E2};

    public static void aTestMethod() {
        Test2(E1);  // << Gives "E1 cannot be resolved" in eclipse.
    }
    public Test2(MyEnum e) {}
}

If I specify MyEnum.E1 it works fine, but I'd really just like to have it as "E1". Any idea how I can accomplish this, or does it have to be defined in another file for this to work?

CONCLUSION:
I hadn't been able to get the syntax for the import correct. Since several answers suggested this was possible, I'm going to select the one that gave me the syntax I needed and upvote the others.

By the way, a REALLY STRANGE part of this (before I got the static import to work), a switch statement I'd written that used the enum did not allow the enum to be prefixed by its type–all the rest of the code required it. Hurt my head.

Best Answer

Actually, you can do a static import of a nested enum. The code below compiles fine:

package mypackage;

import static mypackage.Test.MyEnum.*;

public class Test
{
    enum MyEnum{E1, E2};

    public static void aTestMethod() {
        Test2(E1);  
    }

    public static void Test2(MyEnum e) {}
}

Related Solutions

C# – How to cast int to enum

From an int:

YourEnum foo = (YourEnum)yourInt;

From a string:

YourEnum foo = (YourEnum) Enum.Parse(typeof(YourEnum), yourString);

// The foo.ToString().Contains(",") check is necessary for enumerations marked with an [Flags] attribute
if (!Enum.IsDefined(typeof(YourEnum), foo) && !foo.ToString().Contains(","))
{
    throw new InvalidOperationException($"{yourString} is not an underlying value of the YourEnum enumeration.")
}

Update:

From number you can also

YourEnum foo = (YourEnum)Enum.ToObject(typeof(YourEnum) , yourInt);

Java – Is Java “pass-by-reference” or “pass-by-value”

Java is always pass-by-value. Unfortunately, when we deal with objects we are really dealing with object-handles called references which are passed-by-value as well. This terminology and semantics easily confuse many beginners.

It goes like this:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    Dog aDog = new Dog("Max");
    Dog oldDog = aDog;

    // we pass the object to foo
    foo(aDog);
    // aDog variable is still pointing to the "Max" dog when foo(...) returns
    aDog.getName().equals("Max"); // true
    aDog.getName().equals("Fifi"); // false
    aDog == oldDog; // true
}

public static void foo(Dog d) {
    d.getName().equals("Max"); // true
    // change d inside of foo() to point to a new Dog instance "Fifi"
    d = new Dog("Fifi");
    d.getName().equals("Fifi"); // true
}

In the example above aDog.getName() will still return "Max". The value aDog within main is not changed in the function foo with the Dog "Fifi" as the object reference is passed by value. If it were passed by reference, then the aDog.getName() in main would return "Fifi" after the call to foo.

Likewise:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    Dog aDog = new Dog("Max");
    Dog oldDog = aDog;

    foo(aDog);
    // when foo(...) returns, the name of the dog has been changed to "Fifi"
    aDog.getName().equals("Fifi"); // true
    // but it is still the same dog:
    aDog == oldDog; // true
}

public static void foo(Dog d) {
    d.getName().equals("Max"); // true
    // this changes the name of d to be "Fifi"
    d.setName("Fifi");
}

In the above example, Fifi is the dog's name after call to foo(aDog) because the object's name was set inside of foo(...). Any operations that foo performs on d are such that, for all practical purposes, they are performed on aDog, but it is not possible to change the value of the variable aDog itself.

For more information on pass by reference and pass by value, consult the following SO answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/430958/6005228. This explains more thoroughly the semantics and history behind the two and also explains why Java and many other modern languages appear to do both in certain cases.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

C# – How to cast int to enum

Java – Is Java “pass-by-reference” or “pass-by-value”

Related Topic