Alternative to Nested Switch Statements in Java

Question

So I wrote a method today that incorporated the use of nested switch statements, and the code looked fairly clean and concise to me, but I was told that nested switch statements are not typically the best way to go as they can get confusing with the more switch statements that you add on. Here is a sample of what my code looked like:

EnumOne enumOne;
EnumTwo enumTwo = null;
EnumTwo enumThree = null;

switch (enumOne) {
   case CASE_ONE:

      switch (enumTwo){
         case A: enumTwo = EnumTwo.B; break;
         case C: enumTwo = EnumTwo.D; break;
         default: break;
      }

      switch (enumThree) {
         case AA: enumThree = EnumTwo.BB; break;
         case CC: enumThree = EnumTwo.DD; break;
         default: break;
      }

      break;

   case CASE_TWO:
   case CASE_THREE:

      switch(EnumTwo) {
         default: break;
      }

      switch (enumThree) {
         case AA: enumThree = EnumTwo.XX; break;
         case CC: enumThree = EnumTwo.YY; break;
         default: break;
      }

      break;

   default:
      break;
}

So my question would be, essentially, what would be a suitable alternative to these switch statements?

Answer 1

I recommend you replace each nested switch statement with a call to a procedure which then executes the nested switch code.

Write something like this instead:

    EnumOne enumOne;
    EnumTwo enumTwo = null;
    EnumTwo enumThree = null;

    switch (enumOne)
    {
       case CASE_ONE:

          nested_switch1();

       case CASE_TWO:
       case CASE_THREE:

          nested_switch2();

          break;

       default:
          break;
    }

    nested_switch1() {
          switch (enumTwo)
          {
             case A:
                enumTwo = EnumTwo.B;
                break;
             case C:
                enumTwo = EnumTwo.D;
                break;
             default:
                break;
          }

          switch (enumThree)
          {
             case AA:
                enumTwo = EnumTwo.BB;
                break;
             case CC:
                enumTwo = EnumTwo.DD;
                break;
             default:
                break;
          }

          break;
    }

nested_switch2() {
          switch(EnumTwo)
          {
             default:
                break;
          }

          switch (enumThree)
          {
             case AA:
                enumTwo = EnumTwo.XX;
                break;
             case CC:
                enumTwo = EnumTwo.YY;
                break;
             default:
                break;
          }
}

Answer 2

1. As using a lot of switch becomes pretty hard to read.
2. And any time a new case arises then we have to modify code and add a CASE

we can consider using polymorphism in such cases

I am going to give a simple class just to let you understand. Suppose a class earlier with switch case

class Test
{ 
    Animal a;
    public Test(Animal a)
    { 
        this.a=a;
    }

    public moveThisAnimal()
    {
        switch(this.a)
        {
            case fish:
            System.out.println("swim");
            break;

            case dog:
            System.out.println("walk");
            break;

            case bird:
            System.out.println("fly");
            break;
        }
    }
}

now we replace these switch with our polymorphism logic

Interface Animal
{
    String move();
} 

Class Dog implements Animal
{
    public String move()
    {
        return "walk";
    }
}


Class Bird implements Animal
{
    public String move()
    {
        return "fly";
    }
}


Class Fish implements Animal
{
    public String move()
    {
        return "swim";
    }
}

now we have Test class without switch case

class Test
{ 
    Animal a;
    public Test(Animal a)
    { 
        this.a=a;
    }
    public moveThisAnimal()
    {
        System.out.println(this.a.move()); // all switch case statements removed 
    }
}

and even if we have to add further cases we have to just add implementations no change here

See your complete code and see if It is possible to Do