Is there an alternative to switching in a factory method?

Question

I see this quite a lot and I was wondering if there was a way to refactor this nicely to avoid the massive switch? This is a method in a factory: RoomControllerFactory, instantiating a game location based on its type. Here's an example from a switch in the factory method:

            switch (location.getType())
            {
               case Location.ROOMONE:
                    return new RoomOneController(location, data, view);         

                case Location.ROOMTWO:
                    return new RoomTwoController(location, data, view);

                case Location.ROOMTHREE:
                    return new RoomThreeController(location, data, view);

Answer 1

Seeing as you are using a hack to provide the enum functionality - why don't you add a method to your enum:

public static const ROOMONE : LocationType = new LocationType("locationone", 
    function(...) : RoomController { 
        return new RoomOneController
    }
);

(excuse any silly mistakes - actionscript isn't my first language!)

In java I would do similar with:

public enum LocationType {
    ROOMONE {
        @Override 
        public RoomController getRoomController() {
            return new RoomOneController();
        }
    };
    public abstract RoomController getRoomController();
}