Using Enum values as String literals

Question

What is the best way to use the values stored in an Enum as String literals? For example:

public enum Modes {     some-really-long-string,     mode1,     mode2,     mode3 } 

Then later I could use Mode.mode1 to return its string representation as mode1. Without having to keep calling Mode.mode1.toString().

Answer 1

You can't. I think you have FOUR options here. All four offer a solution but with a slightly different approach...

Option One: use the built-in name() on an enum. This is perfectly fine if you don't need any special naming format.

    String name = Modes.mode1.name(); // Returns the name of this enum constant, exactly as declared in its enum declaration. 

Option Two: add overriding properties to your enums if you want more control

public enum Modes {     mode1 ("Fancy Mode 1"),     mode2 ("Fancy Mode 2"),     mode3 ("Fancy Mode 3");      private final String name;             private Modes(String s) {         name = s;     }      public boolean equalsName(String otherName) {         // (otherName == null) check is not needed because name.equals(null) returns false          return name.equals(otherName);     }      public String toString() {        return this.name;     } } 

Option Three: use static finals instead of enums:

public final class Modes {      public static final String MODE_1 = "Fancy Mode 1";     public static final String MODE_2 = "Fancy Mode 2";     public static final String MODE_3 = "Fancy Mode 3";      private Modes() { } } 

Option Four: interfaces have every field public, static and final:

public interface Modes {      String MODE_1 = "Fancy Mode 1";     String MODE_2 = "Fancy Mode 2";     String MODE_3 = "Fancy Mode 3";   } 

Answer 2

Every enum has both a name() and a valueOf(String) method. The former returns the string name of the enum, and the latter gives the enum value whose name is the string. Is this like what you're looking for?

String name = Modes.mode1.name(); Modes mode = Modes.valueOf(name); 

There's also a static valueOf(Class, String) on Enum itself, so you could also use:

Modes mode = Enum.valueOf(Modes.class, name);