Switch statement of string

Question

I'm trying to use a switch statement in a Android Application. This switch statement is testing the value of a String, and then based of that changing the value of another String.

String s1 = "a" then String s2 = "1"

I keep getting an error that says I need to change the compliance to 1.7. After I do that, I then get an error that says I need to change the compliance to 1.6.

Is there a way to fix this? or can anyone think of a work around for this?

You can't switch on strings pre-java 7. What Java version do you have? And what is your code exactly? — Jeroen Vannevel, Dec 29 '13 at 20:08
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/338206/switch-statement-with-strings-in-java. I guess android still does not support java 7 — Raghunandan, Dec 29 '13 at 20:09
Before Java 7 (not yet supported by Android) you can use switch only to compare integers... :( This is not Visual Basic! — Phantômaxx, Dec 29 '13 at 20:16
http://tools.android.com/tech-docs/new-build-system/user-guide#TOC-Using-sourceCompatibility-1.7. As of build tools 19 java 7 is supported — Raghunandan, Dec 29 '13 at 20:29
well, I updated everything and its still not working. But I know my version of Java supports it because I was able to use strings in switch statements when doing this a a regular Java App, so... I'm not sure. — Just_Some_Guy, Dec 29 '13 at 22:08

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 29 '13 at 20:13

7

Java does not support String in switch/case earlier java 7. But if you use java 6 you can achieve the desired result by using an enum.

private enum Fruit {
apple, carrot, mango, orange;
}

String value; // assume input
Fruit fruit = Fruit.valueOf(value); // surround with try/catch

switch(fruit) {
    case apple:
        method1;
        break;
    case carrot:
        method2;
        break;
    // etc...
}

answered Dec 29 '13 at 20:13

Kostya Khuta

673
2
7
21

1

Enum constants should be UPPERCASE, as they are essentially `public static final` fields. – Darkhogg Dec 29 '13 at 20:26
2

you are right, but i don't say how to programming, i give an idea how to solve this problem – Kostya Khuta Dec 29 '13 at 20:30
check my question if it help you – Kostya Khuta Dec 29 '13 at 21:24
while i didn't use this method, it did get to thinking: since I'm only looking for one letter that a user enters (I was only using string cause I found it to be easier) I could just convert the letter to it's ASCII value and base my switch statement off that. – Just_Some_Guy Dec 29 '13 at 22:13
@Just_Some_Guy Why not use the `char` itself? – Darkhogg Dec 29 '13 at 23:31

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 29 '13 at 23:07

1

Using String comparison with equals() instead of switch on Strings (which is available in Java 7) could look like this:

//as an example, if s2 equals 'b'
String s2 = "b";

//this uses String's equals() method
if (s1.equals("a")) then {
    s2 = "1";
}
else if (s1.equals("b")) then {
    s2 = "2";
}
else {
    s2 = "3";
}

Of course, adapt the conditions to your needs.

answered Dec 29 '13 at 23:07

Melquiades

8,496
1
31
46

Thanks! Im going to try this out next chance I get. – Just_Some_Guy Dec 30 '13 at 13:08

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 29 '13 at 20:10

0

donot use switch case but rather use if-else with string equals() method. it will help in code compatibility as switch with strings is only available with jdk 1.7+.

answered Dec 29 '13 at 20:10

Aniruddha Sarkar

485
2
9

this was also giving me headaches when using strings, though I'm not sure what is meant by "string equals method()". Could you give a quick example of this? – Just_Some_Guy Dec 29 '13 at 22:15
sorry, I'm still ultra new at this. – Just_Some_Guy Dec 29 '13 at 22:16

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 25 '19 at 08:27

0

You will need to add the below code in your pom.xml if in case it is a maven project.

  <properties>
    <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>
    <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source>
  </properties>

answered Dec 25 '19 at 08:27

Pranav Bhagwat

287
2
11

Switch statement of string

4 Answers4