Declaring Enum as Constant?

Question

I have several calls to Enum DogStatus in my code, like this:

if(DogStatus.SLEEPING){
    //do something
}

How can I set up a constant of the Enum in my class, so that I don't need to alter all of them each time I want to change the if condition?

E.g. something like:

constant statusToCheck = DogStatus.SLEEPING

Enum is using for checking the condition, so you must use `if` or `switch` to check which condition is going to satisfied. — Bahramdun Adil, Mar 09 '16 at 14:16
with the `if` condition this might not be possible, but you could go with a [switch](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6391777/switch-on-enum-in-java) — SomeJavaGuy, Mar 09 '16 at 14:16
No I mean can I do something similar to e.g. constant statusToCheck = DogStatus.SLEEPING ? — java123999, Mar 09 '16 at 14:24
Do you mean `final DogStatus statusToCheck = DogStatus.SLEEPING;` ? — bradimus, Mar 09 '16 at 14:30
An enum definition already is a constant, are you sure you need yet another? — Mark Rotteveel, Mar 09 '16 at 14:38
he wants to turn "statusToCheck" into a constant, @MarkRotteveel, not the enum itself. — andrucz, Mar 09 '16 at 17:12
By the way, as a constant itself, `statusToCheck` should be all uppercase by convention: `STATUS_TO_CHECK`. — Basil Bourque, Apr 25 '18 at 04:45

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 09 '16 at 14:35

2

private final DogStatus statusToCheck = DogStatus.SLEEPING;

or, if statusToCheck is declared inside a method:

final DogStatus statusToCheck = DogStatus.SLEEPING;

Java enums are immutable object instances and can be referenced as any other objects.

answered Mar 09 '16 at 14:35

andrucz

1 Answers1