[java] What's the proper way to compare a String to an enum value?

Homework: Rock Paper Scissors game.

I've created an enumeration:

      enum Gesture{ROCK,PAPER,SCISSORS};

from which I want to compare values to decide who wins--computer or human. Setting the values works just fine, and the comparisons work properly (paper covers rock, rock crushes scissors, scissors cuts paper). However, I cannot get my tie to work. The user is declared as the winner any time there's a tie.

Ahhh...crap...this will clarify: userPick is a String with values rock, paper, or scissors. I'm unable to use == to compare userPick to computerPick, which, as you can see below, is cast as type Gesture from my enum.

      if(computer == 1)
         computerPick = Gesture.ROCK;
      else
         if(computer == 2)
           computerPick = Gesture.PAPER;
         else
           computerPick = Gesture.SCISSORS;
      if(userPick.equals(computerPick))
       {
          msg = "tie";
          ++tieGames;
       }
           etc....

I am guessing that there's an issue with rock not being equal to ROCK, or the String userPick not being able to match Gesture computerPick because the latter isn't a String. However, I'm not able to find an example of a similar circumstance in my textbook or Oracle's Java Tutorials, so I'm not sure how to correct the problem...

Any hints?

This question is related to java enums

The answer is


public class Main {

    enum Vehical{
        Car,
        Bus,
        Van
    }

    public static void main(String[] args){

      String vehicalType = "CAR";

        if(vehicalType.equals(Vehical.Car.name())){
            System.out.println("The provider is Car");
        }

     String vehical_Type = "BUS";

       if(vehical_Type.equals(Vehical.Bus.toString())){
            System.out.println("The provider is Bus");
        }


    }
}

You can compare a string to an enum item as follow,

public class Main {

    enum IaaSProvider{
        aws,
        microsoft,
        google
    }

    public static void main(String[] args){

        IaaSProvider iaaSProvider = IaaSProvider.google;

        if("google".equals(iaaSProvider.toString())){
            System.out.println("The provider is google");
        }

    }
}

This is my solution in java 8:

 public static Boolean isValidCity(String cityCode) {
        return Arrays.stream(CITY_ENUM.values())
                .map(CITY_ENUM::getCityCode)
                .anyMatch(cityCode::equals);
 }

My idea:

public enum SomeKindOfEnum{
    ENUM_NAME("initialValue");

    private String value;

    SomeKindOfEnum(String value){
        this.value = value;
    }

    public boolean equalValue(String passedValue){
        return this.value.equals(passedValue);
    }
}

And if u want to check Value u write:

SomeKindOfEnum.ENUM_NAME.equalValue("initialValue")

Kinda looks nice for me :). Maybe somebody will find it useful.


You can use equals().

enum.equals(String)


This seems to be clean.

public enum Plane{

/**
 * BOEING_747 plane.
 */
BOEING_747("BOEING_747"),

/**
 * AIRBUS_A380 Plane.
 */
AIRBUS_A380("AIRBUS_A380"),

;

private final String plane;       

private Plane(final String plane) {
    this.plane= plane;
}

Plane(){ 
    plane=null; 
}


/**
 * toString method.
 * 
 * @return Value of this Enum as String.
 */
@Override
public String toString(){
   return plane;
}

/**
 * This method add support to compare Strings with the equalsIgnoreCase String method.
 * 
 * Replicated functionality of the equalsIgnorecase of the java.lang.String.class
 * 
 * @param value String to test.
 * @return True if equal otherwise false.
 */
public boolean equalsIgnoreCase(final String value){
    return plane.equalsIgnoreCase(value);
}

And then in main code:

String airplane="BOEING_747";

if(Plane.BOEING_747.equalsIgnoreCase(airplane)){
     //code
}

You should declare toString() and valueOf() method in enum.

 import java.io.Serializable;

public enum Gesture implements Serializable {
    ROCK,PAPER,SCISSORS;

    public String toString(){
        switch(this){
        case ROCK :
            return "Rock";
        case PAPER :
            return "Paper";
        case SCISSORS :
            return "Scissors";
        }
        return null;
    }

    public static Gesture valueOf(Class<Gesture> enumType, String value){
        if(value.equalsIgnoreCase(ROCK.toString()))
            return Gesture.ROCK;
        else if(value.equalsIgnoreCase(PAPER.toString()))
            return Gesture.PAPER;
        else if(value.equalsIgnoreCase(SCISSORS.toString()))
            return Gesture.SCISSORS;
        else
            return null;
    }
}

Doing an static import of the GestureTypes and then using the valuesOf() method could make it look much cleaner:

enum GestureTypes{ROCK,PAPER,SCISSORS};

and

import static com.example.GestureTypes.*;
public class GestureFactory {

    public static Gesture getInstance(final String gesture) {
        if (ROCK == valueOf(gesture))
            //do somthing
        if (PAPER == valueOf(gesture))
            //do somthing
    }
}

Define enum:

public enum Gesture
{
    ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS;
}

Define a method to check enum content:

private boolean enumContainsValue(String value)
{
    for (Gesture gesture : Gesture.values())
    {
        if (gesture.name().equals(value))
        {
            return true;
        }
    }

    return false;
}

And use it:

String gestureString = "PAPER";

if (enumContainsValue(gestureString))
{
    Gesture gestureId = Gesture.valueOf(gestureString);

    switch (gestureId)
    {
        case ROCK:
            Log.i("TAG", "ROCK");
            break;

        case PAPER:
            Log.i("TAG", "PAPER");
            break;

        case SCISSORS:
            Log.i("TAG", "SCISSORS");
            break;
    }
}

You can do it in a simpler way , like the below:

boolean IsEqualStringandEnum (String str,Enum enum)
{
  if (str.equals(enum.toString()))
     return true;
  else
     return false;
}