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Getting a enum based upon one of its fields

 
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I would like a good way to find what enum I need based upon one of its fields.

With:


Now lets say that I have a mass but I want to know which enum it belongs to.
I know that I can loop over all of the values() and compare each values mass to the mass I have to determine which enum to use but that seems like over kill

The other thing I was thinking is having static lists that can convert from a mass to and enum or radius to an enum, i.e.


Is this the best way. Am I missing anything?

Thanks,
Billy
 
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And what will you do if two planets happen to have the same mass and/or radius?

Regardless, when you don't want to iterate over the values a Map is a good idea.
 
Bobby Anderson
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Ok i agree that was a bad example.

For lack of a better example what if I know that my enum's values will always be unique to the enum's value. I.E. instead of weight how about distance from the sun. All planets have a unique distance from the sun. Is this still a good design or is there a better way to associate those?

Thanks,
Billy
 
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Not that I'm aware of, with Rob's caveat. The code can be encapsulated in the enum and remain relatively clean.
 
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Billy Newman wrote:Ok i agree that was a bad example.

Is this still a good design or is there a better way to associate those?



The question is why are you looking for a better way to do it than simple loop over all values?
Is your code is a performance bootleneck, or maybe it consumes to much memory ?
If no - keep it as simple as possible, simple loop will be easier to understand/maintain by someone else,
or even by you in two years, when you will completely forget why this stuff is so complicated and how it works.
 
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when you use constants (final) enum is better to use because without declare lot of constant we can wrape it to enum which good to use.
 
Rob Spoor
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Ireneusz Kordal wrote:

Billy Newman wrote:Ok i agree that was a bad example.

Is this still a good design or is there a better way to associate those?



The question is why are you looking for a better way to do it than simple loop over all values?
Is your code is a performance bootleneck, or maybe it consumes to much memory ?
If no - keep it as simple as possible, simple loop will be easier to understand/maintain by someone else,
or even by you in two years, when you will completely forget why this stuff is so complicated and how it works.


I don't agree. A Map should be easy enough to understand.

As for consuming too much memory, that would be a reason not to use a Map. Looping over values() creates a new array with all values, but when that goes out of scope it will be garbage collected. The Map on the other hand will remain in memory indefinitely since it's static (or at least until the enum class is unloaded).
 
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By the way (with moderator's hat on): we like all posters to quote their sources. You ought to have said where that enum was from. Is it the example in the Java Tutorials?
 
Don't get me started about those stupid light bulbs.
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