How to use enum in switch case

Question

I am trying to check what values are set in my VO.

Below are my clasess. I am getting "The qualified case label MyEnum.UserType.DOCTORS must be replaced with the unqualified enum constant DOCTORS"

Please help me to identify what I am doing wrong here.

MyEnum.java

public MyEnum{
    private UserType userType;

    public UserType getUserType(){
        return userType;
    }

    public void setUserType(UserType userType){
        this.userType = userType;
    }

    public static enum UserType{
        DOCTORS("D"),
        PATIENT("P"),
        STAFF("S");
    }

}

EnumTest.java

public EnumTest {

    .....
    public void onGoBack(MyEnum myEnum) {

        switch(myEnum.getUserType())
        {
            case UserType.DOCTORS: // this shows "The qualified case label MyEnum.UserType.DOCTORS must be replaced with the unqualified enum constant DOCTORS"
                break;

        }
    }

}

Solution

Since the compiler knows what type of enum you're evaluating in the switch statement, you should drop the "qualified" portion as the error suggests (in your case: MyEnum.UserType.) and simply use the "unqualified" enum DOCTORS. See below:

switch(myEnum.getUserType())
{
    case DOCTORS: 
        break;
}

Comments

[Matt Ball]

Was it really harder to read the error message than to post a question on SO and wait for an answer? :/

[HelloGoodbye]

What about if you have another constant called the same thing in another class? Wouldn't DOCTORS be ambiguous in that case?

[Matt Ball]

@HelloGoodbye no, it would not be ambiguous, because the compiler knows exactly which enum type the switch expression evaluates to.

[Justin Russo]

Matt Ball, we're all at different levels of experience. No need to berate/belittle someone who thanked you for your help. Let's keep it professional. This user took the time to ask the question and probably just needed a little guidance about how to interpret the error message. I personally am just learning Java, and I came here because I didn't know the answer merely by the exception either.

[Basil Bourque]

Matt Ball, this Question seems legitimate and sensible to me. Given that we can use MyEnum.ABC & MyEnum.XYZ everywhere else in Java, I was surprised and confused to find this same syntax to be illegal in a switch - case.