Question

I have a method that accepts only a String.

public void setVerticalAlignment(String align) {
            ...
    gd.verticalAlignment = align;   // accepts only int.
            ...
}

But gd.verticalAlignment only accepts an int.
Usually this is set by something like gd.verticalAlignment = SWT.TOP where SWT.TOP is a static int.

is it possible to call this method with something like setVerticalAlignment("SWT.TOP")?

Answer 1

If you use Java 7 you can always use switch on Strings:

switch (align) {
    case "SWT.TOP":
        gd.verticalAlignment = SWT.TOP;
    /* etc */
}

Being honest I would avoid using strings like "STW.TOP". If I really had to store alignment state in the other way than just int I would use enums which might be used in switch in older versions of Java.