Question

In Java, you can make an enum having multiples values.
In objective-C, this cannot be done easily.
I’ve read many pages about this but I didn’t found anything satisfying that would allow me to use enums by a simple way and to keep the enum declaration and their different values in the same file.

I would like to write something like this in a enums.h :

// ========================================
typedef enum {eRED, eGREEN, eBLUE} ColorEnum;
int colorValues[] = { 0xFF0000, 0x00FF00, 0x0000FF };
NSArray *colorNames = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:@"Red color", @"light green", @"Deep blue", nil];
// ========================================

and be able to use thoses global variables to manage my stuff anywhere like :

int color = colorValues[eRED];

But I don’t know how to write this.
I have compile errors like “ColorValues” is defines many times.
Or if I just use “static”, I have many “ColorValues” not used in .m file…

Could you help me ?

Answer 1

I tryed the following thing that works like a charm :

in enums.h

@interface enums
    // here, the enum and its values are in the same place.

    typedef enum {eRED, eGREEN, eBLUE} ColorEnum;
    #define kColourValue  { 0xFF0000, 0x00FF00, 0x0000FF }
    extern int colourValues[];
@end

in enums.m

@implementation enums
    int colorValues[] = kColourValue;
@end

And you have a perfect Java style implementation of enums in Objective-C.
Wow, two weeks of searches….