Question

Okay my problem is with this

        switch (charType) {
    case Mush:
        switch (charColor) {
        case Blue:
            switch (charDirec) {
            case Left:
                bitmap = (Bitmap) BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
                        mainContext.getResources(), R.drawable.l_blue_m);
                break;
            case Right:
                bitmap = (Bitmap) BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
                        mainContext.getResources(), R.drawable.r_blue_m);
                break;
            case Bounce:
                bitmap = (Bitmap) BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
                        mainContext.getResources(), R.drawable.b_blue_m);
                break;
            case Walk:
                bitmap = (Bitmap) BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
                        mainContext.getResources(), R.drawable.w_blue_m);
                break;
            }
            break;
        case Red:
            switch (charDirec) {
            case Left:
                bitmap = (Bitmap) BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
                        mainContext.getResources(), R.drawable.l_red_m);
                break;
            case Right:
                bitmap = (Bitmap) BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
                        mainContext.getResources(), R.drawable.r_red_m);
                break;
            case Bounce:
                bitmap = (Bitmap) BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
                        mainContext.getResources(), R.drawable.b_red_m);
                break;
            case Walk:
                bitmap = (Bitmap) BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
                        mainContext.getResources(), R.drawable.w_red_m);
                break;
            }
        case Tan:
            switch (charDirec) {
            case Left:
                bitmap = (Bitmap) BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
                        mainContext.getResources(), R.drawable.l_tan_m);
                break;
            case Right:
                bitmap = (Bitmap) BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
                        mainContext.getResources(), R.drawable.r_tan_m);
                break;
            case Bounce:
                bitmap = (Bitmap) BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
                        mainContext.getResources(), R.drawable.b_tan_m);
                break;
            case Walk:
                bitmap = (Bitmap) BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
                        mainContext.getResources(), R.drawable.w_tan_m);
                break;
            }
            break;
        }
        break;
    case Slime:
        switch (charColor) {
        case Blue:
            switch (charDirec) {
            case Left:
                bitmap = (Bitmap) BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
                        mainContext.getResources(), R.drawable.l_blue_s);
                break;
            case Right:
                bitmap = (Bitmap) BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
                        mainContext.getResources(), R.drawable.r_blue_s);
                break;
            case Bounce:
                bitmap = (Bitmap) BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
                        mainContext.getResources(), R.drawable.b_blue_s);
                break;
            case Walk:
                bitmap = (Bitmap) BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
                        mainContext.getResources(), R.drawable.w_blue_s);
                break;
            }
            break;
        }
        break;
    }

What is a better way to handle this? or is this correct??

Answer 1

You can start by splitting your method into two simpler methods. One method should find the correct resource ID, and the other actually fetches the Bitmap:

int resourceId = getResourceId(charType, charColor, charDirec);
bitmap = (Bitmap)BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
    mainContext.getResources(), resourceId);

This simple change already removes a lot of the duplicated code.

In your getResourceId method you may want to consider using a map to find the resource id instead of nested switches.

Map<CharKey, Integer> map = new HashMap<CharKey, Integer>();

int getResourceId(charType, charColor, charDirec)
{
    CharKey key = new CharKey(charType, charColor, charDirec);
    return map.get(key).intValue();
}

All that remains is to populate the dictionary when your program starts.