Question

So i’m a little bit confused as i’ve never used an enum before. I want to use this enum in my main method. For some reason, i can’t (i keep getting errors anytime i even try to do Status s; in main). I can however call my TestingEnum method from main and of course this works… but i am 100% sure that using the enum this way is just plain wrong. Could someone tell me how i’d go about using this in main properly?

If i try to do: Status s; in my main method, i get this error – “connot find symbol Status s;”

BACKGROUND: new to java and enums…

class MyClass {
    public Status s;

    public enum Status {
        STATUS_OPEN(1), 
        STATUS_STARTED(2), 
        STATUS_INPROGRESS(3), 
        STATUS_ONHOLD(4), 
        STATUS_COMPLETED(5), 
        STATUS_CLOSED(6);

        private final int status;

        Status(int stat) {
            this.status = stat;
        }

        public int getStatus() {
            return this.status;
        }

    }

    private void setStatus(Status stat) {
        s = stat;
    }

    public void TestingEnum() {
        Status myStat = Status.STATUS_ONHOLD;
        setStatus(myStat);
    }

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();
        String NEW_LINE = System.getProperty("line.separator");

        result.append(NEW_LINE + " Status: " + s + NEW_LINE);

        return result.toString();
    }
}  

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        MyClass obj = new MyClass();

        // PROBLEM SETTING STATUS HERE
        // I can't do this:
        Status s;

    }
}

Answer 1

Move the enum to its own class file, or access it with a reference to the enclosing class.

It looks like you defined the Enum as an inner class of another class. If you’re doing this, you need to access it with the syntax OuterClass.Status to access it. You made it public, so that will work. You can access it from within the class with no problem because it’s contained in the scope of the parent class.

So you can either add the OuterClass. before Status, or you can move the Enum into its own file like any other class.