Kotlin: Using enums with when

Question

Is there any way to cast a when argument to an enum?

 enum class PaymentStatus(val value: Int) {
     PAID(1),
     UNPAID(2) 
 }

fun f(x: Int) {
   val foo = when (x) {
     PaymentStatus.PAID -> "PAID"
     PaymentStatus.UNPAID -> "UNPAID"
   }
}

The above example will not work, as x is int and the values provided are the enum, if I go by PaymentStatus.PAID.value it would work but then I don't get the benefit of when (full coverage), and

when (x as PaymentStatus)

does not work.

Any one have any ideas to make this work?

Answer 1

It basically depends on how you want to solve the identification of the appropriate enum value. The rest is probably easy enough.

Here are some variants to solve that:

1. extension function to PaymentStatus.Companion (or integrate the function into the PaymentStatus.Companion):

   fun PaymentStatus.Companion.fromValue(i : Int) = PaymentStatus.values().single { it.value = i } // or if you want another fallback, just use singleOrNull and add ?: with an appropriate default value
   

   Usage of it in a when:

   fun f(x : Int) = when (PaymentStatus.fromValue(x)) {
     PAID -> "PAID" // or PAID.name()
     UNPAID -> "unpaid" //...
   }
   

2. using a generic function for all your enums

   inline fun <reified T : Enum<T>> identifyFrom(identifier : (T) -> Boolean) = T::class.java.enumConstants.single(identifier) // or again: singleOrNull ?: throw IllegalArgumentException maybe?
   

   with the following usage then:

   fun f(x : Int) = when (identifyFrom<PaymentStatus> { it.value = x }) {
     PAID -> "PAID"
     UNPAID -> "UNPAID"
   }
   

   this variant clearly has the benefit that it can be reused for basically any enum where you want to get a value based on some property or properties

3. using when to identify the appropriate enum:

   fun PaymentStatus.Companion.fromValue(i : Int) = when (i) {
     1 -> PAID
     2 -> UNPAID
     else -> IllegalArgumentException("$i is not a valid value for PaymentStatus")
   }
   

   same usage as with the first example. However: I wouldn't use this approach except you have a really good reason for it. The reason I wouldn't use it: it requires you to always remember to adapt both, the enum value and its corresponding counterpart in the fromValue-function. So you always have to update the values (at least) twice ;-)

Answer 2

If you need to check a value you can do something like this:

fun f(x: Int) {
    val foo = when (x) {
        PaymentStatus.PAID.value -> "PAID"
        PaymentStatus.UNPAID.value -> "UNPAID"

        else -> throw IllegalStateException()
    }
}

Or you can create factory method create in the companion object of enum class:

enum class PaymentStatus(val value: Int) {
    PAID(1),
    UNPAID(2);

    companion object {
        fun create(x: Int): PaymentStatus {
            return when (x) {
                1 -> PAID
                2 -> UNPAID
                else -> throw IllegalStateException()
            }
        }
    }
}

fun f(x: Int) {
    val foo = when (PaymentStatus.create(x)) {
        PaymentStatus.PAID -> "PAID"
        PaymentStatus.UNPAID -> "UNPAID"
    }
}

Answer 3

You don't need when in this particular use-case.

Since your goal is to get the name of the enum element having a specific value x, you can iterate over the elements of PaymentStatus like that and pick the matching element using firstOrNull:

fun getStatusWithValue(x: Int) = PaymentStatus.values().firstOrNull {
     it.value == x
}?.toString()

println(getStatusWithValue(2)) // "UNPAID"

Calling toString() on an enum element will return its name.