Iterate enum values using java generics

Question

I'm trying to find a way to iterate through an enum's values while using generics. Not sure how to do this or if it is possible.

The following code illustrates what I want to do. Note that the code T.values() is not valid in the following code.

public class Filter<T> {
    private List<T> availableOptions = new ArrayList<T>();
    private T selectedOption;

    public Filter(T selectedOption) {
        this.selectedOption = selectedOption;
        for (T option : T.values()) {  // INVALID CODE
            availableOptions.add(option);
        }
    }
}

Here is how I would instantiate a Filter object:

Filter<TimePeriod> filter = new Filter<TimePeriod>(TimePeriod.ALL);

The enum is defined as follows:

public enum TimePeriod {
    ALL("All"), 
    FUTURE("Future"), 
    NEXT7DAYS("Next 7 Days"), 
    NEXT14DAYS("Next 14 Days"), 
    NEXT30DAYS("Next 30 Days"), 
    PAST("Past"),
    LAST7DAYS("Last 7 Days"), 
    LAST14DAYS("Last 14 Days"),
    LAST30DAYS("Last 30 Days"); 

    private final String name;

    private TimePeriod(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return name;
    }
}

I realize it might not make sense to copy a enum's values to a list, but I'm using a library that needs a list of values as input and won't work with enums.

---

EDIT 2/5/2010:

Most of the answers proposed are very similar and suggest doing something like this:

class Filter<T extends Enum<T>> {
    private List<T> availableOptions = new ArrayList<T>();
    private T selectedOption;

    public Filter(T selectedOption) {
        Class<T> clazz = (Class<T>) selectedOption.getClass();
        for (T option : clazz.getEnumConstants()) {
            availableOptions.add(option);
        }
    }
}

This would work great if I can be sure that selectedOption has a non-null value. Unfortunately, in my use case, this value is often null, as there is a public Filter() no-arg constructor as well. This means I can't do a selectedOption.getClass() without getting an NPE. This filter class manages a list of available options which of the options is selected. When nothing is selected, selectedOption is null.

The only thing I can think to solve this is to actually pass in a Class in the constructor. So something like this:

class Filter<T extends Enum<T>> {
    private List<T> availableOptions = new ArrayList<T>();
    private T selectedOption;

    public Filter(Class<T> clazz) {
        this(clazz,null);
    }

    public Filter(Class<T> clazz, T selectedOption) {
        this.selectedOption = selectedOption;
        for (T option : clazz.getEnumConstants()) {
            availableOptions.add(option);
        }
    }
}

Any ideas how to do this without needing an extra Class parameter in the constructors?

Answer 1

The root problem is that you need to convert an array to a list, right? You can do this, by using a specific type (TimePeriod instead of T), and the following code.

So use something like this:

List<TimePeriod> list = new ArrayList<TimePeriod>();
list.addAll(Arrays.asList(sizes));

Now you can pass list into any method that wants a list.

Answer 2

To get the value of the generic enumeration:

  protected Set<String> enum2set(Class<? extends Enum<?>> e) {
    Enum<?>[] enums = e.getEnumConstants();
    String[] names = new String[enums.length];
    for (int i = 0; i < enums.length; i++) {
      names[i] = enums[i].toString();
    }
    return new HashSet<String>(Arrays.asList(names));
  }

Note in the above method the call to the toString() method.

And then define the enumeration with such a toString() method.

public enum MyNameEnum {

  MR("John"), MRS("Anna");

  private String name;

  private MyNameEnum(String name) {
    this.name = name;
  }

  public String toString() {
    return this.name;
  }

}

Answer 3

Another option is to use EnumSet:

class PrintEnumConsants {

    static <E extends Enum <E>> void foo(Class<E> elemType) {
        for (E e : java.util.EnumSet.allOf(elemType)) {
            System.out.println(e);
        }
    }

    enum Color{RED,YELLOW,BLUE};
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        foo(Color.class);
    } 

}