Conveniently map between enum and int / String

When working with variables/parameters that can only take a finite number of values, I try to always use Java's enum, as in

public enum BonusType {
  MONTHLY, YEARLY, ONE_OFF
}

As long as I stay inside my code, that works fine. However, I often need to interface with other code that uses plain int (or String) values for the same purpose, or I need to read/write from/to a database where the data is stored as a number or string.

In that case, I'd like to have a convenient way to associate each enum value with a an integer, such that I can convert both ways (in other words, I need a "reversible enum").

Going from enum to int is easy:

public enum BonusType {
  public final int id;

  BonusType(int id) {
    this.id = id;
  }
  MONTHLY(1), YEARLY(2), ONE_OFF(3);
}

Then I can access the int value as BonusType x = MONTHLY; int id = x.id;.

However, I can see no nice way for the reverse, i.e. going from int to enum. Ideally, something like

BonusType bt = BonusType.getById(2); 

The only solutions I could come up with are:

• Put a lookup method into the enum, which uses BonusType.values() to fill a map "int -> enum", then caches that and uses it for lookups. Would work, but I'd have to copy this method identically into each enum I use :-(.
• Put the lookup method into a static utility class. Then I'd only need one "lookup" method, but I'd have to fiddle with reflection to get it to work for an arbitrary enum.

Both methods seem terribly awkward for such a simple (?) problem.

Any other ideas/insights?

enum → int

yourEnum.ordinal()

int → enum

EnumType.values()[someInt]

String → enum

EnumType.valueOf(yourString)

enum → String

yourEnum.name()

A side-note:
As you correctly point out, the ordinal() may be "unstable" from version to version. This is the exact reason why I always store constants as strings in my databases. (Actually, when using MySql, I store them as MySql enums!)

http://www.javaspecialists.co.za/archive/Issue113.html

The solution starts out similar to yours with an int value as part of the enum definition. He then goes on to create a generics-based lookup utility:

public class ReverseEnumMap<V extends Enum<V> & EnumConverter> {
    private Map<Byte, V> map = new HashMap<Byte, V>();
    public ReverseEnumMap(Class<V> valueType) {
        for (V v : valueType.getEnumConstants()) {
            map.put(v.convert(), v);
        }
    }

    public V get(byte num) {
        return map.get(num);
    }
}

This solution is nice and doesn't require 'fiddling with reflection' because it's based on the fact that all enum types implicitly inherit the Enum interface.

I found this on the web, it was very helpful and simple to implement. This solution was NOT made by me

http://www.ajaxonomy.com/2007/java/making-the-most-of-java-50-enum-tricks

public enum Status {
 WAITING(0),
 READY(1),
 SKIPPED(-1),
 COMPLETED(5);

 private static final Map<Integer,Status> lookup 
      = new HashMap<Integer,Status>();

 static {
      for(Status s : EnumSet.allOf(Status.class))
           lookup.put(s.getCode(), s);
 }

 private int code;

 private Status(int code) {
      this.code = code;
 }

 public int getCode() { return code; }

 public static Status get(int code) { 
      return lookup.get(code); 
 }

}

Seems the answer(s) to this question are outdated with the release of Java 8.

1. Don't use ordinal as ordinal is unstable if persisted outside the JVM such as a database.
2. It is relatively easy to create a static map with the key values.

public enum AccessLevel {
  PRIVATE("private", 0),
  PUBLIC("public", 1),
  DEFAULT("default", 2);

  AccessLevel(final String name, final int value) {
    this.name = name;
    this.value = value;
  }

  private final String name;
  private final int value;

  public String getName() {
    return name;
  }

  public int getValue() {
    return value;
  }

  static final Map<String, AccessLevel> names = Arrays.stream(AccessLevel.values())
      .collect(Collectors.toMap(AccessLevel::getName, Function.identity()));
  static final Map<Integer, AccessLevel> values = Arrays.stream(AccessLevel.values())
      .collect(Collectors.toMap(AccessLevel::getValue, Function.identity()));

  public static AccessLevel fromName(final String name) {
    return names.get(name);
  }

  public static AccessLevel fromValue(final int value) {
    return values.get(value);
  }
}