How to convert string result of enum with overridden toString() back to enum?

Question

Given the following java enum:

public enum AgeRange {

   A18TO23 {
        public String toString() {        
            return \"18 - 23\";
        }
    },
          


        

Answer 1

You could try something like the following?

static AgeRange fromString(String range) {
    for (AgeRange ageRange : values()) {
        if (range.equals(ageRange.toString())) {
            return ageRange;
        }
    }
    return null;   
}

Or, as others suggested, using a caching approach:

private static Map map;

private static synchronized void registerAgeRange(AgeRange ageRange) {
    if (map == null) {
        map = new HashMap();
    }
    map.put(ageRange.toString(), ageRange);
}

AgeRange() {
    registerAgeRange(this);
}

static AgeRange fromString(String range) {
    return map.get(range);
}