Override valueof() and toString() in Java enum

You can try out this code. Since you cannot override valueOf method you have to define a custom method (getEnum in the sample code below) which returns the value that you need and change your client to use this method instead.

public enum RandomEnum {    StartHere("Start Here"),    StopHere("Stop Here");    private String value;    RandomEnum(String value) {        this.value = value;    }    public String getValue() {        return value;    }    @Override    public String toString() {        return this.getValue();    }    public static RandomEnum getEnum(String value) {        for(RandomEnum v : values())            if(v.getValue().equalsIgnoreCase(value)) return v;        throw new IllegalArgumentException();    }}

Try this, but i don't sure that will work every where :)

public enum MyEnum {    A("Start There"),    B("Start Here");    MyEnum(String name) {        try {            Field fieldName = getClass().getSuperclass().getDeclaredField("name");            fieldName.setAccessible(true);            fieldName.set(this, name);            fieldName.setAccessible(false);        } catch (Exception e) {}    }}

You can use a static Map in your enum that maps Strings to enum constants. Use it in a 'getEnum' static method. This skips the need to iterate through the enums each time you want to get one from its String value.

public enum RandomEnum {    StartHere("Start Here"),    StopHere("Stop Here");    private final String strVal;    private RandomEnum(String strVal) {        this.strVal = strVal;    }    public static RandomEnum getEnum(String strVal) {        if(!strValMap.containsKey(strVal)) {            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown String Value: " + strVal);        }        return strValMap.get(strVal);    }    private static final Map<String, RandomEnum> strValMap;    static {        final Map<String, RandomEnum> tmpMap = Maps.newHashMap();        for(final RandomEnum en : RandomEnum.values()) {            tmpMap.put(en.strVal, en);        }        strValMap = ImmutableMap.copyOf(tmpMap);    }    @Override    public String toString() {        return strVal;    }}

Just make sure the static initialization of the map occurs below the declaration of the enum constants.

BTW - that 'ImmutableMap' type is from the Google guava API, and I definitely recommend it in cases like this.

EDIT - Per the comments:

1. This solution assumes that each assigned string value is unique and non-null. Given that the creator of the enum can control this, and that the string corresponds to the unique & non-null enum value, this seems like a safe restriction.
2. I added the 'toSTring()' method as asked for in the question