Using Stringvariables with switch-Keyword ?

Question

Hallo !
I am a JAVA newcomer from Austria.
I know the Keyword switch and case,
but it is not possible to compare Stringvariables.
Is there an other command to do this or
how do you compare Stringvariables with the case-Statement ?
Thank you for your answer.
Wolfgang KLD

Answer 1

Hmmm....
From Java Lang Spec 2 14.10:
  SwitchLabel:
     case ConstantExpression :
  The type of the expression must be char, byte, short or int...
.From Java Lang Spec 2 15.28:
  A compile-time constant expression...following:
     Simple names that refer to final variables whose
     initializers are constant expressions.
.And this doesn't compile (with jikes nor jdk 1.3)
    static final int h1 = "value1".hashCode(); 
    static void test() throws Exception
     String s = "value1";
     switch(s.hashCode())
       case h1: System.out.println("value1 it is");
       default:
          System.out.println("no such luck");
     It must be the phrase 'whose initializers are constant expressions' that does it in.