Switch Statement gives Incompatible Types error

Question

I am trying to compile and I get this error:

enigma/Rotor.java:30: incompatible types found : java.lang.String required: int     switch(name){
1 error
         


        

Answer 1

You cannot switch over a String instance, only int (and byte/char/short, but not long/double), unless you have Java7+. Your best option now is to change to if else statements, like so:

if("B".equals(string)) {
    //handle string being "B"
} else if("C".equals(string)) {
    //handle string being "C"
} else ...

For more info on switching, see the Oracle tutorial. They mention the Java7 String functionality:

In Java SE 7 and later, you can use a String object in the switch statement's expression.