Best way to define error codes/strings in Java?

Question

I am writing a web service in Java, and I am trying to figure out the best way to define error codes and their associated error strings. I need to have a nu

Answer 1

Overloading toString() seems a bit icky -- that seems a bit of a stretch of toString()'s normal use.

What about:

public enum Errors {
  DATABASE(1, "A database error has occured."),
  DUPLICATE_USER(5007, "This user already exists.");
  //... add more cases here ...

  private final int id;
  private final String message;

  Errors(int id, String message) {
     this.id = id;
     this.message = message;
  }

  public int getId() { return id; }
  public String getMessage() { return message; }
}

seems a lot cleaner to me... and less verbose.