Illegal Forward Reference and Enums

Question

I\'m programming a game in java which is made up of a grid of tiles. I wan\'t to be able to inuitively define the edges of the tiles and how they relate to each other, e.g.

Answer 1

public enum Edge {

    TOP,
    BOTTOM(Edge.TOP),
    LEFT,
    RIGHT(Edge.LEFT);

    private Edge opposite;

    private Edge() {

    }
    private Edge(Edge opp) {
        this.opposite = opp;
        opp.opposite = this;
    }

    public Edge opposite() {
        return this.opposite;
    }
}

Answer 2

You can do this which is not as intuitive.

public enum Edge {
    TOP, BOTTOM, LEFT, RIGHT;
    private Edge opposite;

    static {
        TOP.opposite = BOTTOM;
        BOTTOM.opposite = TOP;
        LEFT.opposite = RIGHT;
        RIGHT.opposite = LEFT;
    }
    public Edge opposite(){
        return this.opposite;
    }
}

Answer 3

Here's another way

public enum Edge {

    TOP("BOTTOM"),
    BOTTOM("TOP"),
    LEFT("RIGHT"),
    RIGHT("LEFT");

    private String opposite;

    private Edge(String opposite){
        this.opposite = opposite;
    }

    public Edge opposite(){
        return valueOf(opposite);
    }

}

Peter Lawrey's solution is however more efficient and compiletime safe.

Answer 4

I preferred this:

public enum Edge {
   TOP,
   BOTTOM,
   LEFT,
   RIGHT;

   private Link link;

   private Link getLink() {
     if (link == null) {
        link = Link.valueOf(name());
     }
     return link;
   }

   public Edge opposite() {
      return getLink().opposite();
   }
}

public enum Link {
   TOP(Edge.BOTTOM),
   BOTTOM(Edge.TOP),
   LEFT(Edge.RIGHT),
   RIGHT(Edge.LEFT);

   private Edge opposite;

   private Link(Edge opp) {
      this.opposite = opp;
   }

   public Edge opposite() {
      return this.opposite;
   }
}

Answer 5

You can create a static Map where key is the original enum and the value the opposite edge. Initialize it in a static block and the return the mapping from the opposite() method.

private static Map<Edge, Edge> oppostiteMapping;

static {
  oppositeMapping = new EnumMap<Edge, Edge>();
  oppositeMapping.put(TOP, BOTTOM);
  ...
}

public Edge opposite() {
    return oppositeMapping.get(this);
} 

EDIT: as proposed in comment better to use EnumMap, so I upgraded accordingly

Btw. this approach is generally useful when you create something like static fromString() method etc.

Answer 6

With Java 8 lambdas:

public enum Edge {
  TOP(() -> Edge.BOTTOM),
  BOTTOM(() -> Edge.TOP),
  LEFT(() -> Edge.RIGHT),
  RIGHT(() -> Edge.LEFT);

  private Supplier<Edge> opposite;

  private Edge(Supplier<Edge> opposite) {
    this.opposite = opposite;
  }

  public Edge opposite() {
    return opposite.get();
  }
}