Java: specific enums and generic Enum<?> parameters
I want to pass any enum value to method in utility class and get another enum value of same enum type. Something like this: public class XMLUtils { public static Enum<?> getEnumAttribute(Element element, String name, Enum<?> defaultValue) { if (element.hasAttribute(name)) { String valueName = element.getAttribute(name); // search for value for (Enum<?> value: defaultValue.getClass().getEnumConstants()) if (value.toString().equalsIgnoreCase(valueName)) return value; } // not found, return default value return defaultValue; } } Use of method getEnumAttribute() : // simple enum public enum