Enum.valueOf(String)

[Jonathan Gibbons]

Well, I presume other learning materials for Java (tutorials, ... for 
dummies, etc) will explain the existence of these methods as part of the 
language feature that is "enum"s.

Quite where the bytecodes for the methods comes from is implementation 
detail that should not need to be documented in end-user docs.

Interestingly, though, is that the javadoc for Enum.valueOf *does* have 
something close to the text you want:

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/Enum.html#valueOf(java.lang.Class,%20java.lang.String)

> Note that for a particular enum type T, the implicitly declared public 
> static T valueOf(String) method on that enum may be used instead of 
> this method to map from a name to the corresponding enum constant. All 
> the constants of an enum type can be obtained by calling the implicit 
> public static T[] values() method of that type.

-- Jon


On 08/20/2013 07:29 AM, Paul Benedict wrote:
> So are you recommending not to alter the Javadoc of Enum to mention 
> this fact? Going to the JLS is great for compiler developers, but it's 
> not the first place for the end user.
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 8:48 AM, Jonathan Gibbons 
> <jonathan.gibbons at oracle.com <mailto:jonathan.gibbons at oracle.com>> wrote:
>
>     Paul,
>
>     Enums are well covered in JLS 7, section 8.9. In particular, see
>     8.9.2, Enum Body Declarations, beginning at the line
>
>     "In addition, if E is the name of an enum type, then that type has
>     the following implicitly declared static methods:"
>
>     -- Jon
>
>
>     On 08/20/2013 06:27 AM, Paul Benedict wrote:
>>     Jon, it's not a problem with the method docs, per se. The issue
>>     is about how the generation isn't documented. My questioning
>>     started because I was using several enums without javadoc
>>     available, but I did have the source available, and couldn't
>>     figure out how the method came to be. Since I've asked, everyone
>>     knew (but me!) it was a generated method, but I couldn't divine
>>     that knowledge.
>>
>>     My recommendation is to add an @implNote on Enum.valueOf(Class,
>>     String) so that people know each subclass will get a generated
>>     method that behaves similarly. What do you think?
>>
>>
>>     On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 9:23 AM, Paul Benedict
>>     <pbenedict at apache.org <mailto:pbenedict at apache.org>> wrote:
>>
>>         I have been working with classes that don't have javadoc
>>         attachments. The problem was I couldn't find the method in
>>         the source nor was the method part of the Enum class. So
>>         where did it materialize from? Now I know the answer: the
>>         compiler generates it.
>>
>>         I really think this knowledge should be added to the Enum
>>         javadoc class. I had to go on quite a goose hunt to find this
>>         fact.
>>
>>         Paul
>>
>>
>>         On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 3:32 AM, Alan Bateman
>>         <Alan.Bateman at oracle.com <mailto:Alan.Bateman at oracle.com>> wrote:
>>
>>             On 18/08/2013 05:07, Paul Benedict wrote:
>>
>>                 I think the generated method needs to be listed in
>>                 the class javadoc at
>>                 least. I presume it throws an exception too (like the
>>                 other valueOf) if the
>>                 String can't be resolved to a constant, but no user
>>                 is going to discover
>>                 this fact through the documentation.
>>
>>             Have you checked the generated avadoc for your enum? The
>>             valueOf(String) should be there and specified to throw
>>             IAE or NPE.
>>
>>             -Alan
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>         -- 
>>         Cheers,
>>         Paul
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>     -- 
>>     Cheers,
>>     Paul
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Cheers,
> Paul