Declare constants inside of enum

Question

I want to create an enum and declare several constants inside of it for inner usage...

public enum SearchType {

    static final String TEXT = "text";
    static final String BOOLEAN = "boolean";

    STARTS_WITH(TEXT),
    ENDS_WITH(TEXT),
    CONTAINS(BOOLEAN),
    WILDCARD(TEXT),
    REGEXP(TEXT),
    RANGE(TEXT)


    private String searchType;

    private SearchType(String type) {
        searchType = type;
    }

}

unfortunately it can't be done this way. Best solution I've come up with so far is to declare a nested interface to store constants...

public enum SearchType {

    STARTS_WITH(Categories.TEXT),
    ENDS_WITH(Categories.TEXT),
    CONTAINS(Categories.BOOLEAN),
    WILDCARD(Categories.TEXT),
    REGEXP(Categories.TEXT),
    RANGE(Categories.TEXT)


    interface Categories{
        static final String TEXT = "text";
        static final String BOOLEAN = "boolean";
    }

    private String searchType;

    private SearchType(String type) {
        searchType = type;
    }

}

so I'm wondering if there is a better way to do so?

Answer 1

I would use an enum for the Categories as well. If you place this in a top level class, it will look natural.

You have to define your enum values before any other constants.

AFAIK This is done to simplify the syntax. You have the enum values first with a special, simplified syntax, followed by the constants you define. The need for this is more obvious when you start overriding methods in your constants.