case statement

[saw mon]

hello all;I want to know about case statement use.Please check below two examples:
egA:

final int a=9;
int x=0;
switch(x)
{
     case a:sysout("a");
}

in this case a is constant expression and it is ok.but in this egB:

final Integer a=9;
int x=0;
switch(x)
{
    case a:sysout("b");
}

at that time compiler error for case a.why?I think Integer a is also final and it is constant too.Please explain me.Thank alot.

[Henry Wong]

See this previous topic on what is a compile time constant... https://coderanch.com/t/454384/java/java/compile-time-constant

then... if you think that it is still a compile time constant, we can further discuss.

Henry

[saw mon]

Henry Wong wrote:See this previous topic on what is a compile time constant... https://coderanch.com/t/454384/java/java/compile-time-constant

then... if you think that it is still a compile time constant, we can further discuss.

Henry

Dear Henry,When I read the link you gave me ,then I saw final variables with primitives and strings value are time constant.For this case ,I think is that final Integer a = 10,and a is auto unboxed to primitive types.But It shows compiler error and It cannot be auto unboxed to primitives type.Right?

[Ankit Garg]

Hi Saw, as you read correctly, only primitives and Strings are compile time constants. You can only use literals and compile time constants in case expression. Since the Integer wrapper is not compile time constant, you can't use it in case expression even if it can be auto unboxed to primitive int...

[Henry Wong]

Furthermore, if you read the link again, regarding constant expressions, you will notice that method calls can't be involved in constant expressions. This means that with method calls, it will no longer be a compile time constants. And autoboxing, are converted to method calls to box/unbox between the wrapper and its primitive, by the compiler.

Henry

[Henrique Ordine]

Funny, this.

You can have an Integer in the switch() statement but not in a case statement.
This is ok:

final Integer ab = 9;
switch (ab) {
	case 9:
		System.out.println("ab was 9");
}