Java switch statement: Constant expression required, but it IS constant

I recommend using the following way:

public enum Animal {
    DOG("dog"), TIGER("tiger"), LION("lion");
    private final String name;

    Animal(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return this.name;
    }
}


public class DemoSwitchUsage {

     private String getAnimal(String name) {
         Animal animalName = Animal.valueOf(name);
         switch(animalName) {
         case DOG:
             // write the code required.
             break;
         case LION:
             // Write the code required.
             break;
         default:
             break;
         }
     }
}

If you're using it in a switch case then you need to get the type of the enum even before you plug that value in the switch. For instance :

SomeEnum someEnum = SomeEnum.values()[1];

switch (someEnum) {
            case GRAPES:
            case BANANA: ...

And the enum is like:

public enum SomeEnum {

    GRAPES("Grapes", 0),
    BANANA("Banana", 1),

    private String typeName;
    private int typeId;

    SomeEnum(String typeName, int typeId){
        this.typeName = typeName;
        this.typeId = typeId;
    }
}

In my case, I was getting this exception because

switch (tipoWebServ) {
                            case VariablesKmDialog.OBTENER_KM:
                                resultObtenerKm(result);
                                break;
                            case var.MODIFICAR_KM:
                                resultModificarKm(result);
                                break;
                        }

in the second case I was calling the constant from the instance var.MODIFICAR_KM: but I should use VariablesKmDialog.OBTENER_KM directly from the class.

Below code is self-explanatory, We can use an enum with a switch case:

/**
 *
 */
enum ClassNames {
    STRING(String.class, String.class.getSimpleName()),
    BOOLEAN(Boolean.class, Boolean.class.getSimpleName()),
    INTEGER(Integer.class, Integer.class.getSimpleName()),
    LONG(Long.class, Long.class.getSimpleName());
    private Class typeName;
    private String simpleName;
    ClassNames(Class typeName, String simpleName){
        this.typeName = typeName;
        this.simpleName = simpleName;
    }
}

Based on the class values from the enum can be mapped:

 switch (ClassNames.valueOf(clazz.getSimpleName())) {
        case STRING:
            String castValue = (String) keyValue;
            break;
        case BOOLEAN:
            break;
        case Integer:
            break;
        case LONG:
            break;
        default:
            isValid = false;

    }

Hope it helps :)

Sometimes the switch variable can also make that error for example:

switch(view.getTag()) {//which is an Object type

   case 0://will give compiler error that says Constant expression required

   //...
}

To solve you should cast the variable to int(in this case). So:

switch((int)view.getTag()) {//will be int

   case 0: //No Error

   //...
}

Got this error in Android while doing something like this:

 roleSpinner.setOnItemSelectedListener(new AdapterView.OnItemSelectedListener() {
        @Override
        public void onItemSelected(AdapterView<?> parent, View view, int position, long id) {

            switch (parent.getItemAtPosition(position)) {
                case ADMIN_CONSTANT: //Threw the error

            }

despite declaring a constant:

public static final String ADMIN_CONSTANT= "Admin";

I resolved the issue by changing my code to this:

roleSpinner.setOnItemSelectedListener(new AdapterView.OnItemSelectedListener() {
        @Override
        public void onItemSelected(AdapterView<?> parent, View view, int position, long id) {

            String selectedItem = String.valueOf(parent.getItemAtPosition(position));
            switch (selectedItem) {
                case ADMIN_CONSTANT:

            }

The problem is with the int and Integer (i do not why), change the int to string and it work's

public abstract class Foo {
    ...
    public static final String BAR;
    public static final String BAZ;
    public static final String BAM;
    ...
}
public static String lookup(String constant) {
    switch (constant) {
        case Foo.BAR: return "bar";
        case Foo.BAZ: return "baz";
        case Foo.BAM: return "bam";
        default: return "unknown";
    }
}