java - return String with switch case

Question

i tried to use an enum for my first time. For some Tests i want to override the toString method of my enum and return a String with the chosen enum.

Heres my code so far:

@Override
public String toString()
{
    return "Fahrzeuge{" +
            switch(this)
            {
                case MOTORAD: "1"; break;
                case LKW: "2"; break;
                case PKW: "3"; break;
                case FAHRRAD: "4"; break;
            }
            +
            "typ:" + this.typ +
            ", ps:" + this.ps +
            ", reifen:" + this.reifen +
            ", gewicht:" + this.gewicht +
            "}";
}

IntelliJ underline my cases and tell me the following: "Not a Statement" => I guess this makes sense, if it's not allowed to build a String with a switch - case.

So far so good, but it seem's to be impossible to return a String which is build through a switch case, or did i make a mistake at my return? Any other options to return the chosen enum? I could add an attribute that hold my chosen enums name, but i though i could do this a bit simpler.

Thanks for help

Answer 1

I think you really don't need the switch Statement because the superclass of the enum already knows the name of your "type":

@Override
public String toString()
{
    return "Fahrzeuge: " + super.toString() +
            ", ps:" + this.ps +
            ", reifen:" + this.reifen +
            ", gewicht:" + this.gewicht;
}

Simply call the toString() method of the super class and you get the string value of your currently selected enum-type. You even can delete your type string.