A simple enumeration defines a fixed list of self-explanatory enumeration labels, like in the example of a GenderEL enumeration shown in the following UML class diagram:

Since the labels of a simple enumeration are being used, in capitalized form, as the names of the corresponding enumeration literals (GenderEL.MALE, GenderEL.FEMALE, etc.), we may also list the (all upper case) enumeration literals in the UML enumeration datatype, instead of the corresponding (lower or mixed case) enumeration labels.

A code list is an enumeration that defines a fixed list of code/label pairs. Unfortunately, the UML concept of an enumeration datatype does not support the distinction between codes as enumeration literals and their labels. For defining both codes and labels in a UML class diagram in the form of an enumeration datatype, we may use the attribute compartment of the data type rectangle and use the codes as attribute names defining the enumeration literals, and set their initial values to the corresponding label. This approach results in a visual representation as in the following diagram:

In the case of a code list, we can use both the codes or the labels as the names of enumeration literals, but using the codes seems preferable for brevity (GenderEL.M, GenderEL.F, etc.). For displaying the value of an enumeration attribute, it's an option to show not only the label, but also the code, like "male (M)", provided that there is sufficient space. If space is an issue, only the code can be shown.

A record enumeration defines a record type with a unique field designated to provide the enumeration literals, and a fixed list of records of that type. In general, a record type is defined by a set of field definitions (in the form of primitive datatype attributes), such that one of the unique fields is defined to be the enumeration literal field, and a set of operation definitions.

Unfortunately, record enumerations, as the most general form of an enumeration datatype, are not supported by the current version of UML (2.5) where the general form of an enumeration is defined as a special kind of datatype (with optional field and operation definitions) having an additional list of unique strings as enumeration literals (shown in a fourth compartment). The UML definition does neither allow designating one of the unique fields as the enumeration literal field, nor does it allow populating an enumeration with records.

Consequently, for showing a record enumeration in a UML class diagram, we need to find a workaround. For instance, if our modeling tool allows adding a drawing, we could draw a rectangle with four compartments, such that the first three of them correspond to the name, properties and operations compartments of a datatype rectangle, and the fourth one is a table with the names of properties/fields defined in the second compartment as column headers, as shown in the following figure.

There may be cases of enumerations that need to be extensible, that is, it must be possible to extend their list of enumeration values (labels or code/label pairs) by adding a new one. This can be expressed in a class diagram by appending an ellipsis to the list of enumeration values, as shown in Figure 1.1.

Since enumeration values are internally represented by enumeration literals, which are normally stored as plain positive integers in a database, a new enumeration value can only be added at the end of the value list such that it can be assigned a new index integer without re-assigning the indexes of other enumeration values. Otherwise, the mapping of enumeration indexes to corresponding enumeration values would not be preserved.

Alternatively, if new enumeration values have to be inserted in-between other enumeration values, and their indexes re-assigned, this implies that

.

Unfortunately, standard SQL does not support enumerations. Some DBMS, such as MySQL and Postgres, provide their own extensions of SQL column definitions in the CREATE TABLE statement allowing to define enumeration-valued columns.

A MySQL enumeration is specified as a list of enumeration labels with the keyword ENUM within a column definition, like so:

CREATE TABLE people (
    name VARCHAR(40),
    gender ENUM('MALE', 'FEMALE', 'UNDETERMINED')
);

A Postgres enumeration is specified as a special user-defined type that can be used in column definitions:

CREATE TYPE GenderEL AS ENUM ('MALE', 'FEMALE', 'UNDETERMINED');
CREATE TABLE people (
   name text,
   gender GenderEL
)

In XML Schema, an enumeration datatype can be defined as a simple type restricting the primitive type xs:string in the following way:

<xs:simpleType name="BookCategoryEL">
  <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
    <xs:enumeration value="NOVEL"/>
    <xs:enumeration value="BIOGRAPHY"/>
    <xs:enumeration value="TEXTBOOK"/>
    <xs:enumeration value="OTHER"/>
  </xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>

In JavaScript, we can define an enumeration as a special JS object having a property for each enumeration literal such that the property's name is the enumeration literal's name (the enumeration label or code in upper case) and its value is the corresponding enumeration index. One approach for implementing this is using the Object.defineProperties method:

var BookCategoryEL = null;
Object.defineProperties( BookCategoryEL, {
  NOVEL: {value: 1, writable: false},
  BIOGRAPHY: {value: 2, writable: false},
  TEXTBOOK: {value: 3, writable: false},
  OTHER: {value: 4, writable: false},
  MAX: {value: 4, writable: false},
  labels: {value:["novel","biography","textbook","other"], 
           writable: false}
});

This definition allows using the enumeration literals BookCategoryEL.NOVEL, BookCategoryEL.BIOGRAPHY etc., standing for the enumeration indexes 1, 2 , 3 and 4, in program statements. Notice how this definition takes care of the requirement that enumeration literals like BookCategoryEL.NOVEL are constants, the value of which cannot be changed during program execution. This is achieved with the help of the property descriptor writable: false in the Object.defineProperties statement.

We can also use a more generic approach and define a meta-class Enumeration for creating enumerations in the form of special JS objects:

function Enumeration( enumLabels) {
  var i=0, LBL="";
  this.MAX = enumLabels.length;
  this.labels = enumLabels;
  // generate the enum literals as capitalized keys/properties
  for (i=1; i <= enumLabels.length; i++) {
    LBL = enumLabels[i-1].toUpperCase();
    this[LBL] = i;
  }
  // prevent any runtime change to the enumeration
  Object.freeze( this);
};

Using this Enumeration class allows to define a new enumeration in the following way:

var BookCategoryEL = new Enumeration(["novel","biography","textbook","other"])

Having an enumeration like BookCategoryEL, we can then check if an enumeration attribute like category has an admissible value by testing if its value is not smaller than 1 and not greater than BookCategoryEL.MAX. Also, the label can be retrieved in the following way:

formEl.category.value = BookCategoryEL.labels[this.category - 1];

As an example, we consider the following model class Book with the enumeration attribute category:

function Book( slots) {
  this.isbn = "";     // string
  this.title = "";    // string
  this.category = 0;  // number (BookCategoryEL)
  if (arguments.length > 0) {
    this.setIsbn( slots.isbn); 
    this.setTitle( slots.title); 
    this.setCategory( slots.category);
  }
};

For validating input values for the enumeration attribute category, we can use the following check function:

Book.checkCategory = function (c) {
  if (!c) {
    return new MandatoryValueConstraintViolation(
        "A category must be provided!");
  } else if (!Number.isInteger(c) || c < 1 || 
             c > BookCategoryEL.MAX) {
    return new RangeConstraintViolation(
        "The category must be a positive integer " +
        "not greater than "+ BookCategoryEL.MAX +" !");
  } else {
    return new NoConstraintViolation();
  }
};

Notice how the range constraint defined by the enumeration BookCategoryEL is checked: it is tested if the input value c is a positive integer and if it is not greater than BookCategoryEL.MAX.

Simple enumerations, like BookCategoryEL and PublicationFormEL, are coded in the following way with the help of Java's enum construct:

public enum BookCategoryEL {
  NOVEL, 
  BIOGRAPHY, 
  TEXTBOOK, 
  OTHER;
}

Notice how the enumeration literals are defined with capitalized names in a comma-separated list.

For a code list, like LanguageEL, where each enumeration instance consists of a code and a label, we use the codes as enumeration literals and define an attribute label for storing the labels, as well as a private constructor that allows creating enumeration instances consisting of a code and a label. This is possible because in Java, an enum is a special kind of class. Each entry in the list of enumeration literals, auch as EN("English"), represents an invocation of the enum's constructor:

public enum LanguageEL {
  EN( "English"),
  DE( "German"),
  FR( "French"),
  ES( "Spanish");

  private final String label;
  private LanguageEL( String label) {this.label = label;}
  public String getLabel() {return this.label;}
}

The entity class Book is coded with the help of JPA annotations for class attributes, as well as the setter and getter methods of every class attribute.

@Entity @Table( name="books")
@ViewScoped @ManagedBean( name="book")
public class Book {
  @Id @Column( length=10)
  @NotNull( message="An ISBN value is required!")
  @Pattern( regexp="\\b\\d{9}(\\d|X)\\b", message = "...")
  private String isbn;
  
  @Column( nullable=false)
  @NotNull( message="A title is required!")
  private String title;

  @Column( nullable=false)
  @NotNull( message="An original language is required!")
  @Enumerated( EnumType.STRING)
  private LanguageEL originalLanguage;

  @Column( nullable=false)
  @NotNull( message="A category is required!")
  @Enumerated( EnumType.STRING)
  private BookCategoryEL category;

  @Convert( converter = 
      pl.m.converter.OtherAvailableLanguagesConverter.class)
  private Set<LanguageEL> otherAvailableLanguages;
 
  @Column( nullable=false)
  @Size( min=1, message="At least one publication form is required!")
  @Convert( converter=pl.m.converter.PublicationFormsConverter.class)
  private Set<PublicationFormEL> publicationForms;

  ...
}

For the case of single-valued enumeration attributes (like originalLanguage and category), the JPA annotation @Enumerated is used for specifying the storage serialization. It takes one of the following two parameter values:

We store the collection values of a multi-valued enumeration attribute (like otherAvailableLanguages and publicationForms) in a database table column as serialized arrays in the form of ["value1", "value2", ...]. In the case of the originalLanguage attribute, an example of a saved value would be ["EN", "FR", "DE"]. Achieving this behavior is possible with JPA by using custom converters to map database table column values to Java types and vice versa. The @Convert annotation allows specifying a Java converter that is responsible for the mappings.

Also, in the case of a multi-valued enumeration attribute, we use the @Size annotation to specify the minimum, and if required also the maximum, number of elements stored by this attribute. For example, in the case of publicationForms, we use @Size( min=1, message = "At least one publication form is required!"), which enforces to have at least one value for this attribute, otherwise the error message is displayed.

@Entity @Table( name="books")
@ViewScoped @ManagedBean( name="book")
public class Book {
  ...
  public Book( String isbn, String title, Integer year, 
      LanguageEL originalLanguage, 
      Set<LanguageEL> otherAvailableLanguages, 
      BookCategoryEL category, 
      Set<PublicationFormEL> publicationForms) { ...}
  public LanguageEL getOriginalLanguage() {...}
  public void setOriginalLanguage( 
      LanguageEL originalLanguage) {...}  
  public Set<LanguageEL> getOtherAvailableLanguages() {...}
  public void setOtherAvailableLanguages( 
      Set<LanguageEL> otherAvailableLanguages) {...}
  public BookCategoryEL getCategory() {...}
  public void setCategory( BookCategoryEL category) {...}  
  public Set<PublicationFormEL> getPublicationForms() {...}
  public void setPublicationForms( 
      Set<PublicationFormEL> publicationForms) {...}

  public static Book retrieve(...) {...}
  public static List<Book> retrieveAll(...) {...}
  public static void create(...) throws Exception {...}
  public static void update(...) throws Exception {...}
  public static void delete(...) throws Exception {...}

  public String getOtherAvailableLanguagesValues() {...}
  public SelectItem[] getLanguageItems() {...}
  public SelectItem[] getCategoryItems() {...}
  public String getPublicationFormsValues() {...}
  public SelectItem[] getPublicationFormsItems() {...}
}

Notice the new methods in the last code block, like getPublicationFormsValues and getPublicationFormsItems, which are used for handling the enumeration attributes in the UI. We discuss each of them in the following subsections.

A JPA attribute converter is a special Java class that implements the AttributeConverter interface with the methods convertToDatabaseColumn and convertToEntityAttribute. For the otherAvailableLanguages attribute, we define the following converter class:

@Converter
public class OtherAvailableLanguagesConverter implements 
    AttributeConverter< Set<LanguageEL>, String> {
  @Override
  public String convertToDatabaseColumn( Set<LanguageEL> attrValue) {
    JSONArray jsonArr = new JSONArray( attrValue);
    return jsonArr.toString();
  }
  @Override
  public Set<LanguageEL> convertToEntityAttribute( String colValue) {
    Set<LanguageEL> result = new HashSet<LanguageEL>();
    try {
      JSONArray jsonArr = new JSONArray( colValue);
        for (int i = 0, length = jsonArr.length(); i < length; i++) {
          result.add( LanguageEL.valueOf( jsonArr.getString( i)));
        }
    } catch (JSONException e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    }
    return result;
  }
}

An attribute converter class needs to be annotated with @Converter. In our example, the convertToDatabaseColumn method is responsible to convert the entity attribute value (e.g., otherAvailableLanguages) to a JSON array which is stored in the database as a String.

The convertToEntityAttribute method is responsible for de-serializing a table column's value to the corresponding entity attribute value. In our example, this means to map the JSON array string to a Java Set of enumeration literals of type LanguageEL.

The code above shows the custom attribute converter class for the otherAvailableLanguages attribute. The attribute converter class for the publicationForms attribute is defined in the same way.

Both for single-valued and for multi-valued enumeration attributes an ordinary setter is defined. In the case of a multi-valued enumeration attribute, this setter assigns an entire set of values (in the form of a Java Set) to the attribute.

The object serialization function now needs to include the values of enumeration attributes:

public String toString() {
  int i = 0, n = this.publicationForms.size();
  String result = "{ isbn: '" + this.isbn + "', title:'" + this.title
    + "', year: " + this.year + ", originalLanguage: '" 
    + this.originalLanguage.getLabel();
  result += "', otherAvailableLanguages: [";
  for (LanguageEL oal : this.otherAvailableLanguages) {
    result += "'" + oal.getLabel() + "'";
    if (i < n-1) result += ", ";
    i++;
  }
  result += "]";
  result += ", category: '" + this.category.name().toLowerCase();
  result += "', publicationForms: [";
  i = 0;
  for (PublicationFormEL pf : this.publicationForms) {
    result += "'" + pf.name().toLowerCase() + "'";
    if (i < n-1) result += ", ";
    i++;
  }
  result += "]}";
  return result;
}

As explained in the Minimal App Tutorial, the database schema can be automatically generated by a Java EE server like TomEE. The generated schema for our Book entity class is like so:

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `books` (
  `ISBN` varchar(10) NOT NULL,
  `CATEGORY` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `ORIGINALLANGUAGE` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `OTHERAVAILABLELANGUAGES` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  `PUBLICATIONFORMS` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `TITLE` varchar(255) NOT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

For every attribute (like category), a column with the same name but using upper case is created, (e.g., CATEGORY). This is the default naming, which is fine for our example application, but it can be changed, if required, by using the @Column( name="...") annotation, as in @Column( name="book_category").

The single-valued and multi-valued enumeration attributes are by default created as varchar columns with the default maximum length of 255 characters. However, if a longer (or shorter) length is desirable, this can be enforced by using the @Column( length=...) annotation.

In the test data objects that are created by Book.createTestData, we now have to provide values for single- and multi-valued enumeration attributes:

public static void createTestData( 
    EntityManager em, UserTransaction ut)
    throws NotSupportedException, ..., RollbackException {
  Book book = null;
  // first clear existing data
  Book.clearData( em, ut);
  ut.begin();
  Book book = new Book( "006251587X", "Weaving the Web", 2000, 
      LanguageEL.EN,
      new HashSet<LanguageEL>() {
        { add( LanguageEL.DE); add( LanguageEL.FR);}
      }, 
      BookCategoryEL.TEXTBOOK, 
      new HashSet<PublicationFormEL>() {
        { add( PublicationFormEL.HARDCOVER);
          add( PublicationFormEL.PDF);}
      }
  );
  em.persist( book);
}

We use JSF selection lists for rendering the enumeration attributes originalLanguage and otherAvailableLanguages in the code of the facelet files WebContent/views/books/create.xhtml and .../update.xhtml:

<ui:composition template="/WEB-INF/templates/page.xhtml"> 
 ...
 <ui:define name="main">
  <h:form id="createBookForm">
   ...
   <div>
    <h:outputLabel for="originalLanguage" value="Original language">
     <h:selectOneMenu id="originalLanguage"
        value="#{book.originalLanguage}">
      <f:selectItem itemValue="" itemLabel="---" />
      <f:selectItems value="#{book.languageItems}" />
     </h:selectOneMenu>
    </h:outputLabel>
    <h:message for="originalLanguage" errorClass="error" />
   </div>
   <div class="multi-sel">
    <h:outputLabel for="otherAvailableLanguages" 
       value="Also available in">
     <h:selectManyListbox id="otherAvailableLanguages"
        value="#{book.otherAvailableLanguages}">
      <f:selectItems value="#{book.languageItems}" />
     </h:selectManyListbox>
    </h:outputLabel>
    <h:message for="otherAvailableLanguages" errorClass="error" />
   </div>
   ...
   <div>
    <h:commandButton value="Save"
       action="#{bookCtrl.create( book.isbn, book.title, book.year, 
           book.originalLanguage, book.otherAvailableLanguages, 
           book.category, book.publicationForms)}" />
   </div>
  </h:form>
 </ui:define>
</ui:composition>

The JSF element h:selectOneMenu allows creating single selection lists with the HTML select element. The list is populated with language options due to its child element <f:selectItems value="#{book.languageItems}"/>. Using the expression #{book.languageItems} results in calling the method getLanguageItems() on the book object. This method returns a set of SelectItem objects, which are used to populate the selection list. The corresponding method code is as follows:

public SelectItem[] getLanguageItems() {
  SelectItem[] items = new SelectItem[LanguageEL.values().length];
  int i = 0;
  for (LanguageEL lang : LanguageEL.values()) {
    items[i++] = new SelectItem( lang.name(), lang.getLabel());
  }
  return items;
} 

A multiple selection list, corresponding to an HTML element <select multiple="multiple" .../>, is created with the JSF element h:selectManyListbox using the same getLanguageItems method for obtaining the selection list items.

Since the enumeration attributes category and publicationForms have not more than seven possible values, we can use a radio button group and a checkbox group for rendering them:

<ui:composition template="/WEB-INF/templates/page.xhtml">
  ...
  <ui:define name="main">
    <h:form id="createBookForm">
      <div>
        <h:outputLabel for="category" value="Category">
          <h:selectOneRadio id="category" value="#{book.category}">
            <f:selectItems value="#{book.categoryItems}" />
          </h:selectOneRadio>
        </h:outputLabel>
        <h:message for="category" errorClass="error" />
      </div>
      <div>
        <h:outputLabel for="publicationForms" 
          value="Publication forms ">
          <h:selectManyCheckbox id="publicationForms"
            value="#{book.publicationForms}">
            <f:selectItems value="#{book.publicationFormsItems}" />
          </h:selectManyCheckbox>
        </h:outputLabel>
        <h:message for="publicationForms" errorClass="error" />
      </div>
      <div>
        <h:commandButton value="Save"
          action="#{bookCtrl.create( 
            book.isbn, book.title, book.year, 
            book.originalLanguage, book.otherAvailableLanguages, 
            book.category, book.publicationForms)}" />
      </div>
    </h:form>
  </ui:define>
</ui:composition>

The radio button group is obtained by using the JSF element h:selectOneRadio. It renders a set of <input type="radio" ... /> elements. Using the same technique as for selection lists, the radio button group is populated with a set of SelectItem objects. The corresponding getCategoryItems method from the Book class is similar to getLanguageItems.

The checkbox group, consisting of <input type="checkbox" ... /> elements, is created with the JSF element h:selectManyCheckbox and populated in the same way as a radio button group or a selection list.

The purpose of the app to be built is managing information about movies. The app deals with just one object type, Movie, and with two enumerations, as depicted in the following class diagram.

First make a list of all the constraints that have been defined in this model and express them with validation annotations. Then make an entity class model as a starting for coding the app by following the guidance of this tutorial and the Validation Tutorial.

Compared to the validation app practice project, two attributes have been added: the optional single-valued enumeration attribute rating, and the multi-valued enumeration attribute genres.