Prior to JDK 1.7, you had to use an approximation to evaluate strings in a switch statement. Much easier now!

StringSwitch.java

package org.gkh.test;

/*
 * Prior to JDK 1.7, you had to use an approximation to evaluate strings in a 
 * switch statement. See the following links.
 * http://www.xefer.com/2006/12/switchonstring
 * http://stackoverflow.com/questions/338206/switch-statement-with-strings-in-java
 * http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/language/strings-switch.html
 */
public class StringSwitch {

	enum PolicyTypes {
		EVENT, TRANSFORMATION, PUBLISHER, SUBSCRIBER
	}

	/**
	 * @param args
	 */
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		String policyType = "EVENT";
		switch (PolicyTypes.valueOf(policyType)) {
		case EVENT:
			System.out.println("Switch statement matched on "
					+ PolicyTypes.EVENT);
			break;
		case TRANSFORMATION:
		case PUBLISHER:
		case SUBSCRIBER:
		default:
			break;
		}
	}
}