BUG: Inner Compile-Time Constant String Members Not Permitted (325740)

public class Outer 
{
  private class Inner 
  {
    static final String  NAME = "Bob";
  }
}
				

MORE INFORMATION

The Java language specification permits compile-time primitive type constants in inner classes, including string literals. However, neither the Visual J++ 6.0 nor the Visual J# .NET compilers support this feature.

To work around the problem, do not use the static modifier, and use instance variables for string constants in inner classes. You can also define static string constants in an interface that can then be exposed on the inner class. The following is a code sample for both scenarios:

public class OuterClass
{
  public interface IStringConstant
  {
    String NAME = "Robert";
  }

  private class Inner implements IStringConstant
  {
    final String name = "Bob";
  }

  public static void main(String[] args)
  {
    System.out.println("static final string on interface:  " 
      + Inner.NAME);

    System.out.println("final instance string on class:  " 
      + new OuterClass().new Inner().name);
  }
}