[jira] [Resolved] (NET-392) Use enum for IMAPCommand

["Sebb (JIRA)" <ji...@apache.org>]

     [ https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/NET-392?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:all-tabpanel ]

Sebb resolved NET-392.
----------------------

    Resolution: Fixed

> Use enum for IMAPCommand
> ------------------------
>
>                 Key: NET-392
>                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/NET-392
>             Project: Commons Net
>          Issue Type: Sub-task
>            Reporter: Sebb
>
> As mentioned in the main issue, I think it would be better to use enums instead of int for the IMAP commands.
> I agree that enums cannot be extended, but as far as I can tell, it won't be easy to extend the existing method either.
> One can subclass IMAPCommand, but this won't be simple:
> - how to prevent duplication of numbers if the parent class is later extended?
> - how can the method IMAP.sendCommand(int command, String args) know where to pick up the new entries? 
> At present it references the static method IMAPCommand.getCommand(); it would probably be necessary to change this to use an instance of IMAPCommand and an instance method, which could then be overridden.
> Seems to me that allowing extension via subclassing will make the code more complicated and fragile.
> If new IMAP commands are added, the user can still pass in a String until such time as the code is updated.
> Whereas if the code is changed to use enums, these can be used to provide additional validation - e.g. the enums could have an attribute that defines how many parameters are needed; this could then be checked.

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