Why Apex Test Cannot Find Enum Defined in Apex Class

there is a common issue that developers face when working with enums in Apex. Sometimes, when you try to reference an enum defined in an Apex class from your test class, you may get an error that the enum is not found. This can be a frustrating issue to deal with, especially if you are new to Apex development.

The reason for this issue is that when you create an instance of the Apex class with exactly the same name as the class name, but with a different case, Apex does not recognize it as a class. Instead, it sees it as an instance of the class. This means that when you try to reference the enum from your test class, Apex cannot find it because it is not defined on the instance.

To avoid this issue, it is important to always create your instance name differently than the class name. This will ensure that Apex recognizes it as a separate instance and not as the class itself. For example, if your class is named “MyClass”, you could create an instance named “myInstance” or “myClassInstance”.

Let’s take a look at an example to illustrate this issue:

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public class MyClass {
    public enum MyEnum {
        VALUE_1, VALUE_2, VALUE_3
    }
}

public class MyTestClass {
    public static void testEnum() {
        MyClass myClass = new MyClass();
        // This line will throw an error because Apex cannot find the enum
        MyClass.MyEnum value = MyClass.MyEnum.VALUE_1;
    }
}

In the above example, the testEnum() method in the MyTestClass class tries to reference the MyEnum enum defined in the MyClass class. However, because the instance of MyClass is named myClass (with a lowercase “m”), Apex does not recognize it as the class itself. Therefore, when we try to reference MyClass.MyEnum, Apex cannot find it and throws an error.

To fix this issue, we can simply rename the instance of MyClass to something different than the class name:

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public class MyTestClass {
    public static void testEnum() {
        MyClass myClassInstance = new MyClass();
        // This line will work correctly
        MyClass.MyEnum value = MyClass.MyEnum.VALUE_1;
    }
}

By creating an instance named myClassInstance instead of myClass, Apex now recognizes it as a separate instance and not as the class itself. Therefore, when we reference MyClass.MyEnum, Apex can find it and our code will work correctly.

Cheers! 🍺