Using Case Statement with String

In Jcl library you have the StrIndex function StrIndex(Index, Array Of String) which works like this:

Case StrIndex('SomeName', ['bobby', 'tommy', 'somename']) of 
  0: ..code.. ;//bobby
  1: ..code..;//tommy
  2: ..code..;//somename
else
  ShowMessage('error');
end.

@Daniel's answer pointed me in the right direction, but it took me a while to notice the "Jcl Library" part and the comments about the standard versions.

In [at least] XE2 and later, you can use:

Case IndexStr('somename', ['bobby', 'tommy', 'somename', 'george']) of 
  0: ..code..;                   // bobby
  1: ..code..;                   // tommy
  2: ..code..;                   // somename
 -1: ShowMessage('Not Present'); // not present in array
else
  ShowMessage('Default Option'); // present, but not handled above
end;

This version is case-sensitive, so if the first argument was 'SomeName' it would take the not present in array path. Use IndexText for case-insensitive comparison.

For older Delphi versions, use AnsiIndexStr or AnsiIndexText, respectively.

Kudos to @Daniel, @The_Fox, and @afrazier for most of the components of this answer.

The Delphi Case Statement only supports ordinal types. So you cannot use strings directly.

But exist another options like

• build a function which returns a Integer (hash) based on a string
• using generics and anonymous methods ( A generic case for strings)
• using a function which receive an array of strings (Making a case for Strings, the sane way)
• and so on.