title: Are empty strings allowed as enum members in Java
body: <p>I'm having a bit of a problem with some legacy code.  A ticket asks for me to write a script testing the validity of a process; however, I keep getting this exception when the script is run:</p>
  
  <pre><code> java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: No enum const class edu.cmu.s3.common.enums.RegistrationStatus.;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>For the record, the database being used is an old Ingres legacy system, so null values are being represented as empty strings -- quite beautiful, I have to add.</p>
  
  <p>Anyway, it looks like whenever an empty string is encountered, it fails on enum creation.  I checked the enum, though, and it contains this member:</p>
  
  <pre><code>BLANK("", "Blank")
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This would make me think that an empty string is indeed a valid argument, but it looks like it's not.</p>
  
  <p>CAN enums use empty strings as arguments, or will I need to update more legacy code than I initially assumed?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks for the help</p>