public @Interface Enumerated

The Enumerated annotation may be used in conjunction with the Basic annotation, or in conjunction with the ElementCollection annotation when the element type of the collection is an enum type.

An enum can be mapped as either a string or an integer, where EnumType enumerates the available options. The mapping may be explicitly specified by this annotation.

If a persistent field or property of enum type has no explicit Enumerated annotation, and if no converter is applied to the field or property:

• if the enum type has a final field of type String annotated EnumeratedValue, the enumerated type is inferred to be EnumType#STRING;
• otherwise, the enumerated type is taken to be EnumType#ORDINAL.

Example:

public enum EmployeeStatus {FULL_TIME, PART_TIME, CONTRACT}

public enum SalaryRate {JUNIOR, SENIOR, MANAGER, EXECUTIVE}

@Entity
public class Employee {
    public EmployeeStatus getStatus() { ... }
    ...
    @Enumerated(STRING)
    public SalaryRate getPayScale() { ... }
    ...
}