Variable does not exist when passing SObject as parameter to method

Question

Refactoring code to merge similar operations and getting an error the SObjects I'm passing to this method are variables that do not exist.

private static List<SObject> getSObjectList(SObject salesforceObject, Set<String> filterSet, String exceptionMessage) {
  List<SObject> records;
  switch on salesforceObject {
    when Contact {
      records = [SELECT Id, Name FROM Contact WHERE Name IN :filterSet];
    }
    when pse__Milestone__c {
      records = [SELECT Id, Milestone_ID__c, pse__Project__c, pse__Project__r.pse__Account__c, pse__Project__r.pse__Allow_Timecards_Without_Assignment__c, pse__Project__r.pse__Is_Billable__c, pse__Project__r.Apply_Burndown_Cap__c, pse__Project__r.Remaining_Hours__c, Exclude_Timecards_from_Billing__c FROM pse__Milestone__c WHERE Milestone_ID__c IN :filterSet];
    }
  }

  if (records.size() == 0) {
    notifyAdmin('TimeLoaderJira Exception', exceptionMessage);
    throw new ImportException(exceptionMessage);
  }

  return records;
}

Getting error "Variable does not exist: Contact" from this line that invokes it:

List<Contact> resources = (List<Contact>) getSObjectList(Contact, resourceNames, 'Data imported did not contain any valid resources.');

and "Variable does not exist: pse__Milestone__c" for this one:

List<pse__Milestone__c> milestones = (List<pse__Milestone__c>) getSObjectList(pse__Milestone__c, milestonesFriendly, 'Data imported did not contain any valid milestones.');

Any thoughts about what I'm doing wrong?

Answer 1

You need to create an actual sobject:

List<pse__Milestone__c> milestones = (List<pse__Milestone__c>) getSObjectList(
  new pse__Milestone__c(), 
  milestonesFriendly, 
  'Data imported did not contain any valid milestones.'
);

Or, perhaps you actually meant to use sObjectType in your method parameter (this would have made more sense):

private static List<SObject> getSObjectList(SObjectType salesforceObject, Set<String> filterSet, String exceptionMessage) {
  List<SObject> records;
  switch on salesforceObject.newSObject() {
    when Contact {
      records = [SELECT Id, Name FROM Contact WHERE Name IN :filterSet];
    }
    when pse__Milestone__c {
      records = [SELECT Id, Milestone_ID__c, pse__Project__c, pse__Project__r.pse__Account__c, pse__Project__r.pse__Allow_Timecards_Without_Assignment__c, pse__Project__r.pse__Is_Billable__c, pse__Project__r.Apply_Burndown_Cap__c, pse__Project__r.Remaining_Hours__c, Exclude_Timecards_from_Billing__c FROM pse__Milestone__c WHERE Milestone_ID__c IN :filterSet];
    }
  }

  if (records.size() == 0) {
    notifyAdmin('TimeLoaderJira Exception', exceptionMessage);
    throw new ImportException(exceptionMessage);
  }

  return records;
}

Which would be called as:

List<pse__Milestone__c> milestones = (List<pse__Milestone__c>) getSObjectList(
  pse__Milestone__c.sObjectType, 
  milestonesFriendly, 
  'Data imported did not contain any valid milestones.'
);