String representation of an Enum

Question

I have the following enumeration:

public enum AuthenticationMethod
{
    FORMS = 1,
    WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION = 2,
    SINGLESIGNON = 3
}

The problem however is that I need the word "FORMS" when I ask for AuthenticationMethod.FORMS and not the id 1.

I have found the following solution for this problem (link):

First I need to create a custom attribute called "StringValue":

public class StringValue : System.Attribute
{
    private readonly string _value;

    public StringValue(string value)
    {
        _value = value;
    }

    public string Value
    {
        get { return _value; }
    }

}

Then I can add this attribute to my enumerator:

public enum AuthenticationMethod
{
    [StringValue("FORMS")]
    FORMS = 1,
    [StringValue("WINDOWS")]
    WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION = 2,
    [StringValue("SSO")]
    SINGLESIGNON = 3
}

And of course I need something to retrieve that StringValue:

public static class StringEnum
{
    public static string GetStringValue(Enum value)
    {
        string output = null;
        Type type = value.GetType();

        //Check first in our cached results...

        //Look for our 'StringValueAttribute' 

        //in the field's custom attributes

        FieldInfo fi = type.GetField(value.ToString());
        StringValue[] attrs =
           fi.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(StringValue),
                                   false) as StringValue[];
        if (attrs.Length > 0)
        {
            output = attrs[0].Value;
        }

        return output;
    }
}

Good now I've got the tools to get a string value for an enumerator. I can then use it like this:

string valueOfAuthenticationMethod = StringEnum.GetStringValue(AuthenticationMethod.FORMS);

Okay now all of these work like a charm but I find it a whole lot of work. I was wondering if there is a better solution for this.

I also tried something with a dictionary and static properties but that wasn't better either.

Answer 1

My variant

public struct Colors
{
    private String current;

    private static string red = "#ff0000";
    private static string green = "#00ff00";
    private static string blue = "#0000ff";

    private static IList<String> possibleColors; 

    public static Colors Red { get { return (Colors) red; } }
    public static Colors Green { get { return (Colors) green; } }
    public static Colors Blue { get { return (Colors) blue; } }

    static Colors()
    {
        possibleColors = new List<string>() {red, green, blue};
    }

    public static explicit operator String(Colors value)
    {
        return value.current;
    }

    public static explicit operator Colors(String value)
    {
        if (!possibleColors.Contains(value))
        {
            throw new InvalidCastException();
        }

        Colors color = new Colors();
        color.current = value;
        return color;
    }

    public static bool operator ==(Colors left, Colors right)
    {
        return left.current == right.current;
    }

    public static bool operator !=(Colors left, Colors right)
    {
        return left.current != right.current;
    }

    public bool Equals(Colors other)
    {
        return Equals(other.current, current);
    }

    public override bool Equals(object obj)
    {
        if (ReferenceEquals(null, obj)) return false;
        if (obj.GetType() != typeof(Colors)) return false;
        return Equals((Colors)obj);
    }

    public override int GetHashCode()
    {
        return (current != null ? current.GetHashCode() : 0);
    }

    public override string ToString()
    {
        return current;
    }
}

Code looks a bit ugly, but usages of this struct are pretty presentative.

Colors color1 = Colors.Red;
Console.WriteLine(color1); // #ff0000

Colors color2 = (Colors) "#00ff00";
Console.WriteLine(color2); // #00ff00

// Colors color3 = "#0000ff"; // Compilation error
// String color4 = Colors.Red; // Compilation error

Colors color5 = (Colors)"#ff0000";
Console.WriteLine(color1 == color5); // True

Colors color6 = (Colors)"#00ff00";
Console.WriteLine(color1 == color6); // False

Also, I think, if a lot of such enums required, code generation (e.g. T4) might be used.

Answer 2

I really like Jakub Šturc's answer, but it's shortcoming is that you cannot use it with a switch-case statement. Here's a slightly modified version of his answer that can be used with a switch statement:

public sealed class AuthenticationMethod
{
    #region This code never needs to change.
    private readonly string _name;
    public readonly Values Value;

    private AuthenticationMethod(Values value, String name){
        this._name = name;
        this.Value = value;
    }

    public override String ToString(){
        return _name;
    }
    #endregion

    public enum Values
    {
        Forms = 1,
        Windows = 2,
        SSN = 3
    }

    public static readonly AuthenticationMethod FORMS = new AuthenticationMethod (Values.Forms, "FORMS");
    public static readonly AuthenticationMethod WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION = new AuthenticationMethod (Values.Windows, "WINDOWS");
    public static readonly AuthenticationMethod SINGLESIGNON = new AuthenticationMethod (Values.SSN, "SSN");
}

So you get all of the benefits of Jakub Šturc's answer, plus we can use it with a switch statement like so:

var authenticationMethodVariable = AuthenticationMethod.FORMS;  // Set the "enum" value we want to use.
var methodName = authenticationMethodVariable.ToString();       // Get the user-friendly "name" of the "enum" value.

// Perform logic based on which "enum" value was chosen.
switch (authenticationMethodVariable.Value)
{
    case authenticationMethodVariable.Values.Forms: // Do something
        break;
    case authenticationMethodVariable.Values.Windows: // Do something
        break;
    case authenticationMethodVariable.Values.SSN: // Do something
        break;      
}

Answer 3

You can reference the name rather than the value by using ToString()

Console.WriteLine("Auth method: {0}", AuthenticationMethod.Forms.ToString());

The documentation is here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/16c1xs4z.aspx

...and if you name your enums in Pascal Case (as I do - such as ThisIsMyEnumValue = 1 etc.) then you could use a very simple regex to print the friendly form:

static string ToFriendlyCase(this string EnumString)
{
    return Regex.Replace(EnumString, "(?!^)([A-Z])", " $1");
}

which can easily be called from any string:

Console.WriteLine("ConvertMyCrazyPascalCaseSentenceToFriendlyCase".ToFriendlyCase());

Outputs:

Convert My Crazy Pascal Case Sentence To Friendly Case

That saves running all the way around the houses creating custom attributes and attaching them to your enums or using lookup tables to marry an enum value with a friendly string and best of all it's self managing and can be used on any Pascal Case string which is infinitely more reusable. Of course, it doesn't allow you to have a different friendly name than your enum which your solution does provide.

I do like your original solution though for more complex scenarios though. You could take your solution one step further and make your GetStringValue an extension method of your enum and then you wouldn't need to reference it like StringEnum.GetStringValue...

public static string GetStringValue(this AuthenticationMethod value)
{
  string output = null;
  Type type = value.GetType();
  FieldInfo fi = type.GetField(value.ToString());
  StringValue[] attrs = fi.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(StringValue), false) as StringValue[];
  if (attrs.Length > 0)
    output = attrs[0].Value;
  return output;
}

You could then access it easily straight from your enum instance:

Console.WriteLine(AuthenticationMethod.SSO.GetStringValue());

Answer 4

Try type-safe-enum pattern.

public sealed class AuthenticationMethod {

    private readonly String name;
    private readonly int value;

    public static readonly AuthenticationMethod FORMS = new AuthenticationMethod (1, "FORMS");
    public static readonly AuthenticationMethod WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION = new AuthenticationMethod (2, "WINDOWS");
    public static readonly AuthenticationMethod SINGLESIGNON = new AuthenticationMethod (3, "SSN");        

    private AuthenticationMethod(int value, String name){
        this.name = name;
        this.value = value;
    }

    public override String ToString(){
        return name;
    }

}

---

Update Explicit (or implicit) type conversion can be done by

• adding static field with mapping

  private static readonly Dictionary<string, AuthenticationMethod> instance = new Dictionary<string,AuthenticationMethod>();
  

  • n.b. In order that the initialisation of the the "enum member" fields doesn't throw a NullReferenceException when calling the instance constructor, be sure to put the Dictionary field before the "enum member" fields in your class. This is because static field initialisers are called in declaration order, and before the static constructor, creating the weird and necessary but confusing situation that the instance constructor can be called before all static fields have been initialised, and before the static constructor is called.

• filling this mapping in instance constructor

  instance[name] = this;
  

• and adding user-defined type conversion operator

  public static explicit operator AuthenticationMethod(string str)
  {
      AuthenticationMethod result;
      if (instance.TryGetValue(str, out result))
          return result;
      else
          throw new InvalidCastException();
  }
  

Answer 5

Use object Enum.Parse(System.Type enumType, string value, bool ignoreCase); got it from http://blogs.msdn.com/b/tims/archive/2004/04/02/106310.aspx

Answer 6

I use a combination of several of the suggestions above, combined with some caching. Now, I got the idea from some code that I found somewhere on the net, but I can neither remember where I got it or find it. So if anyone ever finds something that looks similar please comment with the attribution.

Anyway, the usage involves the type converters, so if you are binding to the UI it 'just works'. You can extended with Jakub's pattern for quick code lookup by initializing from the type converter into the static methods.

The base usage would look like this

[TypeConverter(typeof(CustomEnumTypeConverter<MyEnum>))]
public enum MyEnum
{
    // The custom type converter will use the description attribute
    [Description("A custom description")]
    ValueWithCustomDescription,

   // This will be exposed exactly.
   Exact
}

The code for the custom enum type converter follows:

public class CustomEnumTypeConverter<T> : EnumConverter
    where T : struct
{
    private static readonly Dictionary<T,string> s_toString = 
      new Dictionary<T, string>();

    private static readonly Dictionary<string, T> s_toValue = 
      new Dictionary<string, T>();

    private static bool s_isInitialized;

    static CustomEnumTypeConverter()
    {
        System.Diagnostics.Debug.Assert(typeof(T).IsEnum,
          "The custom enum class must be used with an enum type.");
    }

    public CustomEnumTypeConverter() : base(typeof(T))
    {
        if (!s_isInitialized)
        {
            Initialize();
            s_isInitialized = true;
        }
    }

    protected void Initialize()
    {
        foreach (T item in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)))
        {
            string description = GetDescription(item);
            s_toString[item] = description;
            s_toValue[description] = item;
        }
    }

    private static string GetDescription(T optionValue)
    {
        var optionDescription = optionValue.ToString();
        var optionInfo = typeof(T).GetField(optionDescription);
        if (Attribute.IsDefined(optionInfo, typeof(DescriptionAttribute)))
        {
            var attribute = 
              (DescriptionAttribute)Attribute.
                 GetCustomAttribute(optionInfo, typeof(DescriptionAttribute));
            return attribute.Description;
        }
        return optionDescription;
    }

    public override object ConvertTo(ITypeDescriptorContext context, 
       System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture, 
       object value, Type destinationType)
    {
        var optionValue = (T)value;

        if (destinationType == typeof(string) && 
            s_toString.ContainsKey(optionValue))
        {
            return s_toString[optionValue];
        }

        return base.ConvertTo(context, culture, value, destinationType);
    }

    public override object ConvertFrom(ITypeDescriptorContext context, 
       System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture, object value)
    {
        var stringValue = value as string;

        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(stringValue) && s_toValue.ContainsKey(stringValue))
        {
            return s_toValue[stringValue];
        }

        return base.ConvertFrom(context, culture, value);
    }
}

}