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 answer, working on @user29964 's answer (which is by far the simplest and closest to a Enum) is

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

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

        public string Value
        {
            get { return _value; }
        }



        public static string GetStringValue(Enum Flagvalue)
        {
            Type type = Flagvalue.GetType();
            string[] flags = Flagvalue.ToString().Split(',').Select(x => x.Trim()).ToArray();
            List<string> values = new List<string>();

            for (int i = 0; i < flags.Length; i++)
            {

                FieldInfo fi = type.GetField(flags[i].ToString());

                StringValue[] attrs =
                   fi.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(StringValue),
                                           false) as StringValue[];
                if (attrs.Length > 0)
                {
                    values.Add(attrs[0].Value);
                }
            }
            return String.Join(",", values);

        }

usage

[Flags]
    public enum CompeteMetric
    {

        /// <summary>
        /// u
        /// </summary>
        [StringValue("u")]//Json mapping
        Basic_UniqueVisitors = 1 //Basic
             ,
        /// <summary>
        /// vi
        /// </summary>
        [StringValue("vi")]//json mapping
        Basic_Visits = 2// Basic
            ,
        /// <summary>
        /// rank
        /// </summary>
        [StringValue("rank")]//json mapping
        Basic_Rank = 4//Basic
 }

Example

        CompeteMetric metrics = CompeteMetric.Basic_Visits | CompeteMetric.Basic_Rank;
        string strmetrics = StringValue.GetStringValue(metrics);

this will return "vi,rank"

Answer 2

I wanted to post this as a comment to the post quoted below but couldn't because I don't have enough rep - so please don't down-vote. The code contained an error and I wanted to point this out to individuals trying to use this solution:

[TypeConverter(typeof(CustomEnumTypeConverter(typeof(MyEnum))]
public enum MyEnum
{
  // The custom type converter will use the description attribute
  [Description("A custom description")]
  ValueWithCustomDescription,
  // This will be exposed exactly.
  Exact
}

should be

[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
}

Brillant!

Answer 3

Option 1:

public sealed class FormsAuth
{
     public override string ToString{return "Forms Authtentication";}
}
public sealed class WindowsAuth
{
     public override string ToString{return "Windows Authtentication";}
}

public sealed class SsoAuth
{
     public override string ToString{return "SSO";}
}

and then

object auth = new SsoAuth(); //or whatever

//...
//...
// blablabla

DoSomethingWithTheAuth(auth.ToString());

Option 2:

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

public class MyClass
{
    private Dictionary<AuthenticationMethod, String> map = new Dictionary<AuthenticationMethod, String>();
    public MyClass()
    {
         map.Add(AuthenticationMethod.FORMS,"Forms Authentication");
         map.Add(AuthenticationMethod.WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION ,"Windows Authentication");
         map.Add(AuthenticationMethod.SINGLESIGNON ,"SSo Authentication");
    }
}

Answer 4

Unfortunately reflection to get attributes on enums is quite slow:

See this question: Anyone know a quick way to get to custom attributes on an enum value?

The .ToString() is quite slow on enums too.

You can write extension methods for enums though:

public static string GetName( this MyEnum input ) {
    switch ( input ) {
        case MyEnum.WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION:
            return "Windows";
        //and so on
    }
}

This isn't great, but will be quick and not require the reflection for attributes or field name.

---

C#6 Update

If you can use C#6 then the new nameof operator works for enums, so nameof(MyEnum.WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION) will be converted to "WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION" at compile time, making it the quickest way to get enum names.

Note that this will convert the explicit enum to an inlined constant, so it doesn't work for enums that you have in a variable. So:

nameof(AuthenticationMethod.FORMS) == "FORMS"

But...

var myMethod = AuthenticationMethod.FORMS;
nameof(myMethod) == "myMethod"

Answer 5

In your question you never said that you actually need the numeric value of the enum anywhere.

If you do not and just need an enum of type string (which is not an integral type so can not be a base of enum) here is a way:

    static class AuthenticationMethod
    {
        public static readonly string
            FORMS = "Forms",
            WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION = "WindowsAuthentication";
    }

you can use the same syntax as enum to reference it

if (bla == AuthenticationMethod.FORMS)

It will be a bit slower than with numeric values (comparing strings instead of numbers) but on the plus side it is not using reflection (slow) to access the string.

Answer 6

If I'm understanding you correctly, you can simply use .ToString() to retrieve the name of the enum from the value (Assuming it's already cast as the Enum); If you had the naked int (lets say from a database or something) you can first cast it to the enum. Both methods below will get you the enum name.

AuthenticationMethod myCurrentSetting = AuthenticationMethod.FORMS;
Console.WriteLine(myCurrentSetting); // Prints: FORMS
string name = Enum.GetNames(typeof(AuthenticationMethod))[(int)myCurrentSetting-1];
Console.WriteLine(name); // Prints: FORMS

Keep in mind though, the second technique assumes you are using ints and your index is 1 based (not 0 based). The function GetNames also is quite heavy by comparison, you are generating a whole array each time it's called. As you can see in the first technique, .ToString() is actually called implicitly. Both of these are already mentioned in the answers of course, I'm just trying to clarify the differences between them.