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Generic Enum Helper Class

5/2/2008 2:15:05 PM

This is another installment in my recent "Late Pass" series.  I've been working with enums a lot lately and as I usually do in my spare time, I visit http://www.dotnetkicks.com to read up on cool stuff related to technology I am currently using.  I'm wanting to bind the contents of the enum to a dropdown / radiobutton list.  The first article I came across seemed like it would work.  That was until I stumbled upon this article by Christopher Bennage.  It's short and sweet but really helpful.

A repost of the original code:

public static class Enum<T>
{
   public static T Parse(string value)
   {
      return (T) Enum.Parse(typeof (T), value);
   }

   public static IList<T> GetValues()
   {
      IList<T> list = new List<T>();

      foreach (var value in Enum.GetValues(typeof (T)))
         list.Add((T) value);

      return list;
   }
} 

Sample enum:

public enum DataProvider
{
   SqlServer = 1,
   Access = 2,
   MySql = 3,
   Oracle = 4
} 

Let's bind those values to a dropdownlist and let our users choose:

private void InitializeDataProviderDropDownList()
{
   selectDataProvider.DataSource = Enum<DataProvider>.GetValues();
   selectDataProvider.DataBind();
} 

Let's add a button and process the selected value:

DataProvider dataProvider = Enum<DataProvider>.Parse(selectDataProvider.SelectedValue);

switch (dataProvider)
{
   case DataProvider.Access:
      Response.Write("Access");
      break;

   case DataProvider.MySql:
      Response.Write("MySql");
      break;

   case DataProvider.Oracle:
      Response.Write("Oracle");
      break;

   default:
      Response.Write("SqlServer");
      break;
} 

I realize that this is a stupid use of the functionality at-hand. By this I mean if the end-result were actually to Response.Write the SelectedValue I would be going about doing it the wrong way. This would be extremely useful for methods that take an enum as a parameter.  I'll definitely be using this in the future.

Easy.

C#, Code