Linking enum value with localized string resource

Question

Related: Get enum from enum attribute

I want the most maintainable way of binding an enumeration and it\'s associated localized string values to something.

Answer 1

I do mapping to resourse in the following way: 1. Define a class StringDescription with ctor getting 2 parameters (type of resourse and it's name)

[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Field, AllowMultiple = false)]
class StringDescriptionAttribute : Attribute
{
    private string _name;
    public StringDescriptionAttribute(string name)
    {
        _name = name;
    }

    public StringDescriptionAttribute(Type resourseType, string name)
    {
            _name = new ResourceManager(resourseType).GetString(name);

    }
    public string Name { get { return _name; } }
}

2. Create a resourse file for either culture (for example WebTexts.resx and Webtexts.ru.resx). Let is be colours Red, Green, etc...

3. Define enum:

   enum Colour{ [StringDescription(typeof(WebTexts),"Red")] Red=1 , [StringDescription(typeof(WebTexts), "Green")] Green = 2, [StringDescription(typeof(WebTexts), "Blue")] Blue = 3, [StringDescription("Antracit with mad dark circles")] AntracitWithMadDarkCircles

   }

4. Define a static method getting resource description via reflection

   public static string GetStringDescription(Enum en) {

       var enumValueName = Enum.GetName(en.GetType(),en);
   
       FieldInfo fi = en.GetType().GetField(enumValueName);
   
       var attr = (StringDescriptionAttribute)fi.GetCustomAttribute(typeof(StringDescriptionAttribute));
   
       return attr != null ? attr.Name : "";
   }
   

5. Eat :

   Colour col; col = Colour.Red; Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = new System.Globalization.CultureInfo("en-US");

       var ListOfColors = typeof(Colour).GetEnumValues().Cast().Select(p => new { Id = p, Decr = GetStringDescription(p) }).ToList();
   
       foreach (var listentry in ListOfColors)
           Debug.WriteLine(listentry.Id + " " + listentry.Decr);