How to get right result of ToString() method in enum with two equal items

Question

I have enum

[Flags]
public enum MyEnum
{
   Item1 = 32768,
   Item2 = 65536,
   Item3 = 524288,
   Item4 = Item3
}

Results of ToString() operat

Answer 1

Firstly, I don't understand why you need two items with the same value. However, if you need the same enum values but want the different names later, perhaps try using the DescriptionAttribute in System.ComponentModel?

[Flags]
public enum MyEnum
{
   [DescriptionAttribute("Item1")]Item1 = 32768,
   [DescriptionAttribute("Item2")]Item2 = 65536,
   [DescriptionAttribute("Item3")]Item3 = 524288,
   [DescriptionAttribute("Item4")]Item4 = Item3
}

Then you could this method to get the description value back:

public string ValueOf(Enum value)
{
    FieldInfo fi = value.GetType().GetField(value.ToString());
    DescriptionAttribute[] attributes = (DescriptionAttribute[]) fi.GetCustomAttributes( typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);
    if (attributes.Length > 0)
    {
        return attributes[0].Description;
    }
    else
    {
        return value.ToString();
    }
}

I've not actually tried this out, so the MSDN quote @MarcinJuraszek posted might still apply here.

Source: http://blog.waynehartman.com/articles/84.aspx