How can I cast int to enum?

Question

How can an int be cast to an enum in C#?

Answer 1

You just do like below:

int intToCast = 1;
TargetEnum f = (TargetEnum) intToCast ;

To make sure that you only cast the right values ​​and that you can throw an exception otherwise:

int intToCast = 1;
if (Enum.IsDefined(typeof(TargetEnum), intToCast ))
{
    TargetEnum target = (TargetEnum)intToCast ;
}
else
{
   // Throw your exception.
}

Note that using IsDefined is costly and even more than just casting, so it depends on your implementation to decide to use it or not.

Answer 2

From an int:

YourEnum foo = (YourEnum)yourInt;

From a string:

YourEnum foo = (YourEnum) Enum.Parse(typeof(YourEnum), yourString);

// The foo.ToString().Contains(",") check is necessary for enumerations marked with an [Flags] attribute
if (!Enum.IsDefined(typeof(YourEnum), foo) && !foo.ToString().Contains(","))
{
    throw new InvalidOperationException($"{yourString} is not an underlying value of the YourEnum enumeration.")
}

Update:

From number you can also

YourEnum foo = (YourEnum)Enum.ToObject(typeof(YourEnum) , yourInt);

Answer 3

For numeric values, this is safer as it will return an object no matter what:

public static class EnumEx
{
    static public bool TryConvert<T>(int value, out T result)
    {
        result = default(T);
        bool success = Enum.IsDefined(typeof(T), value);
        if (success)
        {
            result = (T)Enum.ToObject(typeof(T), value);
        }
        return success;
    }
}

Answer 4

I don't know anymore where I get the part of this enum extension, but it is from stackoverflow. I am sorry for this! But I took this one and modified it for enums with Flags. For enums with Flags I did this:

  public static class Enum<T> where T : struct
  {
     private static readonly IEnumerable<T> All = Enum.GetValues(typeof (T)).Cast<T>();
     private static readonly Dictionary<int, T> Values = All.ToDictionary(k => Convert.ToInt32(k));

     public static T? CastOrNull(int value)
     {
        T foundValue;
        if (Values.TryGetValue(value, out foundValue))
        {
           return foundValue;
        }

        // For enums with Flags-Attribut.
        try
        {
           bool isFlag = typeof(T).GetCustomAttributes(typeof(FlagsAttribute), false).Length > 0;
           if (isFlag)
           {
              int existingIntValue = 0;

              foreach (T t in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)))
              {
                 if ((value & Convert.ToInt32(t)) > 0)
                 {
                    existingIntValue |= Convert.ToInt32(t);
                 }
              }
              if (existingIntValue == 0)
              {
                 return null;
              }

              return (T)(Enum.Parse(typeof(T), existingIntValue.ToString(), true));
           }
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
           return null;
        }
        return null;
     }
  }

Example:

[Flags]
public enum PetType
{
  None = 0, Dog = 1, Cat = 2, Fish = 4, Bird = 8, Reptile = 16, Other = 32
};

integer values 
1=Dog;
13= Dog | Fish | Bird;
96= Other;
128= Null;

Answer 5

The following is a slightly better extension method:

public static string ToEnumString<TEnum>(this int enumValue)
{
    var enumString = enumValue.ToString();
    if (Enum.IsDefined(typeof(TEnum), enumValue))
    {
        enumString = ((TEnum) Enum.ToObject(typeof (TEnum), enumValue)).ToString();
    }
    return enumString;
}

Answer 6

It can help you to convert any input data to user desired enum. Suppose you have an enum like below which by default int. Please add a Default value at first of your enum. Which is used at helpers medthod when there is no match found with input value.

public enum FriendType  
{
    Default,
    Audio,
    Video,
    Image
}

public static class EnumHelper<T>
{
    public static T ConvertToEnum(dynamic value)
    {
        var result = default(T);
        var tempType = 0;

        //see Note below
        if (value != null &&
            int.TryParse(value.ToString(), out  tempType) && 
            Enum.IsDefined(typeof(T), tempType))
        {
            result = (T)Enum.ToObject(typeof(T), tempType); 
        }
        return result;
    }
}

N.B: Here I try to parse value into int, because enum is by default int If you define enum like this which is byte type.

public enum MediaType : byte
{
    Default,
    Audio,
    Video,
    Image
} 

You need to change parsing at helper method from

int.TryParse(value.ToString(), out  tempType)

to

byte.TryParse(value.ToString(), out tempType)

I check my method for following inputs

EnumHelper<FriendType>.ConvertToEnum(null);
EnumHelper<FriendType>.ConvertToEnum("");
EnumHelper<FriendType>.ConvertToEnum("-1");
EnumHelper<FriendType>.ConvertToEnum("6");
EnumHelper<FriendType>.ConvertToEnum("");
EnumHelper<FriendType>.ConvertToEnum("2");
EnumHelper<FriendType>.ConvertToEnum(-1);
EnumHelper<FriendType>.ConvertToEnum(0);
EnumHelper<FriendType>.ConvertToEnum(1);
EnumHelper<FriendType>.ConvertToEnum(9);

sorry for my english