Getting attributes of Enum's value

Question

I would like to know if it is possible to get attributes of the enum values and not of the enum itself? For example, suppose I have the following <

Answer 1

This should do what you need.

var enumType = typeof(FunkyAttributesEnum);
var memberInfos = enumType.GetMember(FunkyAttributesEnum.NameWithoutSpaces1.ToString());
var enumValueMemberInfo = memberInfos.FirstOrDefault(m => m.DeclaringType == enumType);
var valueAttributes = 
      enumValueMemberInfo.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);
var description = ((DescriptionAttribute)valueAttributes[0]).Description;

Answer 2

You can also define an enum value like Name_Without_Spaces, and when you want a description use Name_Without_Spaces.ToString().Replace('_', ' ') to replace the underscores with spaces.

Answer 3

If your enum contains a value like Equals you might bump into a few bugs using some extensions in a lot of answers here. This is because it is normally assumed that typeof(YourEnum).GetMember(YourEnum.Value) would return only one value, which is the MemberInfo of your enum. Here's a slightly safer version Adam Crawford's answer.

public static class AttributeExtensions
{
    #region Methods

    public static T GetAttribute<T>(this Enum enumValue) where T : Attribute
    {
        var type = enumValue.GetType();
        var memberInfo = type.GetMember(enumValue.ToString());
        var member = memberInfo.FirstOrDefault(m => m.DeclaringType == type);
        var attribute = Attribute.GetCustomAttribute(member, typeof(T), false);
        return attribute is T ? (T)attribute : null;
    }

    #endregion
}

Answer 4

And if you want the full list of names you can do something like

typeof (PharmacyConfigurationKeys).GetFields()
        .Where(x => x.GetCustomAttributes(false).Any(y => typeof(DescriptionAttribute) == y.GetType()))
        .Select(x => ((DescriptionAttribute)x.GetCustomAttributes(false)[0]).Description);

Answer 5

Get the dictionary from enum.

public static IDictionary<string, int> ToDictionary(this Type enumType)
{
    return Enum.GetValues(enumType)
    .Cast<object>()
    .ToDictionary(v => ((Enum)v).ToEnumDescription(), k => (int)k); 
}

Now call this like...

var dic = typeof(ActivityType).ToDictionary();

EnumDecription Ext Method

public static string ToEnumDescription(this Enum en) //ext method
{
    Type type = en.GetType();
    MemberInfo[] memInfo = type.GetMember(en.ToString());
    if (memInfo != null && memInfo.Length > 0)
    {
        object[] attrs = memInfo[0].GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);
        if (attrs != null && attrs.Length > 0)
            return ((DescriptionAttribute)attrs[0]).Description;
    }
    return en.ToString();
}

public enum ActivityType
{
    [Description("Drip Plan Email")]
    DripPlanEmail = 1,
    [Description("Modification")]
    Modification = 2,
    [Description("View")]
    View = 3,
    [Description("E-Alert Sent")]
    EAlertSent = 4,
    [Description("E-Alert View")]
    EAlertView = 5
}

Answer 6

I this answer to setup a combo box from an enum attributes which was great.

I then needed to code the reverse so that I can get the selection from the box and return the enum in the correct type.

I also modified the code to handle the case where an attribute was missing

For the benefits of the next person, here is my final solution

public static class Program
{
   static void Main(string[] args)
    {
       // display the description attribute from the enum
       foreach (Colour type in (Colour[])Enum.GetValues(typeof(Colour)))
       {
            Console.WriteLine(EnumExtensions.ToName(type));
       }

       // Get the array from the description
       string xStr = "Yellow";
       Colour thisColour = EnumExtensions.FromName<Colour>(xStr);

       Console.ReadLine();
    }

   public enum Colour
   {
       [Description("Colour Red")]
       Red = 0,

       [Description("Colour Green")]
       Green = 1,

       [Description("Colour Blue")]
       Blue = 2,

       Yellow = 3
   }
}

public static class EnumExtensions
{

    // This extension method is broken out so you can use a similar pattern with 
    // other MetaData elements in the future. This is your base method for each.
    public static T GetAttribute<T>(this Enum value) where T : Attribute
    {
        var type = value.GetType();
        var memberInfo = type.GetMember(value.ToString());
        var attributes = memberInfo[0].GetCustomAttributes(typeof(T), false);

        // check if no attributes have been specified.
        if (((Array)attributes).Length > 0)
        {
            return (T)attributes[0];
        }
        else
        {
            return null;
        }
    }

    // This method creates a specific call to the above method, requesting the
    // Description MetaData attribute.
    public static string ToName(this Enum value)
    {
        var attribute = value.GetAttribute<DescriptionAttribute>();
        return attribute == null ? value.ToString() : attribute.Description;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Find the enum from the description attribute.
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
    /// <param name="desc"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static T FromName<T>(this string desc) where T : struct
    {
        string attr;
        Boolean found = false;
        T result = (T)Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)).GetValue(0);

        foreach (object enumVal in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)))
        {
            attr = ((Enum)enumVal).ToName();

            if (attr == desc)
            {
                result = (T)enumVal;
                found = true;
                break;
            }
        }

        if (!found)
        {
            throw new Exception();
        }

        return result;
    }
}

}