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

Alternatively, you could do the following:

List<SelectListItem> selectListItems = new List<SelectListItem>();

    foreach (var item in typeof(PaymentTerm).GetEnumValues())
    {
        var type = item.GetType();
        var name = type.GetField(item.ToString()).GetCustomAttributesData().FirstOrDefault()?.NamedArguments.FirstOrDefault().TypedValue.Value.ToString();
        selectListItems.Add(new SelectListItem(name, type.Name));

    }

Answer 2

Here is code to get information from a Display attribute. It uses a generic method to retrieve the attribute. If the attribute is not found it converts the enum value to a string with pascal/camel case converted to title case (code obtained here)

public static class EnumHelper
{
    // Get the Name value of the Display attribute if the   
    // enum has one, otherwise use the value converted to title case.  
    public static string GetDisplayName<TEnum>(this TEnum value)
        where TEnum : struct, IConvertible
    {
        var attr = value.GetAttributeOfType<TEnum, DisplayAttribute>();
        return attr == null ? value.ToString().ToSpacedTitleCase() : attr.Name;
    }

    // Get the ShortName value of the Display attribute if the   
    // enum has one, otherwise use the value converted to title case.  
    public static string GetDisplayShortName<TEnum>(this TEnum value)
        where TEnum : struct, IConvertible
    {
        var attr = value.GetAttributeOfType<TEnum, DisplayAttribute>();
        return attr == null ? value.ToString().ToSpacedTitleCase() : attr.ShortName;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets an attribute on an enum field value
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="TEnum">The enum type</typeparam>
    /// <typeparam name="T">The type of the attribute you want to retrieve</typeparam>
    /// <param name="value">The enum value</param>
    /// <returns>The attribute of type T that exists on the enum value</returns>
    private static T GetAttributeOfType<TEnum, T>(this TEnum value)
        where TEnum : struct, IConvertible
        where T : Attribute
    {

        return value.GetType()
                    .GetMember(value.ToString())
                    .First()
                    .GetCustomAttributes(false)
                    .OfType<T>()
                    .LastOrDefault();
    }
}

And this is the extension method for strings for converting to title case:

    /// <summary>
    /// Converts camel case or pascal case to separate words with title case
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="s"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static string ToSpacedTitleCase(this string s)
    {
        //https://stackoverflow.com/a/155486/150342
        CultureInfo cultureInfo = Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture;
        TextInfo textInfo = cultureInfo.TextInfo;
        return textInfo
           .ToTitleCase(Regex.Replace(s, 
                        "([a-z](?=[A-Z0-9])|[A-Z](?=[A-Z][a-z]))", "$1 "));
    }

Answer 3

Here's the .NET Core version of AdamCrawford's answer, using System.Reflection.TypeExtensions;

public static class EnumHelper
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets an attribute on an enum field value
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T">The type of the attribute you want to retrieve</typeparam>
    /// <param name="enumVal">The enum value</param>
    /// <returns>The attribute of type T that exists on the enum value</returns>
    /// <example>string desc = myEnumVariable.GetAttributeOfType<DescriptionAttribute>().Description;</example>
    public static T GetAttributeOfType<T>(this Enum enumVal) where T : System.Attribute
    {
        var type = enumVal.GetType();
        var memInfo = type.GetMember(enumVal.ToString());
        IEnumerable<Attribute> attributes = memInfo[0].GetCustomAttributes(typeof(T), false);
        return (T)attributes?.ToArray()[0];
    }
}

Answer 4

Alternatively, you could do the following:

Dictionary<FunkyAttributesEnum, string> description = new Dictionary<FunkyAttributesEnum, string>()
    {
      { FunkyAttributesEnum.NameWithoutSpaces1, "Name With Spaces1" },
      { FunkyAttributesEnum.NameWithoutSpaces2, "Name With Spaces2" },
    };

And get the description with the following:

string s = description[FunkyAttributesEnum.NameWithoutSpaces1];

In my opinion this is a more efficient way of doing what you want to accomplish, as no reflection is needed..

Answer 5

Fluent one liner...

Here I'm using the DisplayAttribute which contains both the Name and Description properties.

public static DisplayAttribute GetDisplayAttributesFrom(this Enum enumValue, Type enumType)
{
    return enumType.GetMember(enumValue.ToString())
                   .First()
                   .GetCustomAttribute<DisplayAttribute>();
}

---

Example

public enum ModesOfTransport
{
    [Display(Name = "Driving",    Description = "Driving a car")]        Land,
    [Display(Name = "Flying",     Description = "Flying on a plane")]    Air,
    [Display(Name = "Sea cruise", Description = "Cruising on a dinghy")] Sea
}

void Main()
{
    ModesOfTransport TransportMode = ModesOfTransport.Sea;
    DisplayAttribute metadata = TransportMode.GetDisplayAttributesFrom(typeof(ModesOfTransport));
    Console.WriteLine("Name: {0} \nDescription: {1}", metadata.Name, metadata.Description);
}

---

Output

Name: Sea cruise 
Description: Cruising on a dinghy

Answer 6

Guys if it helps I will share with you my solution: Definition of Custom attribute:

    [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Field,AllowMultiple = false)]
public class EnumDisplayName : Attribute
{
    public string Name { get; private set; }
    public EnumDisplayName(string name)
    {
        Name = name;
    }
}

Now because I needed it inside of HtmlHelper definition of HtmlHelper Extension:

public static class EnumHelper
{
    public static string EnumDisplayName(this HtmlHelper helper,EPriceType priceType)
    {
        //Get every fields from enum
        var fields = priceType.GetType().GetFields();
        //Foreach field skipping 1`st fieldw which keeps currently sellected value
        for (int i = 0; i < fields.Length;i++ )
        {
            //find field with same int value
            if ((int)fields[i].GetValue(priceType) == (int)priceType)
            {
                //get attributes of found field
                var attributes = fields[i].GetCustomAttributes(false);
                if (attributes.Length > 0)
                {
                    //return name of found attribute
                    var retAttr = (EnumDisplayName)attributes[0];
                    return retAttr.Name;
                }
            }
        }
        //throw Error if not found
        throw new Exception("Błąd podczas ustalania atrybutów dla typu ceny allegro");
    }
}

Hope it helps