How to get the Display Name Attribute of an Enum member via MVC razor code?

Question

I\'ve got a property in my model called \"Promotion\" that its type is a flag enum called \"UserPromotion\". Members of my enum have display attributes set as follows:

Answer 1

Based on previous answers I've created this comfortable helper to support all DisplayAttribute properties in a readable way:

public static class EnumExtensions
    {
        public static DisplayAttributeValues GetDisplayAttributeValues(this Enum enumValue)
        {
            var displayAttribute = enumValue.GetType().GetMember(enumValue.ToString()).First().GetCustomAttribute<DisplayAttribute>();

            return new DisplayAttributeValues(enumValue, displayAttribute);
        }

        public sealed class DisplayAttributeValues
        {
            private readonly Enum enumValue;
            private readonly DisplayAttribute displayAttribute;

            public DisplayAttributeValues(Enum enumValue, DisplayAttribute displayAttribute)
            {
                this.enumValue = enumValue;
                this.displayAttribute = displayAttribute;
            }

            public bool? AutoGenerateField => this.displayAttribute?.GetAutoGenerateField();
            public bool? AutoGenerateFilter => this.displayAttribute?.GetAutoGenerateFilter();
            public int? Order => this.displayAttribute?.GetOrder();
            public string Description => this.displayAttribute != null ? this.displayAttribute.GetDescription() : string.Empty;
            public string GroupName => this.displayAttribute != null ? this.displayAttribute.GetGroupName() : string.Empty;
            public string Name => this.displayAttribute != null ? this.displayAttribute.GetName() : this.enumValue.ToString();
            public string Prompt => this.displayAttribute != null ? this.displayAttribute.GetPrompt() : string.Empty;
            public string ShortName => this.displayAttribute != null ? this.displayAttribute.GetShortName() : this.enumValue.ToString();
        }
    }

Answer 2

I'm sorry to do this, but I couldn't use any of the other answers as-is and haven't time to duke it out in the comments.

Uses C# 6 syntax.

static class EnumExtensions
{
    /// returns the localized Name, if a [Display(Name="Localised Name")] attribute is applied to the enum member
    /// returns null if there isnt an attribute
    public static string DisplayNameOrEnumName(this Enum value)
    // => value.DisplayNameOrDefault() ?? value.ToString()
    {
        // More efficient form of ^ based on http://stackoverflow.com/a/17034624/11635
        var enumType = value.GetType();
        var enumMemberName = Enum.GetName(enumType, value);
        return enumType
            .GetEnumMemberAttribute<DisplayAttribute>(enumMemberName)
            ?.GetName() // Potentially localized
            ?? enumMemberName; // Or fall back to the enum name
    }

    /// returns the localized Name, if a [Display] attribute is applied to the enum member
    /// returns null if there is no attribute
    public static string DisplayNameOrDefault(this Enum value) =>
        value.GetEnumMemberAttribute<DisplayAttribute>()?.GetName();

    static TAttribute GetEnumMemberAttribute<TAttribute>(this Enum value) where TAttribute : Attribute =>
        value.GetType().GetEnumMemberAttribute<TAttribute>(value.ToString());

    static TAttribute GetEnumMemberAttribute<TAttribute>(this Type enumType, string enumMemberName) where TAttribute : Attribute =>
        enumType.GetMember(enumMemberName).Single().GetCustomAttribute<TAttribute>();
}

Answer 3

One liner - Fluent syntax

public static class Extensions
{
    /// <summary>
    ///     A generic extension method that aids in reflecting 
    ///     and retrieving any attribute that is applied to an `Enum`.
    /// </summary>
    public static TAttribute GetAttribute<TAttribute>(this Enum enumValue) 
            where TAttribute : Attribute
    {
        return enumValue.GetType()
                        .GetMember(enumValue.ToString())
                        .First()
                        .GetCustomAttribute<TAttribute>();
    }
}

---

Example

public enum Season 
{
   [Display(Name = "It's autumn")]
   Autumn,

   [Display(Name = "It's winter")]
   Winter,

   [Display(Name = "It's spring")]
   Spring,

   [Display(Name = "It's summer")]
   Summer
}

public class Foo 
{
    public Season Season = Season.Summer;

    public void DisplayName()
    {
        var seasonDisplayName = Season.GetAttribute<DisplayAttribute>();
        Console.WriteLine("Which season is it?");
        Console.WriteLine (seasonDisplayName.Name);
    } 
}

---

Output

Which season is it?
It's summer

Answer 4

I want to contribute with culture-dependent GetDisplayName enum extension. Hope this will be usefull for anyone googling this answer like me previously:

"standart" way as Aydin Adn and Todd mentioned:

    public static string GetDisplayName(this Enum enumValue)
    {
        return enumValue
            .GetType()
            .GetMember(enumValue.ToString())
            .First()
            .GetCustomAttribute<DisplayAttribute>()
            .GetName();
    }

"Culture-dependent" way:

    public static string GetDisplayName(this Enum enumValue, CultureInfo ci)
    {
        var displayAttr = enumValue
            .GetType()
            .GetMember(enumValue.ToString())
            .First()
            .GetCustomAttribute<DisplayAttribute>();

        var resMan = displayAttr.ResourceType?.GetProperty(@"ResourceManager", BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.NonPublic).GetValue(null, null) as ResourceManager;

        return resMan?.GetString(displayAttr.Name, ci) ?? displayAttr.GetName();
    }

Answer 5

combining all edge-cases together from above:

• enum members with base object members' names (Equals, ToString)
• optional Display attribute

here is my code:

public enum Enum
{
    [Display(Name = "What a weird name!")]
    ToString,

    Equals
}

public static class EnumHelpers
{
    public static string GetDisplayName(this Enum enumValue)
    {
        var enumType = enumValue.GetType();

        return enumType
                .GetMember(enumValue.ToString())
                .Where(x => x.MemberType == MemberTypes.Field && ((FieldInfo)x).FieldType == enumType)
                .First()
                .GetCustomAttribute<DisplayAttribute>()?.Name ?? enumValue.ToString();
    }
}

void Main()
{
    Assert.Equals("What a weird name!", Enum.ToString.GetDisplayName());
    Assert.Equals("Equals", Enum.Equals.GetDisplayName());
}

Answer 6

Using MVC5 you could use:

public enum UserPromotion
{
   None = 0x0,

   [Display(Name = "Send Job Offers By Mail")]
   SendJobOffersByMail = 0x1,

   [Display(Name = "Send Job Offers By Sms")]
   SendJobOffersBySms = 0x2,

   [Display(Name = "Send Other Stuff By Sms")]
   SendPromotionalBySms = 0x4,

   [Display(Name = "Send Other Stuff By Mail")]
   SendPromotionalByMail = 0x8
}

then if you want to create a dropdown selector you can use:

@Html.EnumDropdownListFor(expression: model => model.PromotionSelector, optionLabel: "Select")