Enum ToString with user friendly strings

Question

My enum consists of the following values:

private enum PublishStatusses{
    NotCompleted,
    Completed,
    Error
};

I want to be able to

Answer 1

The easiest solution here is to use a custom extension method (in .NET 3.5 at least - you can just convert it into a static helper method for earlier framework versions).

public static string ToCustomString(this PublishStatusses value)
{
    switch(value)
    {
        // Return string depending on value.
    }
    return null;
}

I am assuming here that you want to return something other than the actual name of the enum value (which you can get by simply calling ToString).

Answer 2

According to this documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/pt-br/dotnet/api/system.enum.tostring?view=netframework-4.8

It is possible to just convert a enumerator to string using a format like this:

public enum Example
{
    Example1,
    Example2
}

Console.WriteLine(Example.Example1.ToString("g"));

//Outputs: "Example1"

You can see all the possible formats in this link: https://docs.microsoft.com/pt-br/dotnet/api/system.string?view=netframework-4.8

Answer 3

In case you just want to add a whitespace between the words, it is as simple as

string res = Regex.Replace(PublishStatusses.NotCompleted, "[A-Z]", " $0").Trim();

Answer 4

I do this with extension methods:

public enum ErrorLevel
{
  None,
  Low,
  High,
  SoylentGreen
}

public static class ErrorLevelExtensions
{
  public static string ToFriendlyString(this ErrorLevel me)
  {
    switch(me)
    {
      case ErrorLevel.None:
        return "Everything is OK";
      case ErrorLevel.Low:
        return "SNAFU, if you know what I mean.";
      case ErrorLevel.High:
        return "Reaching TARFU levels";
      case ErrorLevel.SoylentGreen:
        return "ITS PEOPLE!!!!";
      default:
        return "Get your damn dirty hands off me you FILTHY APE!";
    }
  }
}

Answer 5

Some other more primitive options that avoid classes/reference types:

• Array method
• Nested struct method

Array method

private struct PublishStatusses
{
    public static string[] Desc = {
        "Not Completed",
        "Completed",
        "Error"
    };

    public enum Id
    {
        NotCompleted = 0,
        Completed,
        Error
    };
}

Usage

string desc = PublishStatusses.Desc[(int)PublishStatusses.Id.Completed];

Nested struct method

private struct PublishStatusses
{
    public struct NotCompleted
    {
        public const int Id = 0;
        public const string Desc = "Not Completed";
    }

    public struct Completed
    {
        public const int Id = 1;
        public const string Desc = "Completed";
    }

    public struct Error
    {
        public const int Id = 2;
        public const string Desc = "Error";
    }            
}

Usage

int id = PublishStatusses.NotCompleted.Id;
string desc = PublishStatusses.NotCompleted.Desc;

---

Update (03/09/2018)

A hybrid of Extension Methods and the first technique above.

I prefer enums to be defined where they "belong" (closest to their source of origin and not in some common, global namespace).

namespace ViewModels
{
    public class RecordVM
    {
        //public enum Enum { Minutes, Hours }
        public struct Enum
        {
            public enum Id { Minutes, Hours }
            public static string[] Name = { "Minute(s)", "Hour(s)" };
        }
    }
}

The extension method seems suited for a common area, and the "localized" definition of the enum now makes the extension method more verbose.

namespace Common
{
    public static class EnumExtensions
    {
        public static string Name(this RecordVM.Enum.Id id)
        {
            return RecordVM.Enum.Name[(int)id];
        }
    }   
}

A usage example of the enum and it's extension method.

namespace Views
{
    public class RecordView 
    {
        private RecordDataFieldList<string, string> _fieldUnit;

        public RecordView()
        {
            _fieldUnit.List = new IdValueList<string, string>
            {            
                new ListItem<string>((int)RecordVM.Enum.Id.Minutes, RecordVM.Enum.Id.Minutes.Name()),
                new ListItem<string>((int)RecordVM.Enum.Id.Hours, RecordVM.Enum.Id.Hours.Name())
            };
        }

        private void Update()
        {    
            RecordVM.Enum.Id eId = DetermineUnit();

            _fieldUnit.Input.Text = _fieldUnit.List.SetSelected((int)eId).Value;
        }
    }
}

---

Note: I actually decided to eliminate the Enum wrapper (and Name array), since it's best that the name strings come from a resource (ie config file or DB) instead of being hard-coded, and because I ended up putting the extension method in the ViewModels namespace (just in a different, "CommonVM.cs" file). Plus the whole .Id thing becomes distracting and cumbersome.

namespace ViewModels
{
    public class RecordVM
    {
        public enum Enum { Minutes, Hours }
        //public struct Enum
        //{
        //    public enum Id { Minutes, Hours }
        //    public static string[] Name = { "Minute(s)", "Hour(s)" };
        //}
    }
}

CommonVM.cs

//namespace Common
namespace ViewModels
{
    public static class EnumExtensions
    {
        public static string Name(this RecordVM.Enum id)
        {
            //return RecordVM.Enum.Name[(int)id];
            switch (id)
            {
                case RecordVM.Enum.Minutes: return "Minute(s)";                    
                case RecordVM.Enum.Hours: return "Hour(s)";
                default: return null;
            }
        }
    }   
}

A usage example of the enum and it's extension method.

namespace Views
{
    public class RecordView 
    {
        private RecordDataFieldList<string, string> _fieldUnit

        public RecordView()
        {
            _fieldUnit.List = new IdValueList<string, string>
            {            
                new ListItem<string>((int)RecordVM.Enum.Id.Minutes, RecordVM.Enum.Id.Minutes.Name()),
                new ListItem<string>((int)RecordVM.Enum.Id.Hours, RecordVM.Enum.Id.Hours.Name())
            };
        }

        private void Update()
        {    
            RecordVM.Enum eId = DetermineUnit();

            _fieldUnit.Input.Text = _fieldUnit.List.SetSelected((int)eId).Value;
        }
    }
}

Answer 6

You can use Humanizer package with Humanize Enums possiblity. An eaxample:

enum PublishStatusses
{
    [Description("Custom description")]
    NotCompleted,
    AlmostCompleted,
    Error
};

then you can use Humanize extension method on enum directly:

var st1 = PublishStatusses.NotCompleted;
var str1 = st1.Humanize(); // will result in Custom description

var st2 = PublishStatusses.AlmostCompleted;
var str2 = st2.Humanize(); // will result in Almost completed (calculated automaticaly)