Databinding an enum property to a ComboBox in WPF

Question

As an example take the following code:

public enum ExampleEnum { FooBar, BarFoo }

public class ExampleClass : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
    private ExampleEn         


        

Answer 1

You can create a custom markup extension.

Example of usage:

enum Status
{
    [Description("Available.")]
    Available,
    [Description("Not here right now.")]
    Away,
    [Description("I don't have time right now.")]
    Busy
}

At the top of your XAML:

    xmlns:my="clr-namespace:namespace_to_enumeration_extension_class

and then...

<ComboBox 
    ItemsSource="{Binding Source={my:Enumeration {x:Type my:Status}}}" 
    DisplayMemberPath="Description" 
    SelectedValue="{Binding CurrentStatus}"  
    SelectedValuePath="Value"  /> 

And the implementation...

public class EnumerationExtension : MarkupExtension
  {
    private Type _enumType;


    public EnumerationExtension(Type enumType)
    {
      if (enumType == null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException("enumType");

      EnumType = enumType;
    }

    public Type EnumType
    {
      get { return _enumType; }
      private set
      {
        if (_enumType == value)
          return;

        var enumType = Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(value) ?? value;

        if (enumType.IsEnum == false)
          throw new ArgumentException("Type must be an Enum.");

        _enumType = value;
      }
    }

    public override object ProvideValue(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
    {
      var enumValues = Enum.GetValues(EnumType);

      return (
        from object enumValue in enumValues
        select new EnumerationMember{
          Value = enumValue,
          Description = GetDescription(enumValue)
        }).ToArray();
    }

    private string GetDescription(object enumValue)
    {
      var descriptionAttribute = EnumType
        .GetField(enumValue.ToString())
        .GetCustomAttributes(typeof (DescriptionAttribute), false)
        .FirstOrDefault() as DescriptionAttribute;


      return descriptionAttribute != null
        ? descriptionAttribute.Description
        : enumValue.ToString();
    }

    public class EnumerationMember
    {
      public string Description { get; set; }
      public object Value { get; set; }
    }
  }