How to bind a custom Enum description to a DataGrid

Question

Problem: I have an enumerated type which has description tags in the following style: [URL=\"http://xml.indelv.com/data-binding-enum.html\"]description tag tutorial[/URL] . I ha

Answer 1

Wrap them up on the fly and subtly change your handling of the SelectedItem (or whatever you are using)
My example uses the already present Description attribute.

public class DescriptiveEnum<T> where T: struct
{
    private static readonly Dictionary<T,string> descriptions 
        = new Dictionary<T,string>();

    static DescriptiveEnum()
    {
        foreach (FieldInfo field in
            typeof(T).GetFields(BindingFlags.Static 
            | BindingFlags.GetField | BindingFlags.Public))
        {
        descriptions.Add((T)field.GetRawConstantValue(),
            LookupName(field));         
        }
    }

    public readonly T Value;

    public DescriptiveEnum(T value)
    {
        this.Value = value;     
    }

    public override string ToString()
    {
        string s;
        if (!descriptions.TryGetValue(this.Value, out s))
        {           
        // fall back for non declared fields
        s = this.Value.ToString();  
        descriptions[this.Value] = s;
        }
        return s;
    }

    private static string LookupName(FieldInfo field)        
    {
        object[] all = field.GetCustomAttributes(
             typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);
        if (all.Length == 0)
            return field.Name; // fall back
        else
            return ((DescriptionAttribute)all[0])
                .Description; // only one needed
    }   

    public static BindingList<DescriptiveEnum<T>> Make(
        IEnumerable<T> source)
    {
        var list = new BindingList<DescriptiveEnum<T>>();
        foreach (var x in source)
        list.Add(new DescriptiveEnum<T>(x));
        return list;
    }
}

example usage:

public enum Foo
{
    [Description("flibble")]
    Bar,
    [Description("wobble")]
    Baz,
    // none present, will use the name
    Bat

}

Form f = new Form();
f.Controls.Add(new ListBox() 
{
    Dock = DockStyle.Fill,
    DataSource = DescriptiveEnum<Foo>.Make(
       new Foo[] { Foo.Bar, Foo.Baz, Foo.Bat }),
});
Application.Run(f);