Can we make a enum as a generic data type?

Question

Can we make a enum as a generic data type? If so please provide an example. Thanks in advance.

We are having many enums in our project which come under various category like the types of domestic meters, commercial meters etc, now instead of mapping the usual integar value to the name we were thinking of mapping the meter code with it. Hence I thought if the enums could be generic we could make classes of meter types and create generic enums. I hope it clear my question. — HotTester, Jan 28 '10 at 09:56

score 7 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:07

7

Enums cannot be made generic.

From MSDN:

An enumeration is a named constant whose underlying type is any integral type

See this SO answer for an alternative.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:07

Community

1
1

answered Jan 28 '10 at 09:48

Oded

489,969
99
883
1,009

The example given is great and maps what i was looking for. Thanks ! – HotTester Jan 29 '10 at 04:40

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 28 '10 at 09:49

2

No. Enums in C# have an integral base type (Int32 by default) but the items in it are always known at compile-time. There is simply no sensible way how generics might even fit into the concept of an enum.

answered Jan 28 '10 at 09:49

Joey

344,408
85
689
683

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 28 '10 at 09:57

1

You can try class enums.

answered Jan 28 '10 at 09:57

Arnis Lapsa

45,880
29
115
195

Thanks for the link. It really is the way i wanted to solution to be ... but to be frank its a lot complicated ! Can u share a less complicated example ? – HotTester Jan 28 '10 at 11:05
@HotTest probably not. All that stuff is necessary. – Arnis Lapsa Jan 28 '10 at 11:30

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 28 '10 at 09:50

0

You can pass an enum as a type parameter to a generic method whose constraints allow it, but the enum itself cannot be generic.

answered Jan 28 '10 at 09:50

Jay

56,361
10
99
123

Can we make a enum as a generic data type?

4 Answers4