Is there an easy way to convert a c# enum to a string, and back again?

Question

I need to convert a List of enums values to a single string to store in my db; then convert back again when I retrieve from the database.

Each enum's value is currently a simple integer, so it feels a bit overkill to create an extra table to deal with this.

So, in the example below, if the user selects Mother, Father and Sister, then the value stored in the database will be "0,1,3"

  public enum MyEnum
    {
        Mother = 0,
        Father = 1,
        Gran = 2,
        Sister = 3,
        Brother = 4
    }

I'm new to c#, so not sure if there is a nice out-the-box way to do this - I couldn't find anything obvious when google hunting!

Cheers in advance :) - L

score 10 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 27 '11 at 14:03

10

Enum's are explicitely able to be cast to/from integers

int value = (int)MyEnum.Mother;

and

   MyEnum value = (MyEnum)1;

For strings use ToString and Enum.Parse

string value = MyEnum.Mother.ToString();

and

MyEnum value = (MyEnum)Enum.Parse(typeof(MyEnum),"Mother");

answered Jan 27 '11 at 14:03

Jamiec

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Those woult be `int`'s, not `string`'s as requested. – Fredrik Mörk Jan 27 '11 at 14:04
@Fredrik But he also states how to convert to string? – Oskar Kjellin Jan 27 '11 at 14:08
@Oskar: That part wasn't there when I posted the comment, I think. Either way I think I actually misread the question a bit; this looks like it's pretty much what was asked for. – Fredrik Mörk Jan 27 '11 at 14:31

WraithNath · Answer 2 · 2011-01-27T14:15:32.290

4

If you change you enum values to:

[Flags]
public enum MyEnum
    {
        Mother = 1,
        Father = 2,
        Gran = 4,
        Sister = 8,
        Brother = 16,
    }

Then you could store Father and Gran as 6

Sister and Brother as 24 etc

by using binary numbers you should not get duplicate values by combining them

edited Jan 27 '11 at 14:15

answered Jan 27 '11 at 14:03

WraithNath

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Im interested how you can be a Sister & Brother at the same tim e:| – Jamiec Jan 27 '11 at 14:06
@Jamiec That has nothing to do with this as you do not know that selecting a value indicates that a person is that – Oskar Kjellin Jan 27 '11 at 14:06
Great - i'd forgotten about this technique! – laura Jan 27 '11 at 14:07
@Jamiec - Sister and Brother at the same time would be stored as 24. – WraithNath Jan 27 '11 at 14:18
@Jamiec - just realised what you meant! hermaphrodite-tastic – WraithNath Jan 27 '11 at 14:25

score 3 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

Just use ToString to convert to the name, and the use Enum.TryParse (or Enum.Parse if you're not on .NET 4) to convert back.

If you're wanting one enum field to contain multiple values (e.g MyEnum.Mother | MyEnum.Father), you'll need to convert that to a Flags enum, as @WraithNath suggested. Otherwise you're talking about storing each option separately (there's no way to store Mother and Father in the same field with your current setup).

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 27 '11 at 14:03

3

from your code it is

MyEnum a = MyEnum.Mother;
string thestring = a.ToString();
MyEnum b = (MyEnum) Enum.Parse(typeof(MyEnum), thestring);

answered Jan 27 '11 at 14:03

John Kenedy

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score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 27 '11 at 14:09

The following will convert back and forth between an array of Enum values via "0,1,3" as requested:

MyEnum[] selection = { MyEnum.Mother, MyEnum.Father, MyEnum.Sister };

string str = string.Join(",", selection.Cast<int>());

MyEnum[] enm = str.Split(',').Select(s => int.Parse(s)).Cast<MyEnum>().ToArray();

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 27 '11 at 14:04

1

String Equivelant

MyEnum value = MyEnum.Father;
value.ToString(); // prints Father

Parsing

(MyEnum)Enum.Parse(typeof(MyEnum), "Father"); // returns MyEnum.Father

answered Jan 27 '11 at 14:04

Ian

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LOL: I love it when that happens. Same comment on each other's answers. – Chris Pfohl Jan 27 '11 at 14:07

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jan 27 '11 at 14:05

Enums can be cast to and from integer values. That's probably your best bet.

If you really want to use strings, ToString will return "Mother" "Father" "Gran" etc. Casting back from a string would just be a function:

private MyEnum GetEnumValue(string fromDB)
{
    if( fromDB == "Mother" ) return MyEnum.Mother;
    else if( fromDB == "Father") return MyEnum.Father;
    //etc. etc.
}

EDIT: Ian's answer for casting back is the more "C#-ey" way of doing it, and is far more extensible (handles adding new values to the enum much more flexibly).

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 27 '11 at 14:07

Further to Jamiec's suggestion (which fits well for your need), if you need to defensively code your casting, try:

if (Enum.IsDefined(typeof(MyEnum), <your database value>))
{
    // Safe to convert your enumeration at this point:
    MyEnum value = (MyEnum)1;   
}

Is there an easy way to convert a c# enum to a string, and back again?

8 Answers8

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