One day I needed to display a label based on the value of one Enum
. So I did like every time and I used the Description
attribute to define some nice labels:
using System.ComponentModel;
public enum NatureType
{
Ouverture,
Modification,
[Description("Déblocage")]
Deblocage,
[Description("Alerte 3 mois")]
Alerte3Mois,
[Description("Alerte 6 mois")]
Alerte6Mois
}
Then I copied the rather complicated code that we always been using to read this description attribute. It's a simple extension method, which is a generic method, and which uses some reflection. As I said, a simple block of code that return the description associated to an enum value or default to .ToString()
for values without a proper Description
attribute:
public static string GetCaption(this Enum value)
{
var type = value.GetType();
var member = type.GetMember(value.ToString());
if ((member != null && member.Length > 0))
{
var attributes = member[0].GetCustomAttributes(typeof(System.ComponentModel.DescriptionAttribute), false);
if ((attributes != null && attributes.Count() > 0))
{
return ((System.ComponentModel.DescriptionAttribute)attributes.ElementAt(0)).Description;
}
}
return value.ToString();
}
Really nothing very complicated. Except to paste this method to the StringHelpers.cs file of my project.
But still, it doesn't cost anything to see if C# would have invented something even simpler or more practical lately. Except a Google Search "c# enum friendly name" + Tools + Past year.
Good news! There are people who worked on it. But unfortunately, nothing new:
I have a little time to spare so I try some new things:
public enum NatureType
{
Ouverture,
Modification,
Déblocage,
Alerte_3_mois,
Alerte_6_mois
}
Ideally, I just have to code a public override string ToString()
in order to replace underscores with spaces and I'm done!
But where the hell can I do that?
It doesn't matter, I should be able to try it with an extension method:
public static string ToString(this Enum value)
{
return value.ToString().Replace("_", " ");
}
Well, no :( My code compiles without causing an error, but then it's like this method doesn't exist! I set a breakpoint but I don't even get through and I still get the basic .ToString()
with underscores ???
That's not going to stop me. I could live with the underscores. Or I do it differently:
public static string ToCaption(this Enum value)
{
return value.ToString().Replace("_", " ");
}
I had to decide with .ToFriendlyName()
which seems more popular, but .ToCaption()
is shorter :)
So okay, that forces me to accept having accents in variable names (well, only in enum value names). But I think I'll use this method from now on, at least in my personal projects.
This post was originally published on blog.pagesd.info.
Cover illustration: Australian Shepherd babies - Jametlene Reskp
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