My solution, not using boost:
#ifndef EN2STR_HXX_
#define EN2STR_HXX_
#define MAKE_STRING_1(str ) #str
#define MAKE_STRING_2(str, ...) #str, MAKE_STRING_1(__VA_ARGS__)
#define MAKE_STRING_3(str, ...) #str, MAKE_STRING_2(__VA_ARGS__)
#define MAKE_STRING_4(str, ...) #str, MAKE_STRING_3(__VA_ARGS__)
#define MAKE_STRING_5(str, ...) #str, MAKE_STRING_4(__VA_ARGS__)
#define MAKE_STRING_6(str, ...) #str, MAKE_STRING_5(__VA_ARGS__)
#define MAKE_STRING_7(str, ...) #str, MAKE_STRING_6(__VA_ARGS__)
#define MAKE_STRING_8(str, ...) #str, MAKE_STRING_7(__VA_ARGS__)
#define PRIMITIVE_CAT(a, b) a##b
#define MAKE_STRING(N, ...) PRIMITIVE_CAT(MAKE_STRING_, N) (__VA_ARGS__)
#define PP_RSEQ_N() 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0
#define PP_ARG_N(_1,_2,_3,_4,_5,_6,_7,_8,N,...) N
#define PP_NARG_(...) PP_ARG_N(__VA_ARGS__)
#define PP_NARG( ...) PP_NARG_(__VA_ARGS__,PP_RSEQ_N())
#define MAKE_ENUM(NAME, ...) enum NAME { __VA_ARGS__ }; \
struct NAME##_str { \
static const char * get(const NAME et) { \
static const char* NAME##Str[] = { \
MAKE_STRING(PP_NARG(__VA_ARGS__), __VA_ARGS__) }; \
return NAME##Str[et]; \
} \
};
#endif /* EN2STR_HXX_ */
And here is how to use it
int main()
{
MAKE_ENUM(pippo, pp1, pp2, pp3,a,s,d);
pippo c = d;
cout << pippo_str::get(c) << "\n";
return 0;
}