String representation of an Enum

Question

I have the following enumeration   public enum AuthenticationMethod       FORMS   1      WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION   2      SINGLESIGNON   3     The problem however is that I need the word  FORMS  when I ask for AuthenticationMethod FORMS and not the id 1   I have found the following solution for this problem  link    First I need to create a custom attribute called  StringValue    public class StringValue   System Attribute       private readonly string  value       public StringValue string value                 value   value             public string Value               get   return  value               Then I can add this attribute to my enumerator   public enum AuthenticationMethod        StringValue  FORMS        FORMS   1       StringValue  WINDOWS        WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION   2       StringValue  SSO        SINGLESIGNON   3     And of course I need something to retrieve that StringValue   public static class StringEnum       public static string GetStringValue Enum value                string output   null          Type type   value GetType               Check first in our cached results               Look for our  StringValueAttribute              in the field s custom attributes          FieldInfo fi   type GetField value ToString             StringValue   attrs              fi GetCustomAttributes typeof StringValue                                      false  as StringValue            if  attrs Length  gt  0                        output   attrs 0  Value                     return output            Good now I ve got the tools to get a string value for an enumerator  I can then use it like this   string valueOfAuthenticationMethod   StringEnum GetStringValue AuthenticationMethod FORMS     Okay now all of these work like a charm but I find it a whole lot of work  I was wondering if there is a better solution for this   I also tried something with a dictionary and static properties but that wasn t better either

User · Answer

Use method  Enum GetName Type MyEnumType   object enumvariable      as in  Assume Shipper is a defined Enum   Shipper x   Shipper FederalExpress  string s   Enum GetName typeof Shipper   x     There are a bunch of other static methods on the Enum class worth investigating too

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Enum GetName typeof MyEnum    int MyEnum FORMS  Enum GetName typeof MyEnum    int MyEnum WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION  Enum GetName typeof MyEnum    int MyEnum SINGLESIGNON    outputs are    FORMS    WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION    SINGLESIGNON

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I created a base class for creating string-valued enums in  NET  It is just one C  file that you can copy  amp  paste into your projects  or install via NuGet package named StringEnum   GitHub Repo   Intellisense will suggest the enum name if the class is annotated with the xml comment  lt completitionlist gt    Works in both C  and VB       Usage similar to a regular enum        lt completionlist cref  HexColor   gt   class HexColor   StringEnum lt HexColor gt        public static readonly HexColor Blue   Create   FF0000        public static readonly HexColor Green   Create   00FF00        public static readonly HexColor Red   Create   000FF               Static Parse Method     HexColor Parse   FF0000        gt  HexColor Red     HexColor Parse   ff0000   caseSensitive  false       gt  HexColor Red     HexColor Parse  invalid        gt  throws InvalidOperationException         Static TryParse method      HexColor TryParse   FF0000        gt  HexColor Red     HexColor TryParse   ff0000   caseSensitive  false       gt  HexColor Red     HexColor TryParse  invalid        gt  null         Parse and TryParse returns the preexistent instances     object ReferenceEquals HexColor Parse   FF0000    HexColor Red       gt  true         Conversion from your  StringEnum  to  string      string myString1   HexColor Red ToString         gt    FF0000      string myString2   HexColor Red       gt    FF0000   implicit cast    Instalation    Paste the following StringEnum base class to your project   latest version  Or install StringEnum NuGet package  which is based on  Net Standard 1 0 so it runs on  Net Core    1 0   Net Framework    4 5  Mono    4 6  etc             lt summary gt          Base class for creating string-valued enums in  NET  lt br  gt          Provides static Parse   and TryParse   methods and implicit cast to string           lt  summary gt           lt example gt            lt code gt          class Color   StringEnum  amp lt Color amp gt                        public static readonly Color Blue   Create  Blue                public static readonly Color Red   Create  Red                public static readonly Color Green   Create  Green                       lt  code gt           lt  example gt           lt typeparam name  T  gt The string-valued enum type   i e  class Color   StringEnum amp lt Color amp gt   lt  typeparam gt      public abstract class StringEnum lt T gt    IEquatable lt T gt  where T   StringEnum lt T gt   new                 protected string Value          private static Dictionary lt string  T gt  valueDict   new Dictionary lt string  T gt             protected static T Create string value                        if  value    null                  return null     the null-valued instance is null               var result   new T     Value   value                valueDict Add value  result               return result                     public static implicit operator string StringEnum lt T gt  enumValue    gt  enumValue Value          public override string ToString     gt  Value           public static bool operator    StringEnum lt T gt  o1  StringEnum lt T gt  o2    gt  o1  Value    o2  Value          public static bool operator    StringEnum lt T gt  o1  StringEnum lt T gt  o2    gt  o1  Value    o2  Value           public override bool Equals object other    gt  this Value Equals  other as T   Value     other as string            bool IEquatable lt T gt  Equals T other    gt  this Value Equals other Value           public override int GetHashCode     gt  Value GetHashCode                  lt summary gt              Parse the  lt paramref name  value   gt  specified and returns a valid  lt typeparamref name  T   gt  or else throws InvalidOperationException               lt  summary gt               lt param name  value  gt The string value representad by an instance of  lt typeparamref name  T   gt   Matches by string value  not by the member name  lt  param gt               lt param name  caseSensitive  gt If true  the strings must match case and takes O log n   False allows different case but is little bit slower  O n   lt  param gt          public static T Parse string value  bool caseSensitive   true                        var result   TryParse value  caseSensitive               if  result    null                  throw new InvalidOperationException  value    null    null        value          is not a valid  typeof T  Name                  return result                          lt summary gt              Parse the  lt paramref name  value   gt  specified and returns a valid  lt typeparamref name  T   gt  or else returns null               lt  summary gt               lt param name  value  gt The string value representad by an instance of  lt typeparamref name  T   gt   Matches by string value  not by the member name  lt  param gt               lt param name  caseSensitive  gt If true  the strings must match case  False allows different case but is slower  O n  lt  param gt          public static T TryParse string value  bool caseSensitive   true                        if  value    null  return null              if  valueDict Count    0  System Runtime CompilerServices RuntimeHelpers RunClassConstructor typeof T  TypeHandle      force static fields initialization             if  caseSensitive                                if  valueDict TryGetValue value  out T item                       return item                  else                     return null                            else                                  slower O n  case insensitive search                 return valueDict FirstOrDefault f   gt  f Key Equals value  StringComparison OrdinalIgnoreCase   Value                     Why Ordinal    gt  https   esmithy net 2007 10 15 why-stringcomparisonordinal-is-usually-the-right-choice

User · Answer

Option 1   public sealed class FormsAuth        public override string ToString return  Forms Authtentication      public sealed class WindowsAuth        public override string ToString return  Windows Authtentication       public sealed class SsoAuth        public override string ToString return  SSO        and then  object auth   new SsoAuth      or whatever                 blablabla  DoSomethingWithTheAuth auth ToString       Option 2   public enum AuthenticationMethod           FORMS   1          WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION   2          SINGLESIGNON   3    public class MyClass       private Dictionary lt AuthenticationMethod  String gt  map   new Dictionary lt AuthenticationMethod  String gt         public MyClass                  map Add AuthenticationMethod FORMS  Forms Authentication             map Add AuthenticationMethod WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION   Windows Authentication             map Add AuthenticationMethod SINGLESIGNON   SSo Authentication

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I use the Description attribute from the System ComponentModel namespace   Simply decorate the enum and then use this code to retrieve it   public static string GetDescription lt T gt  this object enumerationValue              where T   struct                       Type type   enumerationValue GetType                if   type IsEnum                                throw new ArgumentException  EnumerationValue must be of Enum type    enumerationValue                                 Tries to find a DescriptionAttribute for a potential friendly name               for the enum             MemberInfo   memberInfo   type GetMember enumerationValue ToString                 if  memberInfo    null  amp  amp  memberInfo Length  gt  0                                object   attrs   memberInfo 0  GetCustomAttributes typeof DescriptionAttribute   false                    if  attrs    null  amp  amp  attrs Length  gt  0                                          Pull out the description value                     return   DescriptionAttribute attrs 0   Description                                                If we have no description attribute  just return the ToString of the enum             return enumerationValue ToString                 As an example   public enum Cycle   int               Description  Daily Cycle       Daily   1     Weekly     Monthly     This code nicely caters for enums where you don t need a  Friendly name  and will return just the  ToString   of the enum

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I wanted to post this as a comment to the post quoted below but couldn t because I don t have enough rep - so please don t down-vote  The code contained an error and I wanted to point this out to individuals trying to use this solution     TypeConverter typeof CustomEnumTypeConverter typeof MyEnum    public enum MyEnum        The custom type converter will use the description attribute    Description  A custom description      ValueWithCustomDescription       This will be exposed exactly    Exact      should be    TypeConverter typeof CustomEnumTypeConverter lt MyEnum gt     public enum MyEnum        The custom type converter will use the description attribute    Description  A custom description      ValueWithCustomDescription        This will be exposed exactly    Exact     Brillant

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I really like Jakub   turc s answer  but it s shortcoming is that you cannot use it with a switch-case statement   Here s a slightly modified version of his answer that can be used with a switch statement   public sealed class AuthenticationMethod        region This code never needs to change      private readonly string  name      public readonly Values Value       private AuthenticationMethod Values value  String name           this  name   name          this Value   value             public override String ToString            return  name             endregion      public enum Values               Forms   1          Windows   2          SSN   3            public static readonly AuthenticationMethod FORMS   new AuthenticationMethod  Values Forms   FORMS        public static readonly AuthenticationMethod WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION   new AuthenticationMethod  Values Windows   WINDOWS        public static readonly AuthenticationMethod SINGLESIGNON   new AuthenticationMethod  Values SSN   SSN        So you get all of the benefits of Jakub   turc s answer  plus we can use it with a switch statement like so   var authenticationMethodVariable   AuthenticationMethod FORMS      Set the  enum  value we want to use  var methodName   authenticationMethodVariable ToString             Get the user-friendly  name  of the  enum  value      Perform logic based on which  enum  value was chosen  switch  authenticationMethodVariable Value        case authenticationMethodVariable Values Forms     Do something         break      case authenticationMethodVariable Values Windows     Do something         break      case authenticationMethodVariable Values SSN     Do something         break

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Here is yet another way to accomplish the task of associating strings with enums   struct DATABASE       public enum enums  NOTCONNECTED  CONNECTED  ERROR      static List lt string gt  strings           new List lt string gt      Not Connected    Connected    Error         public string GetString DATABASE enums value            return strings  int value             This method is called like this   public FormMain         DATABASE dbEnum       string enumName   dbEnum GetString DATABASE enums NOTCONNECTED       You can group related enums in their own struct  Since this method uses the enum type  you can use Intellisense to display the list of enums when making the GetString   call   You can optionally use the new operator on the DATABASE struct  Not using it means the strings List is not allocated until the first GetString   call is made

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My answer  working on  user29964  s answer  which is by far the simplest and closest to a Enum  is   public class StringValue   System Attribute               private string  value           public StringValue string value                         value   value                     public string Value                       get   return  value                         public static string GetStringValue Enum Flagvalue                        Type type   Flagvalue GetType                string   flags   Flagvalue ToString   Split      Select x   gt  x Trim    ToArray                List lt string gt  values   new List lt string gt                  for  int i   0  i  lt  flags Length  i                                   FieldInfo fi   type GetField flags i  ToString                      StringValue   attrs                      fi GetCustomAttributes typeof StringValue                                              false  as StringValue                    if  attrs Length  gt  0                                        values Add attrs 0  Value                                               return String Join      values                usage   Flags      public enum CompeteMetric                     lt summary gt              u              lt  summary gt           StringValue  u     Json mapping         Basic UniqueVisitors   1   Basic                             lt summary gt              vi              lt  summary gt           StringValue  vi     json mapping         Basic Visits   2   Basic                            lt summary gt              rank              lt  summary gt           StringValue  rank     json mapping         Basic Rank   4  Basic      Example          CompeteMetric metrics   CompeteMetric Basic Visits   CompeteMetric Basic Rank          string strmetrics   StringValue GetStringValue metrics     this will return  vi rank

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Update  Visiting this page  8 years later  after not touching C  for a long while  looks like my answer is no longer the best solution  I really like the converter solution tied with attribute-functions   If you are reading this  please make sure you also check out other answers   hint  they are above this one     As most of you  I really liked the selected answer by Jakub   turc  but I also really hate to copy-paste code  and try to do it as little as I can   So I decided I wanted an EnumBase class from which most of the functionality is inherited built-in  leaving me to focus on the content instead of behavior   The main problem with this approach is based on the fact that although Enum values are type-safe instances  the interaction is with the Static implementation of the Enum Class type  So with a little help of generics magic  I think I finally got the correct mix  Hope someone finds this as useful as I did   I ll start with Jakub s example  but using inheritance and generics   public sealed class AuthenticationMethod   EnumBase lt AuthenticationMethod  int gt        public static readonly AuthenticationMethod FORMS           new AuthenticationMethod 1   FORMS        public static readonly AuthenticationMethod WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION           new AuthenticationMethod 2   WINDOWS        public static readonly AuthenticationMethod SINGLESIGNON           new AuthenticationMethod 3   SSN         private AuthenticationMethod int Value  String Name            base  Value  Name           public new static IEnumerable lt AuthenticationMethod gt  All       get   return EnumBase lt AuthenticationMethod  int gt  All          public static explicit operator AuthenticationMethod string str        return Parse str         And here is the base class   using System  using System Collections Generic  using System Linq     for the  AsEnumerable   method call     E is the derived type-safe-enum class    - this allows all static members to be truly unique to the specific      derived class public class EnumBase lt E  T gt  where E  EnumBase lt E  T gt         region Instance code     public T Value   get  private set        public string Name   get  private set         protected EnumBase T EnumValue  string Name                Value   EnumValue          this Name   Name          mapping Add Name  this              public override string ToString     return Name         endregion       region Static tools     static private readonly Dictionary lt string  EnumBase lt E  T gt  gt  mapping      static EnumBase     mapping   new Dictionary lt string  EnumBase lt E  T gt  gt           protected static E Parse string name                EnumBase lt E  T gt  result          if  mapping TryGetValue name  out result                         return  E result                     throw new InvalidCastException                 This is protected to force the child class to expose it s own static        method         By recreating this static method at the derived class  static        initialization will be explicit  promising the mapping dictionary        will never be empty when this method is called      protected static IEnumerable lt E gt  All       get   return mapping Values AsEnumerable   Cast lt E gt              endregion

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Very simple solution to this with  Net 4 0 and above  No other code is needed   public enum MyStatus       Active   1      Archived   2     To get the string about just use     MyStatus Active ToString  f      or  MyStatus Archived ToString  f       The value will be  Active  or  Archived    To see the different string formats  the  f  from above  when calling Enum ToString see this Enumeration Format Strings page

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I really like Jakub   turc s answer  but it s shortcoming is that you cannot use it with a switch-case statement   Here s a slightly modified version of his answer that can be used with a switch statement   public sealed class AuthenticationMethod        region This code never needs to change      private readonly string  name      public readonly Values Value       private AuthenticationMethod Values value  String name           this  name   name          this Value   value             public override String ToString            return  name             endregion      public enum Values               Forms   1          Windows   2          SSN   3            public static readonly AuthenticationMethod FORMS   new AuthenticationMethod  Values Forms   FORMS        public static readonly AuthenticationMethod WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION   new AuthenticationMethod  Values Windows   WINDOWS        public static readonly AuthenticationMethod SINGLESIGNON   new AuthenticationMethod  Values SSN   SSN        So you get all of the benefits of Jakub   turc s answer  plus we can use it with a switch statement like so   var authenticationMethodVariable   AuthenticationMethod FORMS      Set the  enum  value we want to use  var methodName   authenticationMethodVariable ToString             Get the user-friendly  name  of the  enum  value      Perform logic based on which  enum  value was chosen  switch  authenticationMethodVariable Value        case authenticationMethodVariable Values Forms     Do something         break      case authenticationMethodVariable Values Windows     Do something         break      case authenticationMethodVariable Values SSN     Do something         break

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I created a base class for creating string-valued enums in  NET  It is just one C  file that you can copy  amp  paste into your projects  or install via NuGet package named StringEnum   GitHub Repo   Intellisense will suggest the enum name if the class is annotated with the xml comment  lt completitionlist gt    Works in both C  and VB       Usage similar to a regular enum        lt completionlist cref  HexColor   gt   class HexColor   StringEnum lt HexColor gt        public static readonly HexColor Blue   Create   FF0000        public static readonly HexColor Green   Create   00FF00        public static readonly HexColor Red   Create   000FF               Static Parse Method     HexColor Parse   FF0000        gt  HexColor Red     HexColor Parse   ff0000   caseSensitive  false       gt  HexColor Red     HexColor Parse  invalid        gt  throws InvalidOperationException         Static TryParse method      HexColor TryParse   FF0000        gt  HexColor Red     HexColor TryParse   ff0000   caseSensitive  false       gt  HexColor Red     HexColor TryParse  invalid        gt  null         Parse and TryParse returns the preexistent instances     object ReferenceEquals HexColor Parse   FF0000    HexColor Red       gt  true         Conversion from your  StringEnum  to  string      string myString1   HexColor Red ToString         gt    FF0000      string myString2   HexColor Red       gt    FF0000   implicit cast    Instalation    Paste the following StringEnum base class to your project   latest version  Or install StringEnum NuGet package  which is based on  Net Standard 1 0 so it runs on  Net Core    1 0   Net Framework    4 5  Mono    4 6  etc             lt summary gt          Base class for creating string-valued enums in  NET  lt br  gt          Provides static Parse   and TryParse   methods and implicit cast to string           lt  summary gt           lt example gt            lt code gt          class Color   StringEnum  amp lt Color amp gt                        public static readonly Color Blue   Create  Blue                public static readonly Color Red   Create  Red                public static readonly Color Green   Create  Green                       lt  code gt           lt  example gt           lt typeparam name  T  gt The string-valued enum type   i e  class Color   StringEnum amp lt Color amp gt   lt  typeparam gt      public abstract class StringEnum lt T gt    IEquatable lt T gt  where T   StringEnum lt T gt   new                 protected string Value          private static Dictionary lt string  T gt  valueDict   new Dictionary lt string  T gt             protected static T Create string value                        if  value    null                  return null     the null-valued instance is null               var result   new T     Value   value                valueDict Add value  result               return result                     public static implicit operator string StringEnum lt T gt  enumValue    gt  enumValue Value          public override string ToString     gt  Value           public static bool operator    StringEnum lt T gt  o1  StringEnum lt T gt  o2    gt  o1  Value    o2  Value          public static bool operator    StringEnum lt T gt  o1  StringEnum lt T gt  o2    gt  o1  Value    o2  Value           public override bool Equals object other    gt  this Value Equals  other as T   Value     other as string            bool IEquatable lt T gt  Equals T other    gt  this Value Equals other Value           public override int GetHashCode     gt  Value GetHashCode                  lt summary gt              Parse the  lt paramref name  value   gt  specified and returns a valid  lt typeparamref name  T   gt  or else throws InvalidOperationException               lt  summary gt               lt param name  value  gt The string value representad by an instance of  lt typeparamref name  T   gt   Matches by string value  not by the member name  lt  param gt               lt param name  caseSensitive  gt If true  the strings must match case and takes O log n   False allows different case but is little bit slower  O n   lt  param gt          public static T Parse string value  bool caseSensitive   true                        var result   TryParse value  caseSensitive               if  result    null                  throw new InvalidOperationException  value    null    null        value          is not a valid  typeof T  Name                  return result                          lt summary gt              Parse the  lt paramref name  value   gt  specified and returns a valid  lt typeparamref name  T   gt  or else returns null               lt  summary gt               lt param name  value  gt The string value representad by an instance of  lt typeparamref name  T   gt   Matches by string value  not by the member name  lt  param gt               lt param name  caseSensitive  gt If true  the strings must match case  False allows different case but is slower  O n  lt  param gt          public static T TryParse string value  bool caseSensitive   true                        if  value    null  return null              if  valueDict Count    0  System Runtime CompilerServices RuntimeHelpers RunClassConstructor typeof T  TypeHandle      force static fields initialization             if  caseSensitive                                if  valueDict TryGetValue value  out T item                       return item                  else                     return null                            else                                  slower O n  case insensitive search                 return valueDict FirstOrDefault f   gt  f Key Equals value  StringComparison OrdinalIgnoreCase   Value                     Why Ordinal    gt  https   esmithy net 2007 10 15 why-stringcomparisonordinal-is-usually-the-right-choice

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Update  Visiting this page  8 years later  after not touching C  for a long while  looks like my answer is no longer the best solution  I really like the converter solution tied with attribute-functions   If you are reading this  please make sure you also check out other answers   hint  they are above this one     As most of you  I really liked the selected answer by Jakub   turc  but I also really hate to copy-paste code  and try to do it as little as I can   So I decided I wanted an EnumBase class from which most of the functionality is inherited built-in  leaving me to focus on the content instead of behavior   The main problem with this approach is based on the fact that although Enum values are type-safe instances  the interaction is with the Static implementation of the Enum Class type  So with a little help of generics magic  I think I finally got the correct mix  Hope someone finds this as useful as I did   I ll start with Jakub s example  but using inheritance and generics   public sealed class AuthenticationMethod   EnumBase lt AuthenticationMethod  int gt        public static readonly AuthenticationMethod FORMS           new AuthenticationMethod 1   FORMS        public static readonly AuthenticationMethod WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION           new AuthenticationMethod 2   WINDOWS        public static readonly AuthenticationMethod SINGLESIGNON           new AuthenticationMethod 3   SSN         private AuthenticationMethod int Value  String Name            base  Value  Name           public new static IEnumerable lt AuthenticationMethod gt  All       get   return EnumBase lt AuthenticationMethod  int gt  All          public static explicit operator AuthenticationMethod string str        return Parse str         And here is the base class   using System  using System Collections Generic  using System Linq     for the  AsEnumerable   method call     E is the derived type-safe-enum class    - this allows all static members to be truly unique to the specific      derived class public class EnumBase lt E  T gt  where E  EnumBase lt E  T gt         region Instance code     public T Value   get  private set        public string Name   get  private set         protected EnumBase T EnumValue  string Name                Value   EnumValue          this Name   Name          mapping Add Name  this              public override string ToString     return Name         endregion       region Static tools     static private readonly Dictionary lt string  EnumBase lt E  T gt  gt  mapping      static EnumBase     mapping   new Dictionary lt string  EnumBase lt E  T gt  gt           protected static E Parse string name                EnumBase lt E  T gt  result          if  mapping TryGetValue name  out result                         return  E result                     throw new InvalidCastException                 This is protected to force the child class to expose it s own static        method         By recreating this static method at the derived class  static        initialization will be explicit  promising the mapping dictionary        will never be empty when this method is called      protected static IEnumerable lt E gt  All       get   return mapping Values AsEnumerable   Cast lt E gt              endregion

User · Answer

Use method  Enum GetName Type MyEnumType   object enumvariable      as in  Assume Shipper is a defined Enum   Shipper x   Shipper FederalExpress  string s   Enum GetName typeof Shipper   x     There are a bunch of other static methods on the Enum class worth investigating too

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I m with Harvey but don t use const  I can mix and match string  int  whatever   public class xlsLayout       public int xlHeaderRow   1      public int xlFirstDataRow   2      public int xlSkipLinesBetweenFiles   1    so 0 would mean don t skip     public string xlFileColumn    A       public string xlFieldColumn    B       public string xlFreindlyNameColumn    C       public string xlHelpTextColumn    D       Then later      public partial class Form1   Form       xlsLayout xlLayout   new xlsLayout         xl SetCell xlLayout xlFileColumn  xlLayout xlHeaderRow   File Name        xl SetCell xlLayout xlFieldColumn  xlLayout xlHeaderRow   Code field name        xl SetCell xlLayout xlFreindlyNameColumn  xlLayout xlHeaderRow   Freindly name        xl SetCell xlLayout xlHelpTextColumn  xlLayout xlHeaderRow   Inline Help Text

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You can reference the name rather than the value by using ToString    Console WriteLine  Auth method   0    AuthenticationMethod Forms ToString       The documentation is here   http   msdn microsoft com en-us library 16c1xs4z aspx     and if you name your enums in Pascal Case  as I do - such as ThisIsMyEnumValue   1 etc   then you could use a very simple regex to print the friendly form   static string ToFriendlyCase this string EnumString        return Regex Replace EnumString          A-Z        1        which can easily be called from any string   Console WriteLine  ConvertMyCrazyPascalCaseSentenceToFriendlyCase  ToFriendlyCase       Outputs      Convert My Crazy Pascal Case Sentence To Friendly Case   That saves running all the way around the houses creating custom attributes and attaching them to your enums or using lookup tables to marry an enum value with a friendly string and best of all it s self managing and can be used on any Pascal Case string which is infinitely more reusable  Of course  it doesn t allow you to have a different friendly name than your enum which your solution does provide   I do like your original solution though for more complex scenarios though   You could take your solution one step further and make your GetStringValue an extension method of your enum and then you wouldn t need to reference it like StringEnum GetStringValue     public static string GetStringValue this AuthenticationMethod value      string output   null    Type type   value GetType      FieldInfo fi   type GetField value ToString       StringValue   attrs   fi GetCustomAttributes typeof StringValue   false  as StringValue      if  attrs Length  gt  0      output   attrs 0  Value    return output      You could then access it easily straight from your enum instance   Console WriteLine AuthenticationMethod SSO GetStringValue

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A lot of great answers here but in my case did not solve what I wanted out of an  string enum   which was    Usable in a switch statement       e g  switch myEnum  Can be used in function parameters e g  foo myEnum type  Can be referenced                  e g  myEnum FirstElement I can use strings                  e g  foo  FirstElement      foo myEnum FirstElement    1 2  amp  4 can actually be solved with a C  Typedef of a string  since strings are switchable in c    3 can be solved by static const strings  So if you have the same needs  this is the simplest approach   public sealed class Types        private readonly String name       private Types String name                this name   name              public override String ToString                 return name             public static implicit operator Types string str                return new Types str              public static implicit operator string Types str                return str ToString                 region enum      public const string DataType    Data       public const string ImageType    Image       public const string Folder    Folder        endregion      This allows for example       public TypeArgs Types SelectedType                Types SelectedType   SelectedType         and   public TypeObject CreateType Types type                switch  type                         case Types ImageType                                   break               case Types DataType                                  break                     Where CreateType can be called with a string or a type  However the downside is that any string is automatically a valid enum  this could be modified but then it would require some kind of init function   or possibly make they explicit cast internal   Now if an int value was important to you  perhaps for comparison speed   you could use some ideas from Jakub   turc fantastic answer and do something a bit crazy  this is my stab at it       public sealed class Types       private static readonly Dictionary lt string  Types gt  strInstance   new Dictionary lt string  Types gt         private static readonly Dictionary lt int  Types gt  intInstance   new Dictionary lt int  Types gt          private readonly String name      private static int layerTypeCount   0      private int value      private Types String name                this name   name          value   layerTypeCount            strInstance name    this          intInstance value    this             public override String ToString                 return name              public static implicit operator Types int val                Types result          if  intInstance TryGetValue val  out result               return result          else             throw new InvalidCastException               public static implicit operator Types string str                Types result          if  strInstance TryGetValue str  out result                         return result                    else                       result   new Types str               return result                       public static implicit operator string Types str                return str ToString               public static bool operator    Types a  Types b                return a value    b value            public static bool operator    Types a  Types b                return a value    b value              region enum      public const string DataType    Data       public const string ImageType    Image         endregion      but of course  Types bob   4   would be meaningless unless you had initialized them first which would sort of defeat the point      But in theory TypeA    TypeB would be quicker

User · Answer

Just use the ToString   method  public enum any Tomato 0 Melon Watermelon    To reference the string Tomato  just use  any Tomato ToString

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You can reference the name rather than the value by using ToString    Console WriteLine  Auth method   0    AuthenticationMethod Forms ToString       The documentation is here   http   msdn microsoft com en-us library 16c1xs4z aspx     and if you name your enums in Pascal Case  as I do - such as ThisIsMyEnumValue   1 etc   then you could use a very simple regex to print the friendly form   static string ToFriendlyCase this string EnumString        return Regex Replace EnumString          A-Z        1        which can easily be called from any string   Console WriteLine  ConvertMyCrazyPascalCaseSentenceToFriendlyCase  ToFriendlyCase       Outputs      Convert My Crazy Pascal Case Sentence To Friendly Case   That saves running all the way around the houses creating custom attributes and attaching them to your enums or using lookup tables to marry an enum value with a friendly string and best of all it s self managing and can be used on any Pascal Case string which is infinitely more reusable  Of course  it doesn t allow you to have a different friendly name than your enum which your solution does provide   I do like your original solution though for more complex scenarios though   You could take your solution one step further and make your GetStringValue an extension method of your enum and then you wouldn t need to reference it like StringEnum GetStringValue     public static string GetStringValue this AuthenticationMethod value      string output   null    Type type   value GetType      FieldInfo fi   type GetField value ToString       StringValue   attrs   fi GetCustomAttributes typeof StringValue   false  as StringValue      if  attrs Length  gt  0      output   attrs 0  Value    return output      You could then access it easily straight from your enum instance   Console WriteLine AuthenticationMethod SSO GetStringValue

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Well  after reading all of the above I feel that the guys have over complicated the issue of transforming enumerators into strings  I liked the idea of having attributes over enumerated fields but i think that attributes are mainly used for Meta-data  but in your case i think that all you need is some sort of localization   public enum Color    Red   1  Green   2  Blue   3    public static EnumUtils       public static string GetEnumResourceString object enumValue                Type enumType   enumValue GetType            string value   Enum GetName enumValue GetType    enumValue           string resourceKey   String Format   0   1    enumType Name  value           string result   Resources Enums ResourceManager GetString resourceKey           if  string IsNullOrEmpty result                         result   String Format   0    value                     return result            Now if we try to call the above method we can call it this way   public void Foo       var col   Color Red    Console WriteLine  EnumUtils GetEnumResourceString  col        All you need to do is just create a resource file containing all the enumerator values and the corresponding strings   Resource Name          Resource Value Color Red              My String Color in Red Color Blue             Blueeey Color Green            Hulk Color   What is actually very nice about that is that it will be very helpful if you need your application to be localized  since all you need to do is just create another resource file with your new language  and Voe-la

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In your question you never said that you actually need the numeric value of the enum anywhere   If you do not and just need an enum of type string  which is not an integral type so can not be a base of enum  here is a way       static class AuthenticationMethod               public static readonly string             FORMS    Forms               WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION    WindowsAuthentication           you can use the same syntax as enum to reference it  if  bla    AuthenticationMethod FORMS    It will be a bit slower than with numeric values  comparing strings instead of numbers  but on the plus side it is not using reflection  slow  to access the string

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In your question you never said that you actually need the numeric value of the enum anywhere   If you do not and just need an enum of type string  which is not an integral type so can not be a base of enum  here is a way       static class AuthenticationMethod               public static readonly string             FORMS    Forms               WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION    WindowsAuthentication           you can use the same syntax as enum to reference it  if  bla    AuthenticationMethod FORMS    It will be a bit slower than with numeric values  comparing strings instead of numbers  but on the plus side it is not using reflection  slow  to access the string

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Option 1   public sealed class FormsAuth        public override string ToString return  Forms Authtentication      public sealed class WindowsAuth        public override string ToString return  Windows Authtentication       public sealed class SsoAuth        public override string ToString return  SSO        and then  object auth   new SsoAuth      or whatever                 blablabla  DoSomethingWithTheAuth auth ToString       Option 2   public enum AuthenticationMethod           FORMS   1          WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION   2          SINGLESIGNON   3    public class MyClass       private Dictionary lt AuthenticationMethod  String gt  map   new Dictionary lt AuthenticationMethod  String gt         public MyClass                  map Add AuthenticationMethod FORMS  Forms Authentication             map Add AuthenticationMethod WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION   Windows Authentication             map Add AuthenticationMethod SINGLESIGNON   SSo Authentication

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I use an extension method    public static class AttributesHelperExtension               public static string ToDescription this Enum value                        var da    DescriptionAttribute    value GetType   GetField value ToString     GetCustomAttributes typeof DescriptionAttribute   false               return da Length  gt  0   da 0  Description   value ToString                  Now decorate the enum with    public enum AuthenticationMethod        Description  FORMS        FORMS   1       Description  WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION        WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION   2       Description  SINGLESIGNON         SINGLESIGNON   3     When you call   AuthenticationMethod FORMS ToDescription   you will get  FORMS

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Try type-safe-enum pattern   public sealed class AuthenticationMethod        private readonly String name      private readonly int value       public static readonly AuthenticationMethod FORMS   new AuthenticationMethod  1   FORMS        public static readonly AuthenticationMethod WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION   new AuthenticationMethod  2   WINDOWS        public static readonly AuthenticationMethod SINGLESIGNON   new AuthenticationMethod  3   SSN                 private AuthenticationMethod int value  String name           this name   name          this value   value             public override String ToString            return name               Update Explicit  or implicit  type conversion can be done by   adding static field with mapping  private static readonly Dictionary lt string  AuthenticationMethod gt  instance   new Dictionary lt string AuthenticationMethod gt        n b  In order that the initialisation of the the  enum member  fields doesn t throw a NullReferenceException when calling the instance constructor  be sure to put the Dictionary field before the  enum member  fields in your class  This is because static field initialisers are called in declaration order  and before the static constructor  creating the weird and necessary but confusing situation that the instance constructor can be called before all static fields have been initialised  and before the static constructor is called   filling this mapping in instance constructor  instance name    this   and adding user-defined type conversion operator  public static explicit operator AuthenticationMethod string str        AuthenticationMethod result      if  instance TryGetValue str  out result           return result      else         throw new InvalidCastException

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I use an extension method    public static class AttributesHelperExtension               public static string ToDescription this Enum value                        var da    DescriptionAttribute    value GetType   GetField value ToString     GetCustomAttributes typeof DescriptionAttribute   false               return da Length  gt  0   da 0  Description   value ToString                  Now decorate the enum with    public enum AuthenticationMethod        Description  FORMS        FORMS   1       Description  WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION        WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION   2       Description  SINGLESIGNON         SINGLESIGNON   3     When you call   AuthenticationMethod FORMS ToDescription   you will get  FORMS

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When I m confronted with this problem  there are a couple of questions that I try to find the answers to first    Are the names of my enum values sufficiently friendly for the purpose  or do I need to provide friendlier ones  Do I need to round-trip   That is  will I need to take text values and parse them into enum values  Is this something I need to do for many enums in my project  or just one  What kind of UI elements will I be presenting this information in - in particular  will I be binding to the UI  or using property sheets  Does this need to be localizable    The simplest way to do this is with Enum GetValue  and support round-tripping using Enum Parse    It s also often worth building a TypeConverter  as Steve Mitcham suggests  to support UI binding    It s not necessary to build a TypeConverter when you re using property sheets  which is one of the nice things about property sheets   Though lord knows they have their own issues    In general  if the answers to the above questions suggest that s not going to work  my next step is to create and populate a static Dictionary lt MyEnum  string gt   or possibly a Dictionary lt Type  Dictionary lt int  string gt  gt    I tend to skip the intermediate decorate-the-code-with-attributes step because what s usually coming down the pike next is the need to change the friendly values after deployment  often  but not always  because of localization

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based on the MSDN  http   msdn microsoft com en-us library cc138362 aspx   foreach  string str in Enum GetNames typeof enumHeaderField          Debug WriteLine str       str will be the names of the fields

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I m with Harvey but don t use const  I can mix and match string  int  whatever   public class xlsLayout       public int xlHeaderRow   1      public int xlFirstDataRow   2      public int xlSkipLinesBetweenFiles   1    so 0 would mean don t skip     public string xlFileColumn    A       public string xlFieldColumn    B       public string xlFreindlyNameColumn    C       public string xlHelpTextColumn    D       Then later      public partial class Form1   Form       xlsLayout xlLayout   new xlsLayout         xl SetCell xlLayout xlFileColumn  xlLayout xlHeaderRow   File Name        xl SetCell xlLayout xlFieldColumn  xlLayout xlHeaderRow   Code field name        xl SetCell xlLayout xlFreindlyNameColumn  xlLayout xlHeaderRow   Freindly name        xl SetCell xlLayout xlHelpTextColumn  xlLayout xlHeaderRow   Inline Help Text

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My variant  public struct Colors       private String current       private static string red     ff0000       private static string green     00ff00       private static string blue     0000ff        private static IList lt String gt  possibleColors        public static Colors Red   get   return  Colors  red          public static Colors Green   get   return  Colors  green          public static Colors Blue   get   return  Colors  blue           static Colors                 possibleColors   new List lt string gt     red  green  blue              public static explicit operator String Colors value                return value current             public static explicit operator Colors String value                if   possibleColors Contains value                         throw new InvalidCastException                       Colors color   new Colors            color current   value          return color             public static bool operator    Colors left  Colors right                return left current    right current             public static bool operator    Colors left  Colors right                return left current    right current             public bool Equals Colors other                return Equals other current  current              public override bool Equals object obj                if  ReferenceEquals null  obj   return false          if  obj GetType      typeof Colors   return false          return Equals  Colors obj              public override int GetHashCode                 return  current    null   current GetHashCode     0              public override string ToString                 return current            Code looks a bit ugly  but usages of this struct are pretty presentative   Colors color1   Colors Red  Console WriteLine color1       ff0000  Colors color2    Colors    00ff00   Console WriteLine color2       00ff00     Colors color3     0000ff      Compilation error    String color4   Colors Red     Compilation error  Colors color5    Colors   ff0000   Console WriteLine color1    color5      True  Colors color6    Colors   00ff00   Console WriteLine color1    color6      False   Also  I think  if a lot of such enums required  code generation  e g  T4  might be used

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For larger string enum sets  the listed examples can become tiresome  If you want a list of status codes  or a list of other string based enums  an attribute system is annoying to use  and a static class with instances of itself is annoying to configure  For my own solution  I make use of T4 templating to make it easier to have string-backed enums  The result comes out similar to how the HttpMethod class works   You can use it like this       string statusCode   ResponseStatusCode SUCCESS     Automatically converts to string when needed     ResponseStatusCode codeByValueOf   ResponseStatusCode ValueOf statusCode      Returns null if not found         Implements TypeConverter so you can use it with string conversion methods      var converter   System ComponentModel TypeDescriptor GetConverter typeof ResponseStatusCode        ResponseStatusCode code    ResponseStatusCode  converter ConvertFromInvariantString statusCode           You can get a full list of the values     bool canIterateOverValues   ResponseStatusCode Values Any             Comparisons are by value of the  Name  property  Not by memory pointer location      bool implementsByValueEqualsEqualsOperator    SUCCESS     ResponseStatusCode SUCCESS     You start out with a Enum tt file     lt    include file  StringEnum ttinclude    gt     lt    public static class Configuration       public static readonly string Namespace    YourName Space       public static readonly string EnumName    ResponseStatusCode       public static readonly bool IncludeComments   true       public static readonly object Nodes   new               SUCCESS    The response was successful            NON SUCCESS    The request was not successful            RESOURCE IS DISCONTINUED    The resource requested has been discontinued and can no longer be accessed              gt    Then  you add in your StringEnum ttinclude file    lt    template debug  false  hostspecific  false  language  C     gt   lt    assembly name  System Core    gt   lt    import namespace  System    gt   lt    import namespace  System Linq    gt   lt    import namespace  System Text    gt   lt    import namespace  System Reflection    gt   lt    import namespace  System Collections Generic    gt   lt    output extension   cs    gt   lt    CleanupBehavior processor  T4VSHost  CleanupAfterProcessingtemplate  true    gt     ------------------------------------------------------------------------------     lt auto-generated gt         This code was generated by a tool            Changes to this file may cause incorrect behavior and will be lost if        the code is regenerated      lt  auto-generated gt    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------  using System  using System Linq  using System Collections Generic  using System ComponentModel  using System Globalization   namespace  lt    Configuration Namespace   gt             lt summary gt          TypeConverter implementations allow you to use features like string ToNullable T            lt  summary gt      public class  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt TypeConverter   TypeConverter               public override bool CanConvertFrom ITypeDescriptorContext context  Type sourceType                        return sourceType    typeof string     base CanConvertFrom context  sourceType                      public override object ConvertFrom ITypeDescriptorContext context  CultureInfo culture  object value                        var casted   value as string               if  casted    null                                var result    lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  ValueOf casted                   if  result    null                                        return result                                               return base ConvertFrom context  culture  value                      public override object ConvertTo ITypeDescriptorContext context  CultureInfo culture  object value  Type destinationType                        var casted   value as  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt               if  casted    null  amp  amp  destinationType    typeof string                                 return casted ToString                               return base ConvertTo context  culture  value  destinationType                         TypeConverter typeof  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt TypeConverter        public class  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt    IEquatable lt  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  gt          ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    V A L U E S   L I S T   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  lt   Write Helpers PrintEnumProperties Configuration Nodes      gt           private static List lt  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  gt   list   get  set      null          public static List lt  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  gt  ToList                         if   list    null                                 list   typeof  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt   GetFields   Where x   gt  x IsStatic  amp  amp  x IsPublic  amp  amp  x FieldType    typeof  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt                         Select x   gt  x GetValue null   OfType lt  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  gt    ToList                               return  list                     public static List lt  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  gt  Values                         return ToList                            lt summary gt              Returns the enum value based on the matching Name of the enum  Case-insensitive search               lt  summary gt               lt param name  key  gt  lt  param gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public static  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  ValueOf string key                        return ToList   FirstOrDefault x   gt  string Compare x Name  key  true     0                 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    I N S T A N C E   D E F I N I T I O N   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------               public string Name   get  private set            public string Description   get  private set            public override string ToString     return this Name                  lt summary gt              Implcitly converts to string               lt  summary gt               lt param name  d  gt  lt  param gt          public static implicit operator string  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  d                        return d ToString                            lt summary gt              Compares based on the    method  Handles nulls gracefully               lt  summary gt               lt param name  a  gt  lt  param gt               lt param name  b  gt  lt  param gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public static bool operator     lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  a   lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  b                        return   a    b                           lt summary gt              Compares based on the  Equals method  Handles nulls gracefully               lt  summary gt               lt param name  a  gt  lt  param gt               lt param name  b  gt  lt  param gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public static bool operator     lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  a   lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  b                        return a  ToString      b  ToString                            lt summary gt              Compares based on the  ToString   method              lt  summary gt               lt param name  o  gt  lt  param gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public override bool Equals object o                        return this ToString      o  ToString                            lt summary gt              Compares based on the  ToString   method              lt  summary gt               lt param name  other  gt  lt  param gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public bool Equals  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  other                        return this ToString      other  ToString                            lt summary gt              Compares based on the  Name property              lt  summary gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public override int GetHashCode                         return this Name GetHashCode                        lt     public static class Helpers           public static string PrintEnumProperties object nodes                        string o                   Type nodesTp   Configuration Nodes GetType                PropertyInfo   props   nodesTp GetProperties   OrderBy p   gt  p Name  ToArray                 for int i   0  i  lt  props Length  i                                  var prop   props i                   if  Configuration IncludeComments                                        o      r n r n                       o      r n            lt summary gt                        o      r n              Helpers PrintPropertyValue prop  Configuration Nodes                       o      r n            lt  summary gt                                       o      r n        public static readonly   Configuration EnumName     prop Name      new   Configuration EnumName      Name       prop Name      Description     Helpers PrintPropertyValue prop  Configuration Nodes                                    o      r n r n                return o                     private static Dictionary lt string  string gt  GetValuesMap                         Type nodesTp   Configuration Nodes GetType                PropertyInfo   props  nodesTp GetProperties                var dic   new Dictionary lt string string gt                 for int i   0  i  lt  props Length  i                                  var prop   nodesTp GetProperties   i                   dic prop Name    prop GetValue Configuration Nodes  ToString                              return dic                     public static string PrintMasterValuesMap object nodes                        Type nodesTp   Configuration Nodes GetType                PropertyInfo   props  nodesTp GetProperties                string o            private static readonly Dictionary lt string  string gt  ValuesMap   new Dictionary lt string  string gt    r n                        for int i   0  i  lt  props Length  i                                  var prop   nodesTp GetProperties   i                   o      r n                  prop Name         Helpers PrintPropertyValue prop Configuration Nodes                                    o       r n           r n                 return o                      public static string PrintPropertyValue PropertyInfo prop  object objInstance                        switch prop PropertyType ToString                     case  System Double                       return prop GetValue objInstance  ToString    D                   case  System Float                       return prop GetValue objInstance  ToString    F                   case  System Decimal                       return prop GetValue objInstance  ToString    M                   case  System Long                       return prop GetValue objInstance  ToString    L                   case  System Boolean                   case  System Int16                   case  System Int32                       return prop GetValue objInstance  ToString   ToLowerInvariant                    case  System String                       return      prop GetValue objInstance                                   return prop GetValue objInstance  ToString                       public static string    int numSpaces                        string o                   for int i   0  i  lt  numSpaces  i                     o                                    return o                gt    Finally  you recompile your Enum tt file and the output looks like this     ------------------------------------------------------------------------------     lt auto-generated gt         This code was generated by a tool            Changes to this file may cause incorrect behavior and will be lost if        the code is regenerated      lt  auto-generated gt    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------  using System  using System Linq  using System Collections Generic   namespace YourName Space       public class ResponseStatusCode         ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    V A L U E S   L I S T    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                lt summary gt               The response was successful               lt  summary gt          public static readonly ResponseStatusCode SUCCESS   new ResponseStatusCode    Name    SUCCESS   Description    The response was successful                   lt summary gt               The request was not successful               lt  summary gt          public static readonly ResponseStatusCode NON SUCCESS   new ResponseStatusCode    Name    NON SUCCESS   Description    The request was not successful                   lt summary gt               The resource requested has been discontinued and can no longer be accessed               lt  summary gt          public static readonly ResponseStatusCode RESOURCE IS DISCONTINUED   new ResponseStatusCode    Name    RESOURCE IS DISCONTINUED   Description    The resource requested has been discontinued and can no longer be accessed               private static List lt ResponseStatusCode gt   list   get  set      null          public static List lt ResponseStatusCode gt  ToList                         if   list    null                                 list   typeof ResponseStatusCode  GetFields   Where x   gt  x IsStatic  amp  amp  x IsPublic  amp  amp  x FieldType    typeof ResponseStatusCode                        Select x   gt  x GetValue null   OfType lt ResponseStatusCode gt    ToList                               return  list                     public static List lt ResponseStatusCode gt  Values                         return ToList                            lt summary gt              Returns the enum value based on the matching Name of the enum  Case-insensitive search               lt  summary gt               lt param name  key  gt  lt  param gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public static ResponseStatusCode ValueOf string key                        return ToList   FirstOrDefault x   gt  string Compare x Name  key  true     0                 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    I N S T A N C E   D E F I N I T I O N    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                public string Name   get  set            public string Description   get  set            public override string ToString     return this Name                  lt summary gt              Implcitly converts to string               lt  summary gt               lt param name  d  gt  lt  param gt          public static implicit operator string ResponseStatusCode d                        return d ToString                            lt summary gt              Compares based on the    method  Handles nulls gracefully               lt  summary gt               lt param name  a  gt  lt  param gt               lt param name  b  gt  lt  param gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public static bool operator    ResponseStatusCode a  ResponseStatusCode b                        return   a    b                           lt summary gt              Compares based on the  Equals method  Handles nulls gracefully               lt  summary gt               lt param name  a  gt  lt  param gt               lt param name  b  gt  lt  param gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public static bool operator    ResponseStatusCode a  ResponseStatusCode b                        return a  ToString      b  ToString                            lt summary gt              Compares based on the  ToString   method              lt  summary gt               lt param name  o  gt  lt  param gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public override bool Equals object o                        return this ToString      o  ToString                            lt summary gt              Compares based on the  Name property              lt  summary gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public override int GetHashCode                         return this Name GetHashCode

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You can declare enum and the dictionary in which the key will be the value of the enumeration  In the future  you can refer to the dictionary to get the value  Thus  it will be possible to pass parameters to functions as the type of enum  but to get the real value from the dictionary   using System  using System Collections Generic   namespace console test       class Program                region SaveFormat         internal enum SaveFormat                       DOCX              PDF                    internal static Dictionary lt SaveFormat string gt  DictSaveFormat   new Dictionary lt SaveFormat  string gt                          SaveFormat DOCX  This is value for DOCX enum item                   SaveFormat PDF  This is value for PDF enum item                        internal static void enum value test SaveFormat save format                        Console WriteLine DictSaveFormat save format                       endregion          internal static void Main string   args                        enum value test SaveFormat DOCX    Output  This is value for DOCX enum item             Console Write  Press any key to continue                       Console ReadKey true

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Option 1   public sealed class FormsAuth        public override string ToString return  Forms Authtentication      public sealed class WindowsAuth        public override string ToString return  Windows Authtentication       public sealed class SsoAuth        public override string ToString return  SSO        and then  object auth   new SsoAuth      or whatever                 blablabla  DoSomethingWithTheAuth auth ToString       Option 2   public enum AuthenticationMethod           FORMS   1          WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION   2          SINGLESIGNON   3    public class MyClass       private Dictionary lt AuthenticationMethod  String gt  map   new Dictionary lt AuthenticationMethod  String gt         public MyClass                  map Add AuthenticationMethod FORMS  Forms Authentication             map Add AuthenticationMethod WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION   Windows Authentication             map Add AuthenticationMethod SINGLESIGNON   SSo Authentication

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old post but     The answer to this may actually be very simple  Use Enum ToString   function  There are 6 overloads of this function  you can use Enum Tostring  F   or Enum ToString   to return the string value  No need to bother with anything else  Here is a working Demo  Note that this solution may not work for all compilers  this demo does not work as expected  but at least it works for the latest compiler

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I agree with Keith  but I can t vote up  yet    I use a static method and swith statement to return exactly what I want  In the database I store tinyint and my code only uses the actual enum  so the strings are for UI requirements  After numerous testing this resulted in the best performance and most control over the output   public static string ToSimpleString this enum         switch  enum                  case ComplexForms               return  ComplexForms                break            public static string ToFormattedString this enum         switch  enum                  case ComplexForms               return  Complex Forms                break             However  by some accounts  this leads to a possible maintenance nightmare and some code smell  I try to keep an eye for enums that are long and a lot of enums  or those that change frequently  Otherwise  this has been a great solution for me

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For larger string enum sets  the listed examples can become tiresome  If you want a list of status codes  or a list of other string based enums  an attribute system is annoying to use  and a static class with instances of itself is annoying to configure  For my own solution  I make use of T4 templating to make it easier to have string-backed enums  The result comes out similar to how the HttpMethod class works   You can use it like this       string statusCode   ResponseStatusCode SUCCESS     Automatically converts to string when needed     ResponseStatusCode codeByValueOf   ResponseStatusCode ValueOf statusCode      Returns null if not found         Implements TypeConverter so you can use it with string conversion methods      var converter   System ComponentModel TypeDescriptor GetConverter typeof ResponseStatusCode        ResponseStatusCode code    ResponseStatusCode  converter ConvertFromInvariantString statusCode           You can get a full list of the values     bool canIterateOverValues   ResponseStatusCode Values Any             Comparisons are by value of the  Name  property  Not by memory pointer location      bool implementsByValueEqualsEqualsOperator    SUCCESS     ResponseStatusCode SUCCESS     You start out with a Enum tt file     lt    include file  StringEnum ttinclude    gt     lt    public static class Configuration       public static readonly string Namespace    YourName Space       public static readonly string EnumName    ResponseStatusCode       public static readonly bool IncludeComments   true       public static readonly object Nodes   new               SUCCESS    The response was successful            NON SUCCESS    The request was not successful            RESOURCE IS DISCONTINUED    The resource requested has been discontinued and can no longer be accessed              gt    Then  you add in your StringEnum ttinclude file    lt    template debug  false  hostspecific  false  language  C     gt   lt    assembly name  System Core    gt   lt    import namespace  System    gt   lt    import namespace  System Linq    gt   lt    import namespace  System Text    gt   lt    import namespace  System Reflection    gt   lt    import namespace  System Collections Generic    gt   lt    output extension   cs    gt   lt    CleanupBehavior processor  T4VSHost  CleanupAfterProcessingtemplate  true    gt     ------------------------------------------------------------------------------     lt auto-generated gt         This code was generated by a tool            Changes to this file may cause incorrect behavior and will be lost if        the code is regenerated      lt  auto-generated gt    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------  using System  using System Linq  using System Collections Generic  using System ComponentModel  using System Globalization   namespace  lt    Configuration Namespace   gt             lt summary gt          TypeConverter implementations allow you to use features like string ToNullable T            lt  summary gt      public class  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt TypeConverter   TypeConverter               public override bool CanConvertFrom ITypeDescriptorContext context  Type sourceType                        return sourceType    typeof string     base CanConvertFrom context  sourceType                      public override object ConvertFrom ITypeDescriptorContext context  CultureInfo culture  object value                        var casted   value as string               if  casted    null                                var result    lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  ValueOf casted                   if  result    null                                        return result                                               return base ConvertFrom context  culture  value                      public override object ConvertTo ITypeDescriptorContext context  CultureInfo culture  object value  Type destinationType                        var casted   value as  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt               if  casted    null  amp  amp  destinationType    typeof string                                 return casted ToString                               return base ConvertTo context  culture  value  destinationType                         TypeConverter typeof  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt TypeConverter        public class  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt    IEquatable lt  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  gt          ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    V A L U E S   L I S T   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  lt   Write Helpers PrintEnumProperties Configuration Nodes      gt           private static List lt  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  gt   list   get  set      null          public static List lt  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  gt  ToList                         if   list    null                                 list   typeof  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt   GetFields   Where x   gt  x IsStatic  amp  amp  x IsPublic  amp  amp  x FieldType    typeof  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt                         Select x   gt  x GetValue null   OfType lt  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  gt    ToList                               return  list                     public static List lt  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  gt  Values                         return ToList                            lt summary gt              Returns the enum value based on the matching Name of the enum  Case-insensitive search               lt  summary gt               lt param name  key  gt  lt  param gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public static  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  ValueOf string key                        return ToList   FirstOrDefault x   gt  string Compare x Name  key  true     0                 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    I N S T A N C E   D E F I N I T I O N   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------               public string Name   get  private set            public string Description   get  private set            public override string ToString     return this Name                  lt summary gt              Implcitly converts to string               lt  summary gt               lt param name  d  gt  lt  param gt          public static implicit operator string  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  d                        return d ToString                            lt summary gt              Compares based on the    method  Handles nulls gracefully               lt  summary gt               lt param name  a  gt  lt  param gt               lt param name  b  gt  lt  param gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public static bool operator     lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  a   lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  b                        return   a    b                           lt summary gt              Compares based on the  Equals method  Handles nulls gracefully               lt  summary gt               lt param name  a  gt  lt  param gt               lt param name  b  gt  lt  param gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public static bool operator     lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  a   lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  b                        return a  ToString      b  ToString                            lt summary gt              Compares based on the  ToString   method              lt  summary gt               lt param name  o  gt  lt  param gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public override bool Equals object o                        return this ToString      o  ToString                            lt summary gt              Compares based on the  ToString   method              lt  summary gt               lt param name  other  gt  lt  param gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public bool Equals  lt    Configuration EnumName   gt  other                        return this ToString      other  ToString                            lt summary gt              Compares based on the  Name property              lt  summary gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public override int GetHashCode                         return this Name GetHashCode                        lt     public static class Helpers           public static string PrintEnumProperties object nodes                        string o                   Type nodesTp   Configuration Nodes GetType                PropertyInfo   props   nodesTp GetProperties   OrderBy p   gt  p Name  ToArray                 for int i   0  i  lt  props Length  i                                  var prop   props i                   if  Configuration IncludeComments                                        o      r n r n                       o      r n            lt summary gt                        o      r n              Helpers PrintPropertyValue prop  Configuration Nodes                       o      r n            lt  summary gt                                       o      r n        public static readonly   Configuration EnumName     prop Name      new   Configuration EnumName      Name       prop Name      Description     Helpers PrintPropertyValue prop  Configuration Nodes                                    o      r n r n                return o                     private static Dictionary lt string  string gt  GetValuesMap                         Type nodesTp   Configuration Nodes GetType                PropertyInfo   props  nodesTp GetProperties                var dic   new Dictionary lt string string gt                 for int i   0  i  lt  props Length  i                                  var prop   nodesTp GetProperties   i                   dic prop Name    prop GetValue Configuration Nodes  ToString                              return dic                     public static string PrintMasterValuesMap object nodes                        Type nodesTp   Configuration Nodes GetType                PropertyInfo   props  nodesTp GetProperties                string o            private static readonly Dictionary lt string  string gt  ValuesMap   new Dictionary lt string  string gt    r n                        for int i   0  i  lt  props Length  i                                  var prop   nodesTp GetProperties   i                   o      r n                  prop Name         Helpers PrintPropertyValue prop Configuration Nodes                                    o       r n           r n                 return o                      public static string PrintPropertyValue PropertyInfo prop  object objInstance                        switch prop PropertyType ToString                     case  System Double                       return prop GetValue objInstance  ToString    D                   case  System Float                       return prop GetValue objInstance  ToString    F                   case  System Decimal                       return prop GetValue objInstance  ToString    M                   case  System Long                       return prop GetValue objInstance  ToString    L                   case  System Boolean                   case  System Int16                   case  System Int32                       return prop GetValue objInstance  ToString   ToLowerInvariant                    case  System String                       return      prop GetValue objInstance                                   return prop GetValue objInstance  ToString                       public static string    int numSpaces                        string o                   for int i   0  i  lt  numSpaces  i                     o                                    return o                gt    Finally  you recompile your Enum tt file and the output looks like this     ------------------------------------------------------------------------------     lt auto-generated gt         This code was generated by a tool            Changes to this file may cause incorrect behavior and will be lost if        the code is regenerated      lt  auto-generated gt    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------  using System  using System Linq  using System Collections Generic   namespace YourName Space       public class ResponseStatusCode         ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    V A L U E S   L I S T    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                lt summary gt               The response was successful               lt  summary gt          public static readonly ResponseStatusCode SUCCESS   new ResponseStatusCode    Name    SUCCESS   Description    The response was successful                   lt summary gt               The request was not successful               lt  summary gt          public static readonly ResponseStatusCode NON SUCCESS   new ResponseStatusCode    Name    NON SUCCESS   Description    The request was not successful                   lt summary gt               The resource requested has been discontinued and can no longer be accessed               lt  summary gt          public static readonly ResponseStatusCode RESOURCE IS DISCONTINUED   new ResponseStatusCode    Name    RESOURCE IS DISCONTINUED   Description    The resource requested has been discontinued and can no longer be accessed               private static List lt ResponseStatusCode gt   list   get  set      null          public static List lt ResponseStatusCode gt  ToList                         if   list    null                                 list   typeof ResponseStatusCode  GetFields   Where x   gt  x IsStatic  amp  amp  x IsPublic  amp  amp  x FieldType    typeof ResponseStatusCode                        Select x   gt  x GetValue null   OfType lt ResponseStatusCode gt    ToList                               return  list                     public static List lt ResponseStatusCode gt  Values                         return ToList                            lt summary gt              Returns the enum value based on the matching Name of the enum  Case-insensitive search               lt  summary gt               lt param name  key  gt  lt  param gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public static ResponseStatusCode ValueOf string key                        return ToList   FirstOrDefault x   gt  string Compare x Name  key  true     0                 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    I N S T A N C E   D E F I N I T I O N    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                public string Name   get  set            public string Description   get  set            public override string ToString     return this Name                  lt summary gt              Implcitly converts to string               lt  summary gt               lt param name  d  gt  lt  param gt          public static implicit operator string ResponseStatusCode d                        return d ToString                            lt summary gt              Compares based on the    method  Handles nulls gracefully               lt  summary gt               lt param name  a  gt  lt  param gt               lt param name  b  gt  lt  param gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public static bool operator    ResponseStatusCode a  ResponseStatusCode b                        return   a    b                           lt summary gt              Compares based on the  Equals method  Handles nulls gracefully               lt  summary gt               lt param name  a  gt  lt  param gt               lt param name  b  gt  lt  param gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public static bool operator    ResponseStatusCode a  ResponseStatusCode b                        return a  ToString      b  ToString                            lt summary gt              Compares based on the  ToString   method              lt  summary gt               lt param name  o  gt  lt  param gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public override bool Equals object o                        return this ToString      o  ToString                            lt summary gt              Compares based on the  Name property              lt  summary gt               lt returns gt  lt  returns gt          public override int GetHashCode                         return this Name GetHashCode

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How I solved this as an extension method   using System ComponentModel  public static string GetDescription this Enum value        var descriptionAttribute    DescriptionAttribute value GetType            GetField value ToString             GetCustomAttributes false           Where a   gt  a is DescriptionAttribute           FirstOrDefault         return descriptionAttribute    null   descriptionAttribute Description   value ToString        Enum   public enum OrderType       None   0       Description  New Card        NewCard   1       Description  Reload        Refill   2     Usage  where o OrderType is a property with the same name as the enum    o OrderType GetDescription     Which gives me a string of  New Card  or  Reload  instead of the actual enum value NewCard and Refill

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Just use the ToString   method  public enum any Tomato 0 Melon Watermelon    To reference the string Tomato  just use  any Tomato ToString

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My variant  public struct Colors       private String current       private static string red     ff0000       private static string green     00ff00       private static string blue     0000ff        private static IList lt String gt  possibleColors        public static Colors Red   get   return  Colors  red          public static Colors Green   get   return  Colors  green          public static Colors Blue   get   return  Colors  blue           static Colors                 possibleColors   new List lt string gt     red  green  blue              public static explicit operator String Colors value                return value current             public static explicit operator Colors String value                if   possibleColors Contains value                         throw new InvalidCastException                       Colors color   new Colors            color current   value          return color             public static bool operator    Colors left  Colors right                return left current    right current             public static bool operator    Colors left  Colors right                return left current    right current             public bool Equals Colors other                return Equals other current  current              public override bool Equals object obj                if  ReferenceEquals null  obj   return false          if  obj GetType      typeof Colors   return false          return Equals  Colors obj              public override int GetHashCode                 return  current    null   current GetHashCode     0              public override string ToString                 return current            Code looks a bit ugly  but usages of this struct are pretty presentative   Colors color1   Colors Red  Console WriteLine color1       ff0000  Colors color2    Colors    00ff00   Console WriteLine color2       00ff00     Colors color3     0000ff      Compilation error    String color4   Colors Red     Compilation error  Colors color5    Colors   ff0000   Console WriteLine color1    color5      True  Colors color6    Colors   00ff00   Console WriteLine color1    color6      False   Also  I think  if a lot of such enums required  code generation  e g  T4  might be used

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Enum GetName typeof MyEnum    int MyEnum FORMS  Enum GetName typeof MyEnum    int MyEnum WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION  Enum GetName typeof MyEnum    int MyEnum SINGLESIGNON    outputs are    FORMS    WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION    SINGLESIGNON

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If you ve come here looking to implement a simple  Enum  but whose values are strings instead of ints  here is the simplest solution       public sealed class MetricValueList               public static readonly string Brand    A4082457-D467-E111-98DC-0026B9010912           public static readonly string Name    B5B5E167-D467-E111-98DC-0026B9010912           Implementation   var someStringVariable   MetricValueList Brand

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I wanted to post this as a comment to the post quoted below but couldn t because I don t have enough rep - so please don t down-vote  The code contained an error and I wanted to point this out to individuals trying to use this solution     TypeConverter typeof CustomEnumTypeConverter typeof MyEnum    public enum MyEnum        The custom type converter will use the description attribute    Description  A custom description      ValueWithCustomDescription       This will be exposed exactly    Exact      should be    TypeConverter typeof CustomEnumTypeConverter lt MyEnum gt     public enum MyEnum        The custom type converter will use the description attribute    Description  A custom description      ValueWithCustomDescription        This will be exposed exactly    Exact     Brillant

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Use object Enum Parse System Type enumType  string value  bool ignoreCase   got it from http   blogs msdn com b tims archive 2004 04 02 106310 aspx

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Option 1   public sealed class FormsAuth        public override string ToString return  Forms Authtentication      public sealed class WindowsAuth        public override string ToString return  Windows Authtentication       public sealed class SsoAuth        public override string ToString return  SSO        and then  object auth   new SsoAuth      or whatever                 blablabla  DoSomethingWithTheAuth auth ToString       Option 2   public enum AuthenticationMethod           FORMS   1          WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION   2          SINGLESIGNON   3    public class MyClass       private Dictionary lt AuthenticationMethod  String gt  map   new Dictionary lt AuthenticationMethod  String gt         public MyClass                  map Add AuthenticationMethod FORMS  Forms Authentication             map Add AuthenticationMethod WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION   Windows Authentication             map Add AuthenticationMethod SINGLESIGNON   SSo Authentication

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Use method  Enum GetName Type MyEnumType   object enumvariable      as in  Assume Shipper is a defined Enum   Shipper x   Shipper FederalExpress  string s   Enum GetName typeof Shipper   x     There are a bunch of other static methods on the Enum class worth investigating too

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The approach i found for internationalization of Enums or getting text of Enums from respective Resource files is to create an attribute class by inheriting DescriptionAttribute class   public class EnumResourceAttribute   DescriptionAttribute        public Type ResourceType   get  private set        public string ResourceName   get  private set        public int SortOrder   get  private set        public EnumResourceAttribute Type ResourceType                           string ResourceName                           int SortOrder                 this ResourceType   ResourceType          this ResourceName   ResourceName          this SortOrder   SortOrder            Create another Static class that will provide extension methods for GetString and GetStrings    public static class EnumHelper       public static string GetString this Enum value                EnumResourceAttribute ea           EnumResourceAttribute value GetType   GetField value ToString             GetCustomAttributes typeof EnumResourceAttribute   false            FirstOrDefault            if  ea    null                        PropertyInfo pi   ea ResourceType               GetProperty CommonConstants ResourceManager               if  pi    null                                ResourceManager rm    ResourceManager pi                  GetValue null  null                   return rm GetString ea ResourceName                                    return string Empty              public static IList GetStrings this Type enumType                List lt string gt  stringList   new List lt string gt             FieldInfo   fiArray   enumType GetFields            foreach  FieldInfo fi in fiArray                        EnumResourceAttribute ea                    EnumResourceAttribute fi                       GetCustomAttributes typeof EnumResourceAttribute   false                        FirstOrDefault                if  ea    null                                PropertyInfo pi   ea ResourceType                                      GetProperty CommonConstants ResourceManager                   if  pi    null                                        ResourceManager rm    ResourceManager pi                                            GetValue null  null                       stringList Add rm GetString ea ResourceName                                                      return stringList ToList              And on the elements of your Enum you can write    public enum Priority         EnumResourceAttribute typeof Resources AdviceModule   Resources ResourceNames AdviceCreateAdviceExternaPriorityMemberHigh  1       High        EnumResourceAttribute typeof Resources AdviceModule   Resources ResourceNames AdviceCreateAdviceExternaPriorityMemberRoutine  2       Routine     Where Resources ResourceNames AdviceCreateAdviceExternaPriorityMemberHigh  amp   Resources ResourceNames AdviceCreateAdviceExternaPriorityMemberRoutine are constants in the resource file or you can say the strings whose values can be available in different cultures   If you are implementing your web application in MVC architecture then create a property   private IList result  public IList Result       get               result   typeof Priority  GetStrings            return result            and in your  cshtml file you can just bind the enum to your dropdownlist like     Html DropDownListFor model   gt  Model vwClinicalInfo Priority  new SelectList Model Result     Thanks Ratnesh

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Well  after reading all of the above I feel that the guys have over complicated the issue of transforming enumerators into strings  I liked the idea of having attributes over enumerated fields but i think that attributes are mainly used for Meta-data  but in your case i think that all you need is some sort of localization   public enum Color    Red   1  Green   2  Blue   3    public static EnumUtils       public static string GetEnumResourceString object enumValue                Type enumType   enumValue GetType            string value   Enum GetName enumValue GetType    enumValue           string resourceKey   String Format   0   1    enumType Name  value           string result   Resources Enums ResourceManager GetString resourceKey           if  string IsNullOrEmpty result                         result   String Format   0    value                     return result            Now if we try to call the above method we can call it this way   public void Foo       var col   Color Red    Console WriteLine  EnumUtils GetEnumResourceString  col        All you need to do is just create a resource file containing all the enumerator values and the corresponding strings   Resource Name          Resource Value Color Red              My String Color in Red Color Blue             Blueeey Color Green            Hulk Color   What is actually very nice about that is that it will be very helpful if you need your application to be localized  since all you need to do is just create another resource file with your new language  and Voe-la

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I use a combination of several of the suggestions above  combined with some caching   Now  I got the idea from some code that I found somewhere on the net  but I can neither remember where I got it or find it   So if anyone ever finds something that looks similar please comment with the attribution   Anyway  the usage involves the type converters  so if you are binding to the UI it  just works    You can extended with Jakub s pattern for quick code lookup by initializing from the type converter into the static methods   The base usage would look like this   TypeConverter typeof CustomEnumTypeConverter lt MyEnum gt     public enum MyEnum          The custom type converter will use the description attribute      Description  A custom description        ValueWithCustomDescription         This will be exposed exactly     Exact     The code for the custom enum type converter follows   public class CustomEnumTypeConverter lt T gt    EnumConverter     where T   struct       private static readonly Dictionary lt T string gt  s toString          new Dictionary lt T  string gt          private static readonly Dictionary lt string  T gt  s toValue          new Dictionary lt string  T gt          private static bool s isInitialized       static CustomEnumTypeConverter                 System Diagnostics Debug Assert typeof T  IsEnum             The custom enum class must be used with an enum type                public CustomEnumTypeConverter     base typeof T                 if   s isInitialized                        Initialize                s isInitialized   true                       protected void Initialize                 foreach  T item in Enum GetValues typeof T                          string description   GetDescription item               s toString item    description              s toValue description    item                       private static string GetDescription T optionValue                var optionDescription   optionValue ToString            var optionInfo   typeof T  GetField optionDescription           if  Attribute IsDefined optionInfo  typeof DescriptionAttribute                          var attribute                   DescriptionAttribute Attribute                   GetCustomAttribute optionInfo  typeof DescriptionAttribute                return attribute Description                    return optionDescription             public override object ConvertTo ITypeDescriptorContext context          System Globalization CultureInfo culture          object value  Type destinationType                var optionValue    T value           if  destinationType    typeof string   amp  amp               s toString ContainsKey optionValue                         return s toString optionValue                      return base ConvertTo context  culture  value  destinationType              public override object ConvertFrom ITypeDescriptorContext context          System Globalization CultureInfo culture  object value                var stringValue   value as string           if   string IsNullOrEmpty stringValue   amp  amp  s toValue ContainsKey stringValue                         return s toValue stringValue                      return base ConvertFrom context  culture  value

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I use the Description attribute from the System ComponentModel namespace   Simply decorate the enum and then use this code to retrieve it   public static string GetDescription lt T gt  this object enumerationValue              where T   struct                       Type type   enumerationValue GetType                if   type IsEnum                                throw new ArgumentException  EnumerationValue must be of Enum type    enumerationValue                                 Tries to find a DescriptionAttribute for a potential friendly name               for the enum             MemberInfo   memberInfo   type GetMember enumerationValue ToString                 if  memberInfo    null  amp  amp  memberInfo Length  gt  0                                object   attrs   memberInfo 0  GetCustomAttributes typeof DescriptionAttribute   false                    if  attrs    null  amp  amp  attrs Length  gt  0                                          Pull out the description value                     return   DescriptionAttribute attrs 0   Description                                                If we have no description attribute  just return the ToString of the enum             return enumerationValue ToString                 As an example   public enum Cycle   int               Description  Daily Cycle       Daily   1     Weekly     Monthly     This code nicely caters for enums where you don t need a  Friendly name  and will return just the  ToString   of the enum

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When I am in a situation like that I propose the solution below   And as a consuming class you could have   using System  using System Collections Generic  using System Linq  using System Text   namespace MyApp Dictionaries       class Greek                public static readonly string Alpha    Alpha           public static readonly string Beta    Beta           public static readonly string Gamma    Gamma           public static readonly string Delta    Delta             private static readonly BiDictionary lt int  string gt  Dictionary   new BiDictionary lt int  string gt               static Greek                 Dictionary Add 1  Alpha               Dictionary Add 2  Beta               Dictionary Add 3  Gamma               Dictionary Add 4  Delta                      public static string getById int id               return Dictionary GetByFirst id                      public static int getByValue string value                        return Dictionary GetBySecond value                        And using a bidirectional dictionary   Based on this  https   stackoverflow com a 255638 986160  assuming that the keys will be associated with single values in the dictionary and similar to  https   stackoverflow com a 255630 986160  but a bit more elegant  This dictionary is also enumerable and you can go back and forth from ints to strings  Also you don t have to have any string in your codebase with the exception of this class   using System  using System Collections Generic  using System Linq  using System Text  using System Collections   namespace MyApp Dictionaries        class BiDictionary lt TFirst  TSecond gt    IEnumerable               IDictionary lt TFirst  TSecond gt  firstToSecond   new Dictionary lt TFirst  TSecond gt             IDictionary lt TSecond  TFirst gt  secondToFirst   new Dictionary lt TSecond  TFirst gt              public void Add TFirst first  TSecond second                        firstToSecond Add first  second               secondToFirst Add second  first                      public TSecond this TFirst first                        get   return GetByFirst first                        public TFirst this TSecond second                        get   return GetBySecond second                        public TSecond GetByFirst TFirst first                        return firstToSecond first                      public TFirst GetBySecond TSecond second                        return secondToFirst second                      public IEnumerator GetEnumerator                         return GetFirstEnumerator                       public IEnumerator GetFirstEnumerator                         return firstToSecond GetEnumerator                       public IEnumerator GetSecondEnumerator                         return secondToFirst GetEnumerator

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If I m understanding you correctly  you can simply use  ToString   to retrieve the name of the enum from the value  Assuming it s already cast as the Enum   If you had the naked int  lets say from a database or something  you can first cast it to the enum  Both methods below will get you the enum name   AuthenticationMethod myCurrentSetting   AuthenticationMethod FORMS  Console WriteLine myCurrentSetting      Prints  FORMS string name   Enum GetNames typeof AuthenticationMethod    int myCurrentSetting-1   Console WriteLine name      Prints  FORMS   Keep in mind though  the second technique assumes you are using ints and your index is 1 based  not 0 based   The function GetNames also is quite heavy by comparison  you are generating a whole array each time it s called  As you can see in the first technique   ToString   is actually called implicitly  Both of these are already mentioned in the answers of course  I m just trying to clarify the differences between them

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I use the Description attribute from the System ComponentModel namespace   Simply decorate the enum and then use this code to retrieve it   public static string GetDescription lt T gt  this object enumerationValue              where T   struct                       Type type   enumerationValue GetType                if   type IsEnum                                throw new ArgumentException  EnumerationValue must be of Enum type    enumerationValue                                 Tries to find a DescriptionAttribute for a potential friendly name               for the enum             MemberInfo   memberInfo   type GetMember enumerationValue ToString                 if  memberInfo    null  amp  amp  memberInfo Length  gt  0                                object   attrs   memberInfo 0  GetCustomAttributes typeof DescriptionAttribute   false                    if  attrs    null  amp  amp  attrs Length  gt  0                                          Pull out the description value                     return   DescriptionAttribute attrs 0   Description                                                If we have no description attribute  just return the ToString of the enum             return enumerationValue ToString                 As an example   public enum Cycle   int               Description  Daily Cycle       Daily   1     Weekly     Monthly     This code nicely caters for enums where you don t need a  Friendly name  and will return just the  ToString   of the enum

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If you think about the problem we re trying to solve  it s not an enum we need at all   We need an object that allows a certain number of values to be associated with eachother  in other words  to define a class   Jakub   turc s type-safe enum pattern is the best option I see here   Look at it    It has a private constructor so only the class itself can define the allowed values  It is a sealed class so values can t be modifed through inheritence  It is type-safe  allowing your methods to require only that type  There is no reflection performance hit incurred by accessing the values  And lastly  it can be modified to associate more than two fields together  for example a Name  Description  and a numeric Value

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If I m understanding you correctly  you can simply use  ToString   to retrieve the name of the enum from the value  Assuming it s already cast as the Enum   If you had the naked int  lets say from a database or something  you can first cast it to the enum  Both methods below will get you the enum name   AuthenticationMethod myCurrentSetting   AuthenticationMethod FORMS  Console WriteLine myCurrentSetting      Prints  FORMS string name   Enum GetNames typeof AuthenticationMethod    int myCurrentSetting-1   Console WriteLine name      Prints  FORMS   Keep in mind though  the second technique assumes you are using ints and your index is 1 based  not 0 based   The function GetNames also is quite heavy by comparison  you are generating a whole array each time it s called  As you can see in the first technique   ToString   is actually called implicitly  Both of these are already mentioned in the answers of course  I m just trying to clarify the differences between them

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Try type-safe-enum pattern   public sealed class AuthenticationMethod        private readonly String name      private readonly int value       public static readonly AuthenticationMethod FORMS   new AuthenticationMethod  1   FORMS        public static readonly AuthenticationMethod WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION   new AuthenticationMethod  2   WINDOWS        public static readonly AuthenticationMethod SINGLESIGNON   new AuthenticationMethod  3   SSN                 private AuthenticationMethod int value  String name           this name   name          this value   value             public override String ToString            return name               Update Explicit  or implicit  type conversion can be done by   adding static field with mapping  private static readonly Dictionary lt string  AuthenticationMethod gt  instance   new Dictionary lt string AuthenticationMethod gt        n b  In order that the initialisation of the the  enum member  fields doesn t throw a NullReferenceException when calling the instance constructor  be sure to put the Dictionary field before the  enum member  fields in your class  This is because static field initialisers are called in declaration order  and before the static constructor  creating the weird and necessary but confusing situation that the instance constructor can be called before all static fields have been initialised  and before the static constructor is called   filling this mapping in instance constructor  instance name    this   and adding user-defined type conversion operator  public static explicit operator AuthenticationMethod string str        AuthenticationMethod result      if  instance TryGetValue str  out result           return result      else         throw new InvalidCastException

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I use a combination of several of the suggestions above  combined with some caching   Now  I got the idea from some code that I found somewhere on the net  but I can neither remember where I got it or find it   So if anyone ever finds something that looks similar please comment with the attribution   Anyway  the usage involves the type converters  so if you are binding to the UI it  just works    You can extended with Jakub s pattern for quick code lookup by initializing from the type converter into the static methods   The base usage would look like this   TypeConverter typeof CustomEnumTypeConverter lt MyEnum gt     public enum MyEnum          The custom type converter will use the description attribute      Description  A custom description        ValueWithCustomDescription         This will be exposed exactly     Exact     The code for the custom enum type converter follows   public class CustomEnumTypeConverter lt T gt    EnumConverter     where T   struct       private static readonly Dictionary lt T string gt  s toString          new Dictionary lt T  string gt          private static readonly Dictionary lt string  T gt  s toValue          new Dictionary lt string  T gt          private static bool s isInitialized       static CustomEnumTypeConverter                 System Diagnostics Debug Assert typeof T  IsEnum             The custom enum class must be used with an enum type                public CustomEnumTypeConverter     base typeof T                 if   s isInitialized                        Initialize                s isInitialized   true                       protected void Initialize                 foreach  T item in Enum GetValues typeof T                          string description   GetDescription item               s toString item    description              s toValue description    item                       private static string GetDescription T optionValue                var optionDescription   optionValue ToString            var optionInfo   typeof T  GetField optionDescription           if  Attribute IsDefined optionInfo  typeof DescriptionAttribute                          var attribute                   DescriptionAttribute Attribute                   GetCustomAttribute optionInfo  typeof DescriptionAttribute                return attribute Description                    return optionDescription             public override object ConvertTo ITypeDescriptorContext context          System Globalization CultureInfo culture          object value  Type destinationType                var optionValue    T value           if  destinationType    typeof string   amp  amp               s toString ContainsKey optionValue                         return s toString optionValue                      return base ConvertTo context  culture  value  destinationType              public override object ConvertFrom ITypeDescriptorContext context          System Globalization CultureInfo culture  object value                var stringValue   value as string           if   string IsNullOrEmpty stringValue   amp  amp  s toValue ContainsKey stringValue                         return s toValue stringValue                      return base ConvertFrom context  culture  value

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Try type-safe-enum pattern   public sealed class AuthenticationMethod        private readonly String name      private readonly int value       public static readonly AuthenticationMethod FORMS   new AuthenticationMethod  1   FORMS        public static readonly AuthenticationMethod WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION   new AuthenticationMethod  2   WINDOWS        public static readonly AuthenticationMethod SINGLESIGNON   new AuthenticationMethod  3   SSN                 private AuthenticationMethod int value  String name           this name   name          this value   value             public override String ToString            return name               Update Explicit  or implicit  type conversion can be done by   adding static field with mapping  private static readonly Dictionary lt string  AuthenticationMethod gt  instance   new Dictionary lt string AuthenticationMethod gt        n b  In order that the initialisation of the the  enum member  fields doesn t throw a NullReferenceException when calling the instance constructor  be sure to put the Dictionary field before the  enum member  fields in your class  This is because static field initialisers are called in declaration order  and before the static constructor  creating the weird and necessary but confusing situation that the instance constructor can be called before all static fields have been initialised  and before the static constructor is called   filling this mapping in instance constructor  instance name    this   and adding user-defined type conversion operator  public static explicit operator AuthenticationMethod string str        AuthenticationMethod result      if  instance TryGetValue str  out result           return result      else         throw new InvalidCastException

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Try type-safe-enum pattern   public sealed class AuthenticationMethod        private readonly String name      private readonly int value       public static readonly AuthenticationMethod FORMS   new AuthenticationMethod  1   FORMS        public static readonly AuthenticationMethod WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION   new AuthenticationMethod  2   WINDOWS        public static readonly AuthenticationMethod SINGLESIGNON   new AuthenticationMethod  3   SSN                 private AuthenticationMethod int value  String name           this name   name          this value   value             public override String ToString            return name               Update Explicit  or implicit  type conversion can be done by   adding static field with mapping  private static readonly Dictionary lt string  AuthenticationMethod gt  instance   new Dictionary lt string AuthenticationMethod gt        n b  In order that the initialisation of the the  enum member  fields doesn t throw a NullReferenceException when calling the instance constructor  be sure to put the Dictionary field before the  enum member  fields in your class  This is because static field initialisers are called in declaration order  and before the static constructor  creating the weird and necessary but confusing situation that the instance constructor can be called before all static fields have been initialised  and before the static constructor is called   filling this mapping in instance constructor  instance name    this   and adding user-defined type conversion operator  public static explicit operator AuthenticationMethod string str        AuthenticationMethod result      if  instance TryGetValue str  out result           return result      else         throw new InvalidCastException

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for me  the pragmatic approach is class inside class  sample   public class MSEModel       class WITS               public const string DATE    5005           public const string TIME    5006           public const string MD    5008           public const string ROP    5075           public const string WOB    5073           public const string RPM    7001

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Very simple solution to this with  Net 4 0 and above  No other code is needed   public enum MyStatus       Active   1      Archived   2     To get the string about just use     MyStatus Active ToString  f      or  MyStatus Archived ToString  f       The value will be  Active  or  Archived    To see the different string formats  the  f  from above  when calling Enum ToString see this Enumeration Format Strings page

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I use a combination of several of the suggestions above  combined with some caching   Now  I got the idea from some code that I found somewhere on the net  but I can neither remember where I got it or find it   So if anyone ever finds something that looks similar please comment with the attribution   Anyway  the usage involves the type converters  so if you are binding to the UI it  just works    You can extended with Jakub s pattern for quick code lookup by initializing from the type converter into the static methods   The base usage would look like this   TypeConverter typeof CustomEnumTypeConverter lt MyEnum gt     public enum MyEnum          The custom type converter will use the description attribute      Description  A custom description        ValueWithCustomDescription         This will be exposed exactly     Exact     The code for the custom enum type converter follows   public class CustomEnumTypeConverter lt T gt    EnumConverter     where T   struct       private static readonly Dictionary lt T string gt  s toString          new Dictionary lt T  string gt          private static readonly Dictionary lt string  T gt  s toValue          new Dictionary lt string  T gt          private static bool s isInitialized       static CustomEnumTypeConverter                 System Diagnostics Debug Assert typeof T  IsEnum             The custom enum class must be used with an enum type                public CustomEnumTypeConverter     base typeof T                 if   s isInitialized                        Initialize                s isInitialized   true                       protected void Initialize                 foreach  T item in Enum GetValues typeof T                          string description   GetDescription item               s toString item    description              s toValue description    item                       private static string GetDescription T optionValue                var optionDescription   optionValue ToString            var optionInfo   typeof T  GetField optionDescription           if  Attribute IsDefined optionInfo  typeof DescriptionAttribute                          var attribute                   DescriptionAttribute Attribute                   GetCustomAttribute optionInfo  typeof DescriptionAttribute                return attribute Description                    return optionDescription             public override object ConvertTo ITypeDescriptorContext context          System Globalization CultureInfo culture          object value  Type destinationType                var optionValue    T value           if  destinationType    typeof string   amp  amp               s toString ContainsKey optionValue                         return s toString optionValue                      return base ConvertTo context  culture  value  destinationType              public override object ConvertFrom ITypeDescriptorContext context          System Globalization CultureInfo culture  object value                var stringValue   value as string           if   string IsNullOrEmpty stringValue   amp  amp  s toValue ContainsKey stringValue                         return s toValue stringValue                      return base ConvertFrom context  culture  value

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When I m confronted with this problem  there are a couple of questions that I try to find the answers to first    Are the names of my enum values sufficiently friendly for the purpose  or do I need to provide friendlier ones  Do I need to round-trip   That is  will I need to take text values and parse them into enum values  Is this something I need to do for many enums in my project  or just one  What kind of UI elements will I be presenting this information in - in particular  will I be binding to the UI  or using property sheets  Does this need to be localizable    The simplest way to do this is with Enum GetValue  and support round-tripping using Enum Parse    It s also often worth building a TypeConverter  as Steve Mitcham suggests  to support UI binding    It s not necessary to build a TypeConverter when you re using property sheets  which is one of the nice things about property sheets   Though lord knows they have their own issues    In general  if the answers to the above questions suggest that s not going to work  my next step is to create and populate a static Dictionary lt MyEnum  string gt   or possibly a Dictionary lt Type  Dictionary lt int  string gt  gt    I tend to skip the intermediate decorate-the-code-with-attributes step because what s usually coming down the pike next is the need to change the friendly values after deployment  often  but not always  because of localization

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You can declare enum and the dictionary in which the key will be the value of the enumeration  In the future  you can refer to the dictionary to get the value  Thus  it will be possible to pass parameters to functions as the type of enum  but to get the real value from the dictionary   using System  using System Collections Generic   namespace console test       class Program                region SaveFormat         internal enum SaveFormat                       DOCX              PDF                    internal static Dictionary lt SaveFormat string gt  DictSaveFormat   new Dictionary lt SaveFormat  string gt                          SaveFormat DOCX  This is value for DOCX enum item                   SaveFormat PDF  This is value for PDF enum item                        internal static void enum value test SaveFormat save format                        Console WriteLine DictSaveFormat save format                       endregion          internal static void Main string   args                        enum value test SaveFormat DOCX    Output  This is value for DOCX enum item             Console Write  Press any key to continue                       Console ReadKey true

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based on the MSDN  http   msdn microsoft com en-us library cc138362 aspx   foreach  string str in Enum GetNames typeof enumHeaderField          Debug WriteLine str       str will be the names of the fields

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Unfortunately reflection to get attributes on enums is quite slow   See this question  Anyone know a quick way to get to custom attributes on an enum value   The  ToString   is quite slow on enums too   You can write extension methods for enums though   public static string GetName  this MyEnum input         switch   input             case MyEnum WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION              return  Windows             and so on           This isn t great  but will be quick and not require the reflection for attributes or field name     C 6 Update  If you can use C 6 then the new nameof operator works for enums  so nameof MyEnum WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION  will be converted to  WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION  at compile time  making it the quickest way to get enum names   Note that this will convert the explicit enum to an inlined constant  so it doesn t work for enums that you have in a variable  So   nameof AuthenticationMethod FORMS      FORMS    But     var myMethod   AuthenticationMethod FORMS  nameof myMethod      myMethod

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for me  the pragmatic approach is class inside class  sample   public class MSEModel       class WITS               public const string DATE    5005           public const string TIME    5006           public const string MD    5008           public const string ROP    5075           public const string WOB    5073           public const string RPM    7001

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When I m confronted with this problem  there are a couple of questions that I try to find the answers to first    Are the names of my enum values sufficiently friendly for the purpose  or do I need to provide friendlier ones  Do I need to round-trip   That is  will I need to take text values and parse them into enum values  Is this something I need to do for many enums in my project  or just one  What kind of UI elements will I be presenting this information in - in particular  will I be binding to the UI  or using property sheets  Does this need to be localizable    The simplest way to do this is with Enum GetValue  and support round-tripping using Enum Parse    It s also often worth building a TypeConverter  as Steve Mitcham suggests  to support UI binding    It s not necessary to build a TypeConverter when you re using property sheets  which is one of the nice things about property sheets   Though lord knows they have their own issues    In general  if the answers to the above questions suggest that s not going to work  my next step is to create and populate a static Dictionary lt MyEnum  string gt   or possibly a Dictionary lt Type  Dictionary lt int  string gt  gt    I tend to skip the intermediate decorate-the-code-with-attributes step because what s usually coming down the pike next is the need to change the friendly values after deployment  often  but not always  because of localization

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The approach i found for internationalization of Enums or getting text of Enums from respective Resource files is to create an attribute class by inheriting DescriptionAttribute class   public class EnumResourceAttribute   DescriptionAttribute        public Type ResourceType   get  private set        public string ResourceName   get  private set        public int SortOrder   get  private set        public EnumResourceAttribute Type ResourceType                           string ResourceName                           int SortOrder                 this ResourceType   ResourceType          this ResourceName   ResourceName          this SortOrder   SortOrder            Create another Static class that will provide extension methods for GetString and GetStrings    public static class EnumHelper       public static string GetString this Enum value                EnumResourceAttribute ea           EnumResourceAttribute value GetType   GetField value ToString             GetCustomAttributes typeof EnumResourceAttribute   false            FirstOrDefault            if  ea    null                        PropertyInfo pi   ea ResourceType               GetProperty CommonConstants ResourceManager               if  pi    null                                ResourceManager rm    ResourceManager pi                  GetValue null  null                   return rm GetString ea ResourceName                                    return string Empty              public static IList GetStrings this Type enumType                List lt string gt  stringList   new List lt string gt             FieldInfo   fiArray   enumType GetFields            foreach  FieldInfo fi in fiArray                        EnumResourceAttribute ea                    EnumResourceAttribute fi                       GetCustomAttributes typeof EnumResourceAttribute   false                        FirstOrDefault                if  ea    null                                PropertyInfo pi   ea ResourceType                                      GetProperty CommonConstants ResourceManager                   if  pi    null                                        ResourceManager rm    ResourceManager pi                                            GetValue null  null                       stringList Add rm GetString ea ResourceName                                                      return stringList ToList              And on the elements of your Enum you can write    public enum Priority         EnumResourceAttribute typeof Resources AdviceModule   Resources ResourceNames AdviceCreateAdviceExternaPriorityMemberHigh  1       High        EnumResourceAttribute typeof Resources AdviceModule   Resources ResourceNames AdviceCreateAdviceExternaPriorityMemberRoutine  2       Routine     Where Resources ResourceNames AdviceCreateAdviceExternaPriorityMemberHigh  amp   Resources ResourceNames AdviceCreateAdviceExternaPriorityMemberRoutine are constants in the resource file or you can say the strings whose values can be available in different cultures   If you are implementing your web application in MVC architecture then create a property   private IList result  public IList Result       get               result   typeof Priority  GetStrings            return result            and in your  cshtml file you can just bind the enum to your dropdownlist like     Html DropDownListFor model   gt  Model vwClinicalInfo Priority  new SelectList Model Result     Thanks Ratnesh

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When I am in a situation like that I propose the solution below   And as a consuming class you could have   using System  using System Collections Generic  using System Linq  using System Text   namespace MyApp Dictionaries       class Greek                public static readonly string Alpha    Alpha           public static readonly string Beta    Beta           public static readonly string Gamma    Gamma           public static readonly string Delta    Delta             private static readonly BiDictionary lt int  string gt  Dictionary   new BiDictionary lt int  string gt               static Greek                 Dictionary Add 1  Alpha               Dictionary Add 2  Beta               Dictionary Add 3  Gamma               Dictionary Add 4  Delta                      public static string getById int id               return Dictionary GetByFirst id                      public static int getByValue string value                        return Dictionary GetBySecond value                        And using a bidirectional dictionary   Based on this  https   stackoverflow com a 255638 986160  assuming that the keys will be associated with single values in the dictionary and similar to  https   stackoverflow com a 255630 986160  but a bit more elegant  This dictionary is also enumerable and you can go back and forth from ints to strings  Also you don t have to have any string in your codebase with the exception of this class   using System  using System Collections Generic  using System Linq  using System Text  using System Collections   namespace MyApp Dictionaries        class BiDictionary lt TFirst  TSecond gt    IEnumerable               IDictionary lt TFirst  TSecond gt  firstToSecond   new Dictionary lt TFirst  TSecond gt             IDictionary lt TSecond  TFirst gt  secondToFirst   new Dictionary lt TSecond  TFirst gt              public void Add TFirst first  TSecond second                        firstToSecond Add first  second               secondToFirst Add second  first                      public TSecond this TFirst first                        get   return GetByFirst first                        public TFirst this TSecond second                        get   return GetBySecond second                        public TSecond GetByFirst TFirst first                        return firstToSecond first                      public TFirst GetBySecond TSecond second                        return secondToFirst second                      public IEnumerator GetEnumerator                         return GetFirstEnumerator                       public IEnumerator GetFirstEnumerator                         return firstToSecond GetEnumerator                       public IEnumerator GetSecondEnumerator                         return secondToFirst GetEnumerator

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I know pretty well that this question have already been answered and that the OP is already happy with the accepted answer  But I found most of the answers  including the accepted one  to be a little bit more complicated   I have a project which gave me a situation like this and I was able to achieve it this way   First  you have to consider the casing of your enum names   public enum AuthenticationMethod       Forms   1      WindowsAuthentication   2      SingleSignOn   3     Then  have this extension   using System Text RegularExpression   public static class AnExtension       public static string Name this Enum value                string strVal   value ToString            try                       return Regex Replace strVal     a-z    A-Z       1  2                      catch                             return strVal            Through this you can turn your every enum name to its string representation with each word separated with a space  Ex   AuthenticationMethod am   AuthenticationMethod WindowsAuthentication  MessageBox Show am Name

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Use object Enum Parse System Type enumType  string value  bool ignoreCase   got it from http   blogs msdn com b tims archive 2004 04 02 106310 aspx

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My answer  working on  user29964  s answer  which is by far the simplest and closest to a Enum  is   public class StringValue   System Attribute               private string  value           public StringValue string value                         value   value                     public string Value                       get   return  value                         public static string GetStringValue Enum Flagvalue                        Type type   Flagvalue GetType                string   flags   Flagvalue ToString   Split      Select x   gt  x Trim    ToArray                List lt string gt  values   new List lt string gt                  for  int i   0  i  lt  flags Length  i                                   FieldInfo fi   type GetField flags i  ToString                      StringValue   attrs                      fi GetCustomAttributes typeof StringValue                                              false  as StringValue                    if  attrs Length  gt  0                                        values Add attrs 0  Value                                               return String Join      values                usage   Flags      public enum CompeteMetric                     lt summary gt              u              lt  summary gt           StringValue  u     Json mapping         Basic UniqueVisitors   1   Basic                             lt summary gt              vi              lt  summary gt           StringValue  vi     json mapping         Basic Visits   2   Basic                            lt summary gt              rank              lt  summary gt           StringValue  rank     json mapping         Basic Rank   4  Basic      Example          CompeteMetric metrics   CompeteMetric Basic Visits   CompeteMetric Basic Rank          string strmetrics   StringValue GetStringValue metrics     this will return  vi rank

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old post but     The answer to this may actually be very simple  Use Enum ToString   function  There are 6 overloads of this function  you can use Enum Tostring  F   or Enum ToString   to return the string value  No need to bother with anything else  Here is a working Demo  Note that this solution may not work for all compilers  this demo does not work as expected  but at least it works for the latest compiler

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Unfortunately reflection to get attributes on enums is quite slow   See this question  Anyone know a quick way to get to custom attributes on an enum value   The  ToString   is quite slow on enums too   You can write extension methods for enums though   public static string GetName  this MyEnum input         switch   input             case MyEnum WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION              return  Windows             and so on           This isn t great  but will be quick and not require the reflection for attributes or field name     C 6 Update  If you can use C 6 then the new nameof operator works for enums  so nameof MyEnum WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION  will be converted to  WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION  at compile time  making it the quickest way to get enum names   Note that this will convert the explicit enum to an inlined constant  so it doesn t work for enums that you have in a variable  So   nameof AuthenticationMethod FORMS      FORMS    But     var myMethod   AuthenticationMethod FORMS  nameof myMethod      myMethod

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When I m confronted with this problem  there are a couple of questions that I try to find the answers to first    Are the names of my enum values sufficiently friendly for the purpose  or do I need to provide friendlier ones  Do I need to round-trip   That is  will I need to take text values and parse them into enum values  Is this something I need to do for many enums in my project  or just one  What kind of UI elements will I be presenting this information in - in particular  will I be binding to the UI  or using property sheets  Does this need to be localizable    The simplest way to do this is with Enum GetValue  and support round-tripping using Enum Parse    It s also often worth building a TypeConverter  as Steve Mitcham suggests  to support UI binding    It s not necessary to build a TypeConverter when you re using property sheets  which is one of the nice things about property sheets   Though lord knows they have their own issues    In general  if the answers to the above questions suggest that s not going to work  my next step is to create and populate a static Dictionary lt MyEnum  string gt   or possibly a Dictionary lt Type  Dictionary lt int  string gt  gt    I tend to skip the intermediate decorate-the-code-with-attributes step because what s usually coming down the pike next is the need to change the friendly values after deployment  often  but not always  because of localization

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You can reference the name rather than the value by using ToString    Console WriteLine  Auth method   0    AuthenticationMethod Forms ToString       The documentation is here   http   msdn microsoft com en-us library 16c1xs4z aspx     and if you name your enums in Pascal Case  as I do - such as ThisIsMyEnumValue   1 etc   then you could use a very simple regex to print the friendly form   static string ToFriendlyCase this string EnumString        return Regex Replace EnumString          A-Z        1        which can easily be called from any string   Console WriteLine  ConvertMyCrazyPascalCaseSentenceToFriendlyCase  ToFriendlyCase       Outputs      Convert My Crazy Pascal Case Sentence To Friendly Case   That saves running all the way around the houses creating custom attributes and attaching them to your enums or using lookup tables to marry an enum value with a friendly string and best of all it s self managing and can be used on any Pascal Case string which is infinitely more reusable  Of course  it doesn t allow you to have a different friendly name than your enum which your solution does provide   I do like your original solution though for more complex scenarios though   You could take your solution one step further and make your GetStringValue an extension method of your enum and then you wouldn t need to reference it like StringEnum GetStringValue     public static string GetStringValue this AuthenticationMethod value      string output   null    Type type   value GetType      FieldInfo fi   type GetField value ToString       StringValue   attrs   fi GetCustomAttributes typeof StringValue   false  as StringValue      if  attrs Length  gt  0      output   attrs 0  Value    return output      You could then access it easily straight from your enum instance   Console WriteLine AuthenticationMethod SSO GetStringValue

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Unfortunately reflection to get attributes on enums is quite slow   See this question  Anyone know a quick way to get to custom attributes on an enum value   The  ToString   is quite slow on enums too   You can write extension methods for enums though   public static string GetName  this MyEnum input         switch   input             case MyEnum WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION              return  Windows             and so on           This isn t great  but will be quick and not require the reflection for attributes or field name     C 6 Update  If you can use C 6 then the new nameof operator works for enums  so nameof MyEnum WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION  will be converted to  WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION  at compile time  making it the quickest way to get enum names   Note that this will convert the explicit enum to an inlined constant  so it doesn t work for enums that you have in a variable  So   nameof AuthenticationMethod FORMS      FORMS    But     var myMethod   AuthenticationMethod FORMS  nameof myMethod      myMethod

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Unfortunately reflection to get attributes on enums is quite slow   See this question  Anyone know a quick way to get to custom attributes on an enum value   The  ToString   is quite slow on enums too   You can write extension methods for enums though   public static string GetName  this MyEnum input         switch   input             case MyEnum WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION              return  Windows             and so on           This isn t great  but will be quick and not require the reflection for attributes or field name     C 6 Update  If you can use C 6 then the new nameof operator works for enums  so nameof MyEnum WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION  will be converted to  WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION  at compile time  making it the quickest way to get enum names   Note that this will convert the explicit enum to an inlined constant  so it doesn t work for enums that you have in a variable  So   nameof AuthenticationMethod FORMS      FORMS    But     var myMethod   AuthenticationMethod FORMS  nameof myMethod      myMethod

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If you ve come here looking to implement a simple  Enum  but whose values are strings instead of ints  here is the simplest solution       public sealed class MetricValueList               public static readonly string Brand    A4082457-D467-E111-98DC-0026B9010912           public static readonly string Name    B5B5E167-D467-E111-98DC-0026B9010912           Implementation   var someStringVariable   MetricValueList Brand

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You can reference the name rather than the value by using ToString    Console WriteLine  Auth method   0    AuthenticationMethod Forms ToString       The documentation is here   http   msdn microsoft com en-us library 16c1xs4z aspx     and if you name your enums in Pascal Case  as I do - such as ThisIsMyEnumValue   1 etc   then you could use a very simple regex to print the friendly form   static string ToFriendlyCase this string EnumString        return Regex Replace EnumString          A-Z        1        which can easily be called from any string   Console WriteLine  ConvertMyCrazyPascalCaseSentenceToFriendlyCase  ToFriendlyCase       Outputs      Convert My Crazy Pascal Case Sentence To Friendly Case   That saves running all the way around the houses creating custom attributes and attaching them to your enums or using lookup tables to marry an enum value with a friendly string and best of all it s self managing and can be used on any Pascal Case string which is infinitely more reusable  Of course  it doesn t allow you to have a different friendly name than your enum which your solution does provide   I do like your original solution though for more complex scenarios though   You could take your solution one step further and make your GetStringValue an extension method of your enum and then you wouldn t need to reference it like StringEnum GetStringValue     public static string GetStringValue this AuthenticationMethod value      string output   null    Type type   value GetType      FieldInfo fi   type GetField value ToString       StringValue   attrs   fi GetCustomAttributes typeof StringValue   false  as StringValue      if  attrs Length  gt  0      output   attrs 0  Value    return output      You could then access it easily straight from your enum instance   Console WriteLine AuthenticationMethod SSO GetStringValue

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I use a combination of several of the suggestions above  combined with some caching   Now  I got the idea from some code that I found somewhere on the net  but I can neither remember where I got it or find it   So if anyone ever finds something that looks similar please comment with the attribution   Anyway  the usage involves the type converters  so if you are binding to the UI it  just works    You can extended with Jakub s pattern for quick code lookup by initializing from the type converter into the static methods   The base usage would look like this   TypeConverter typeof CustomEnumTypeConverter lt MyEnum gt     public enum MyEnum          The custom type converter will use the description attribute      Description  A custom description        ValueWithCustomDescription         This will be exposed exactly     Exact     The code for the custom enum type converter follows   public class CustomEnumTypeConverter lt T gt    EnumConverter     where T   struct       private static readonly Dictionary lt T string gt  s toString          new Dictionary lt T  string gt          private static readonly Dictionary lt string  T gt  s toValue          new Dictionary lt string  T gt          private static bool s isInitialized       static CustomEnumTypeConverter                 System Diagnostics Debug Assert typeof T  IsEnum             The custom enum class must be used with an enum type                public CustomEnumTypeConverter     base typeof T                 if   s isInitialized                        Initialize                s isInitialized   true                       protected void Initialize                 foreach  T item in Enum GetValues typeof T                          string description   GetDescription item               s toString item    description              s toValue description    item                       private static string GetDescription T optionValue                var optionDescription   optionValue ToString            var optionInfo   typeof T  GetField optionDescription           if  Attribute IsDefined optionInfo  typeof DescriptionAttribute                          var attribute                   DescriptionAttribute Attribute                   GetCustomAttribute optionInfo  typeof DescriptionAttribute                return attribute Description                    return optionDescription             public override object ConvertTo ITypeDescriptorContext context          System Globalization CultureInfo culture          object value  Type destinationType                var optionValue    T value           if  destinationType    typeof string   amp  amp               s toString ContainsKey optionValue                         return s toString optionValue                      return base ConvertTo context  culture  value  destinationType              public override object ConvertFrom ITypeDescriptorContext context          System Globalization CultureInfo culture  object value                var stringValue   value as string           if   string IsNullOrEmpty stringValue   amp  amp  s toValue ContainsKey stringValue                         return s toValue stringValue                      return base ConvertFrom context  culture  value

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If you think about the problem we re trying to solve  it s not an enum we need at all   We need an object that allows a certain number of values to be associated with eachother  in other words  to define a class   Jakub   turc s type-safe enum pattern is the best option I see here   Look at it    It has a private constructor so only the class itself can define the allowed values  It is a sealed class so values can t be modifed through inheritence  It is type-safe  allowing your methods to require only that type  There is no reflection performance hit incurred by accessing the values  And lastly  it can be modified to associate more than two fields together  for example a Name  Description  and a numeric Value

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I agree with Keith  but I can t vote up  yet    I use a static method and swith statement to return exactly what I want  In the database I store tinyint and my code only uses the actual enum  so the strings are for UI requirements  After numerous testing this resulted in the best performance and most control over the output   public static string ToSimpleString this enum         switch  enum                  case ComplexForms               return  ComplexForms                break            public static string ToFormattedString this enum         switch  enum                  case ComplexForms               return  Complex Forms                break             However  by some accounts  this leads to a possible maintenance nightmare and some code smell  I try to keep an eye for enums that are long and a lot of enums  or those that change frequently  Otherwise  this has been a great solution for me

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I know pretty well that this question have already been answered and that the OP is already happy with the accepted answer  But I found most of the answers  including the accepted one  to be a little bit more complicated   I have a project which gave me a situation like this and I was able to achieve it this way   First  you have to consider the casing of your enum names   public enum AuthenticationMethod       Forms   1      WindowsAuthentication   2      SingleSignOn   3     Then  have this extension   using System Text RegularExpression   public static class AnExtension       public static string Name this Enum value                string strVal   value ToString            try                       return Regex Replace strVal     a-z    A-Z       1  2                      catch                             return strVal            Through this you can turn your every enum name to its string representation with each word separated with a space  Ex   AuthenticationMethod am   AuthenticationMethod WindowsAuthentication  MessageBox Show am Name

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Here is yet another way to accomplish the task of associating strings with enums   struct DATABASE       public enum enums  NOTCONNECTED  CONNECTED  ERROR      static List lt string gt  strings           new List lt string gt      Not Connected    Connected    Error         public string GetString DATABASE enums value            return strings  int value             This method is called like this   public FormMain         DATABASE dbEnum       string enumName   dbEnum GetString DATABASE enums NOTCONNECTED       You can group related enums in their own struct  Since this method uses the enum type  you can use Intellisense to display the list of enums when making the GetString   call   You can optionally use the new operator on the DATABASE struct  Not using it means the strings List is not allocated until the first GetString   call is made

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I agree with Keith  but I can t vote up  yet    I use a static method and swith statement to return exactly what I want  In the database I store tinyint and my code only uses the actual enum  so the strings are for UI requirements  After numerous testing this resulted in the best performance and most control over the output   public static string ToSimpleString this enum         switch  enum                  case ComplexForms               return  ComplexForms                break            public static string ToFormattedString this enum         switch  enum                  case ComplexForms               return  Complex Forms                break             However  by some accounts  this leads to a possible maintenance nightmare and some code smell  I try to keep an eye for enums that are long and a lot of enums  or those that change frequently  Otherwise  this has been a great solution for me

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Use method  Enum GetName Type MyEnumType   object enumvariable      as in  Assume Shipper is a defined Enum   Shipper x   Shipper FederalExpress  string s   Enum GetName typeof Shipper   x     There are a bunch of other static methods on the Enum class worth investigating too

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A lot of great answers here but in my case did not solve what I wanted out of an  string enum   which was    Usable in a switch statement       e g  switch myEnum  Can be used in function parameters e g  foo myEnum type  Can be referenced                  e g  myEnum FirstElement I can use strings                  e g  foo  FirstElement      foo myEnum FirstElement    1 2  amp  4 can actually be solved with a C  Typedef of a string  since strings are switchable in c    3 can be solved by static const strings  So if you have the same needs  this is the simplest approach   public sealed class Types        private readonly String name       private Types String name                this name   name              public override String ToString                 return name             public static implicit operator Types string str                return new Types str              public static implicit operator string Types str                return str ToString                 region enum      public const string DataType    Data       public const string ImageType    Image       public const string Folder    Folder        endregion      This allows for example       public TypeArgs Types SelectedType                Types SelectedType   SelectedType         and   public TypeObject CreateType Types type                switch  type                         case Types ImageType                                   break               case Types DataType                                  break                     Where CreateType can be called with a string or a type  However the downside is that any string is automatically a valid enum  this could be modified but then it would require some kind of init function   or possibly make they explicit cast internal   Now if an int value was important to you  perhaps for comparison speed   you could use some ideas from Jakub   turc fantastic answer and do something a bit crazy  this is my stab at it       public sealed class Types       private static readonly Dictionary lt string  Types gt  strInstance   new Dictionary lt string  Types gt         private static readonly Dictionary lt int  Types gt  intInstance   new Dictionary lt int  Types gt          private readonly String name      private static int layerTypeCount   0      private int value      private Types String name                this name   name          value   layerTypeCount            strInstance name    this          intInstance value    this             public override String ToString                 return name              public static implicit operator Types int val                Types result          if  intInstance TryGetValue val  out result               return result          else             throw new InvalidCastException               public static implicit operator Types string str                Types result          if  strInstance TryGetValue str  out result                         return result                    else                       result   new Types str               return result                       public static implicit operator string Types str                return str ToString               public static bool operator    Types a  Types b                return a value    b value            public static bool operator    Types a  Types b                return a value    b value              region enum      public const string DataType    Data       public const string ImageType    Image         endregion      but of course  Types bob   4   would be meaningless unless you had initialized them first which would sort of defeat the point      But in theory TypeA    TypeB would be quicker

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How I solved this as an extension method   using System ComponentModel  public static string GetDescription this Enum value        var descriptionAttribute    DescriptionAttribute value GetType            GetField value ToString             GetCustomAttributes false           Where a   gt  a is DescriptionAttribute           FirstOrDefault         return descriptionAttribute    null   descriptionAttribute Description   value ToString        Enum   public enum OrderType       None   0       Description  New Card        NewCard   1       Description  Reload        Refill   2     Usage  where o OrderType is a property with the same name as the enum    o OrderType GetDescription     Which gives me a string of  New Card  or  Reload  instead of the actual enum value NewCard and Refill

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I agree with Keith  but I can t vote up  yet    I use a static method and swith statement to return exactly what I want  In the database I store tinyint and my code only uses the actual enum  so the strings are for UI requirements  After numerous testing this resulted in the best performance and most control over the output   public static string ToSimpleString this enum         switch  enum                  case ComplexForms               return  ComplexForms                break            public static string ToFormattedString this enum         switch  enum                  case ComplexForms               return  Complex Forms                break             However  by some accounts  this leads to a possible maintenance nightmare and some code smell  I try to keep an eye for enums that are long and a lot of enums  or those that change frequently  Otherwise  this has been a great solution for me

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I use the Description attribute from the System ComponentModel namespace   Simply decorate the enum and then use this code to retrieve it   public static string GetDescription lt T gt  this object enumerationValue              where T   struct                       Type type   enumerationValue GetType                if   type IsEnum                                throw new ArgumentException  EnumerationValue must be of Enum type    enumerationValue                                 Tries to find a DescriptionAttribute for a potential friendly name               for the enum             MemberInfo   memberInfo   type GetMember enumerationValue ToString                 if  memberInfo    null  amp  amp  memberInfo Length  gt  0                                object   attrs   memberInfo 0  GetCustomAttributes typeof DescriptionAttribute   false                    if  attrs    null  amp  amp  attrs Length  gt  0                                          Pull out the description value                     return   DescriptionAttribute attrs 0   Description                                                If we have no description attribute  just return the ToString of the enum             return enumerationValue ToString                 As an example   public enum Cycle   int               Description  Daily Cycle       Daily   1     Weekly     Monthly     This code nicely caters for enums where you don t need a  Friendly name  and will return just the  ToString   of the enum

[c#] String representation of an Enum

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