Getting More than 2 Values for an Enum Item

In this code snippet I will get 3 types of values for am enum item 1. Integer 2. Name of enum Item (string Value of enum) and 3. a different string to display.

As we know that we can get Enum and it value from an Enum type e.g. I want to create an enum for sorting of article like below:

enum ArticleSortingOptions
{
   MostPopularArticle =1,
   LatestArticles =2,
   FeaturedArtilces =3,
   MostLikedArtilces =4,
   MostCommentedArtilces=5
}

And accessing it like

WriteLine(MostPopularArticle.ToString());
WriteLine((int)MostPopularArticle);

Output

MostPopularArticle

you may be thinking that I am aceesing enum item without enum name. Yes, it is possible in C# 6 & C# 7 that we can acess enum items without enum name for that we have to write enum name in using statement i.e.

using static MultiValuedEnum.ArticleSortingOptions;

You will never prefer to display the value like “MostPopularArticle” but to be displayed like “Most Popular Article”. As we know that enum will not allow you to write an item with spaces. So we will require 3 types of values

1. Integer value of enum item.

2. 2. Name of enum Item (string Value of enum).

3. 3. Description of Enum (or some other value as per requirement).

We can achieve this by writing and extension method for enum.

public static class ExtendEnum
{
   public static string DisplayString<T>(this T enumVal)
   {
      FieldInfo fi = enumVal.GetType().GetField(enumVal.ToString());
      var attrs = fi?.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), true);
      if (attrs != null && attrs.Length > 0)
      {
         return ((DescriptionAttribute)attrs[0]).Description;
      }
      return "No Description found";
   }
}

And access like:

WriteLine(MostPopularArticle.ToString());
WriteLine((int)MostPopularArticle);
WriteLine(MostPopularArticle.DisplayString());

Complete Code:

using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Reflection;
using static MultiValuedEnum.ArticleSortingOptions;
using static System.Console;

namespace MultiValuedEnum
{
    enum ArticleSortingOptions
    {
        [Description("Most Popular Article")]
        MostPopularArticle = 1,
        LatestArticles = 2,
        FeaturedArtilces = 3,
        MostLikedArtilces = 4,
        MostCommentedArtilces = 5
    }
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            WriteLine(MostPopularArticle.ToString());
            WriteLine((int)MostPopularArticle);
            WriteLine(MostPopularArticle.DisplayString());
        }
    }

    public static class ExtendEnum
    {
        public static string DisplayString<T>(this T enumVal)
        {
            FieldInfo fi = enumVal.GetType().GetField(enumVal.ToString());
            var attrs = fi?.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), true);
            if (attrs != null && attrs.Length > 0)
            {
                return ((DescriptionAttribute)attrs[0]).Description;
            }
            return "No Description found";
        }
    }
}

Output

MostPopularArticle

Most Popular Article