I know the following is not possible because the Enumeration's type has to be an int
enum GroupTypes
{
TheGroup = "OEM",
TheOtherGroup = "CMB"
}
From my database I get a field with incomprehensive codes (the OEM and CMBs). I would want to make this field into an enum or something else understandable. Because if the target is readability, the solution should be terse.
What other options do I have?
Here is the extension method that I used to get the enum value as string. First here is the enum.
public enum DatabaseEnvironment
{
[Description("AzamSharpBlogDevDatabase")]
Development = 1,
[Description("AzamSharpBlogQADatabase")]
QualityAssurance = 2,
[Description("AzamSharpBlogTestDatabase")]
Test = 3
}
The Description attribute came from System.ComponentModel.
And here is my extension method:
public static string GetValueAsString(this DatabaseEnvironment environment)
{
// get the field
var field = environment.GetType().GetField(environment.ToString());
var customAttributes = field.GetCustomAttributes(typeof (DescriptionAttribute), false);
if(customAttributes.Length > 0)
{
return (customAttributes[0] as DescriptionAttribute).Description;
}
else
{
return environment.ToString();
}
}
Now, you can access the enum as string value using the following code:
[TestFixture]
public class when_getting_value_of_enum
{
[Test]
public void should_get_the_value_as_string()
{
Assert.AreEqual("AzamSharpBlogTestDatabase",DatabaseEnvironment.Test.GetValueAsString());
}
}
I would make it into a class an avoid an enum altogether. And then with the usage of a typehandler you could create the object when you grab it from the db.
IE:
public class Group
{
public string Value{ get; set; }
public Group( string value ){ Value = value; }
public static Group TheGroup() { return new Group("OEM"); }
public static Group OtherGroup() { return new Group("CMB"); }
}