Using integer enum as a index for arrays in C# without converting?

Question

I have a large collection of data, i need to store the same in string array.

this array then passed into another class as callback event.

so i need to use index as enum values so that outside person can read the string values easily.

for this i tried this,

public enum PublicData : int 
{
  CardNo = 0,
  CardName = 1,
  Address = 2,
   //etc....
}

then i have accessed this by,

string[] Publicdata = new string[iLength];
Publicdata[PublicData.CardNo] =  cardNovalue;

but here i am getting "invalid type for index - error"

How to resolve the same.

There's a discussion about this here : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/443935/indexing-arrays-with-enums-in-c-sharp — Raphaël Althaus, Nov 17 '16 at 09:21
Sounds to me like those should not be enum members at all, but properties of a data class. — SimpleVar, Nov 17 '16 at 09:23

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 17 '16 at 09:26

3

Create custom collection class and add indexer property with PublicData enum as indexer.

public enum PublicData : int
{
    CardNo = 0,
    CardName = 1,
    Address = 2,
}

public class PublicdataCollection
{
    private readonly string[] _inner;

    public string this[PublicData index]
    {
        get { return _inner[(int)index]; }
        set { _inner[(int) index] = value; }
    }

    public PublicdataCollection(int count)
    {
        _inner = new string[count];
    }
}

answered Nov 17 '16 at 09:26

Looked for an easy or inbuilt c# answer for this. but this seems to converting to int inside the class, and i don't know about the performance if i called this inside the thread routine. finally just converting to int better than this since i need code performance. thanks for pinging. – Abu Muhammad Nov 17 '16 at 09:44

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 18 '16 at 07:56

1

Just cast your enum value

Publicdata[(int)PublicData.CardNo] =  cardNovalue;

answered Nov 18 '16 at 07:56

MirrorBoy

618
7
11

Mitulát báti · Answer 3 · 2016-11-17T09:43:15.313

0

Or you can go with an Extension method:

public static class MyEnumExtensions
{
    public static int Val(this PublicData en)
    {
        return (int)en;            
    }
}

Usage:

Publicdata[PublicData.Address.Val()];

edited Nov 17 '16 at 09:43

answered Nov 17 '16 at 09:21

Mitulát báti

2,086
5
23
37

@ bati, Dear , i know this, but As i mentioned in my question title i need answer without converting to int. – Abu Muhammad Nov 17 '16 at 09:27
Why not just **return (int)en;** – Innat3 Nov 17 '16 at 09:41

Using integer enum as a index for arrays in C# without converting?

3 Answers3