Cast a String to an Enum Tag in C#

Question

Possible Duplicate:
How do I Convert a string to an enum in C#?

How to Convert (to Cast) a string ( a text) to be Enum tag value in C#

Answer 1

You can do this:

MyEnum oMyEnum = (MyEnum) Enum.Parse(typeof(MyEnum), "stringValue");

Answer 2

While all the Enum.Parse people are correct, there's now Enum.TryParse!

Which improves things greatly.

Answer 3

I usually use generic Enum class for this stuff:

public static class Enum<T>
{
    public static T Parse(string value)
    {
        return (T)Enum.Parse(typeof(T), value);
    }

    public static List<T> GetValues()
    {
        List<T> values = new List<T>();
        foreach (T value in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)))
            values.Add(value);
        return values;
    }

    public static string GetName(object value)
    {
        return Enum.GetName(typeof(T), value);
    }

    // etc
    // you also can add here TryParse
}

Usage is more simple:

Enum<DayOfWeek>.Parse("Friday");

Answer 4

Use Enum.Parse:

(EnumType)Enum.Parse(typeof(EnumType), "EnumString");

Answer 5

Or wrap it in a method like this:

T ParseEnum<T>(string stringValue)
{
    return (T) Enum.Parse(typeof(T), stringValue);  
}

Answer 6

.net provides some static methods on the System.Enum type to do this, and aside from the code that actually does the cast, there are several things to consider:

1. You have to know the enum type which contains the value you will cast TO.
2. It would be prudent to consider the fact that the string value you are attempting to cast might not be defined on your target enum type.

So if you have an enum:

    public enum TestEnum
    {
        FirstValue,
        SecondValue
    }

Then the following 2 static methods are provided by the System.Enum class to cast a string value to an enum type:

Enum.IsDefined (.net 1.1 - 4 + silverlight) (usage)

    TestEnum testEnum;
    if( Enum.IsDefined(typeof(TestEnum), "FirstValue") )
    {
        testEnum = (TestEnum)Enum.Parse(typeof(TestEnum), "FirstValue");
    }

Enum.TryParse ( .net 4 + silverlight) (usage)

    TestEnum testEnum;
    bool success = Enum.TryParse("FirstValue", out testEnum);

Alternatively, the Enum.Parse method (as mentioned by others) is provided if you do not need to perform any safety-checking. However, if you attempt to do something like this in our example,

    Enum.Parse(TestEnum, "ThisValueDoesNotExist")

then .net will throw a System.ArgumentException which you have to handle.

So in short, while the syntax to do what you ask is simple, there are a few precautions I would recommend considering to ensure error-free code, especially if you are parsing strings obtained from user input. If the string is from a settings file or some other sort of value you can be sure is defined in your enum type, then it may be ok to skip some of the extra steps I have outlined in my answer.

I hope this helps!