How to TryParse for Enum value?

Question

I want to write a function which can validate a given value (passed as a string) against possible values of an enum. In the case of a match, it should return th

Answer 1

Here is a custom implementation of EnumTryParse. Unlike other common implementations, it also supports enum marked with the Flags attribute.

    /// 

    /// Converts the string representation of an enum to its Enum equivalent value. A return value indicates whether the operation succeeded.
    /// This method does not rely on Enum.Parse and therefore will never raise any first or second chance exception.
    /// 
    /// The enum target type. May not be null.
    /// The input text. May be null.
    /// When this method returns, contains Enum equivalent value to the enum contained in input, if the conversion succeeded.
    /// 
    /// true if s was converted successfully; otherwise, false.
    /// 
    public static bool EnumTryParse(Type type, string input, out object value)
    {
        if (type == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("type");

        if (!type.IsEnum)
            throw new ArgumentException(null, "type");

        if (input == null)
        {
            value = Activator.CreateInstance(type);
            return false;
        }

        input = input.Trim();
        if (input.Length == 0)
        {
            value = Activator.CreateInstance(type);
            return false;
        }

        string[] names = Enum.GetNames(type);
        if (names.Length == 0)
        {
            value = Activator.CreateInstance(type);
            return false;
        }

        Type underlyingType = Enum.GetUnderlyingType(type);
        Array values = Enum.GetValues(type);
        // some enums like System.CodeDom.MemberAttributes *are* flags but are not declared with Flags...
        if ((!type.IsDefined(typeof(FlagsAttribute), true)) && (input.IndexOfAny(_enumSeperators) < 0))
            return EnumToObject(type, underlyingType, names, values, input, out value);

        // multi value enum
        string[] tokens = input.Split(_enumSeperators, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
        if (tokens.Length == 0)
        {
            value = Activator.CreateInstance(type);
            return false;
        }

        ulong ul = 0;
        foreach (string tok in tokens)
        {
            string token = tok.Trim(); // NOTE: we don't consider empty tokens as errors
            if (token.Length == 0)
                continue;

            object tokenValue;
            if (!EnumToObject(type, underlyingType, names, values, token, out tokenValue))
            {
                value = Activator.CreateInstance(type);
                return false;
            }

            ulong tokenUl;
            switch (Convert.GetTypeCode(tokenValue))
            {
                case TypeCode.Int16:
                case TypeCode.Int32:
                case TypeCode.Int64:
                case TypeCode.SByte:
                    tokenUl = (ulong)Convert.ToInt64(tokenValue, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
                    break;

                //case TypeCode.Byte:
                //case TypeCode.UInt16:
                //case TypeCode.UInt32:
                //case TypeCode.UInt64:
                default:
                    tokenUl = Convert.ToUInt64(tokenValue, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
                    break;
            }

            ul |= tokenUl;
        }
        value = Enum.ToObject(type, ul);
        return true;
    }

    private static char[] _enumSeperators = new char[] { ',', ';', '+', '|', ' ' };

    private static object EnumToObject(Type underlyingType, string input)
    {
        if (underlyingType == typeof(int))
        {
            int s;
            if (int.TryParse(input, out s))
                return s;
        }

        if (underlyingType == typeof(uint))
        {
            uint s;
            if (uint.TryParse(input, out s))
                return s;
        }

        if (underlyingType == typeof(ulong))
        {
            ulong s;
            if (ulong.TryParse(input, out s))
                return s;
        }

        if (underlyingType == typeof(long))
        {
            long s;
            if (long.TryParse(input, out s))
                return s;
        }

        if (underlyingType == typeof(short))
        {
            short s;
            if (short.TryParse(input, out s))
                return s;
        }

        if (underlyingType == typeof(ushort))
        {
            ushort s;
            if (ushort.TryParse(input, out s))
                return s;
        }

        if (underlyingType == typeof(byte))
        {
            byte s;
            if (byte.TryParse(input, out s))
                return s;
        }

        if (underlyingType == typeof(sbyte))
        {
            sbyte s;
            if (sbyte.TryParse(input, out s))
                return s;
        }

        return null;
    }

    private static bool EnumToObject(Type type, Type underlyingType, string[] names, Array values, string input, out object value)
    {
        for (int i = 0; i < names.Length; i++)
        {
            if (string.Compare(names[i], input, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) == 0)
            {
                value = values.GetValue(i);
                return true;
            }
        }

        if ((char.IsDigit(input[0]) || (input[0] == '-')) || (input[0] == '+'))
        {
            object obj = EnumToObject(underlyingType, input);
            if (obj == null)
            {
                value = Activator.CreateInstance(type);
                return false;
            }
            value = obj;
            return true;
        }

        value = Activator.CreateInstance(type);
        return false;
    }