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

There is not a TryParse because the Enum's type is not known until runtime. A TryParse that follows the same methodology as say the Date.TryParse method would throw an implicit conversion error on the ByRef parameter.

I suggest doing something like this:

//1 line call to get value
MyEnums enumValue = (Sections)EnumValue(typeof(Sections), myEnumTextValue, MyEnums.SomeEnumDefault);

//Put this somewhere where you can reuse
public static object EnumValue(System.Type enumType, string value, object NotDefinedReplacement)
{
    if (Enum.IsDefined(enumType, value)) {
        return Enum.Parse(enumType, value);
    } else {
        return Enum.Parse(enumType, NotDefinedReplacement);
    }
}