How do you bind an Enum to a DropDownList control in ASP.NET?

Question

Let\'s say I have the following simple enum:

enum Response
{
    Yes = 1,
    No = 2,
    Maybe = 3
}

How can I bind this enum to a DropDow

Answer 1

public enum Color
{
    RED,
    GREEN,
    BLUE
}

Every Enum type derives from System.Enum. There are two static methods that help bind data to a drop-down list control (and retrieve the value). These are Enum.GetNames and Enum.Parse. Using GetNames, you are able to bind to your drop-down list control as follows:

protected System.Web.UI.WebControls.DropDownList ddColor;

private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
     if(!IsPostBack)
     {
        ddColor.DataSource = Enum.GetNames(typeof(Color));
        ddColor.DataBind();
     }
}

Now if you want the Enum value Back on Selection ....

  private void ddColor_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
  {
    Color selectedColor = (Color)Enum.Parse(typeof(Color),ddColor.SelectedValue
  }