How can I cast int to enum?

Question

How can an int be cast to an enum in C#?

Answer 1

It can help you to convert any input data to user desired enum. Suppose you have an enum like below which by default int. Please add a Default value at first of your enum. Which is used at helpers medthod when there is no match found with input value.

public enum FriendType  
{
    Default,
    Audio,
    Video,
    Image
}

public static class EnumHelper
{
    public static T ConvertToEnum(dynamic value)
    {
        var result = default(T);
        var tempType = 0;

        //see Note below
        if (value != null &&
            int.TryParse(value.ToString(), out  tempType) && 
            Enum.IsDefined(typeof(T), tempType))
        {
            result = (T)Enum.ToObject(typeof(T), tempType); 
        }
        return result;
    }
}

N.B: Here I try to parse value into int, because enum is by default int If you define enum like this which is byte type.

public enum MediaType : byte
{
    Default,
    Audio,
    Video,
    Image
} 

You need to change parsing at helper method from

int.TryParse(value.ToString(), out  tempType)

to

byte.TryParse(value.ToString(), out tempType)

I check my method for following inputs

EnumHelper.ConvertToEnum(null);
EnumHelper.ConvertToEnum("");
EnumHelper.ConvertToEnum("-1");
EnumHelper.ConvertToEnum("6");
EnumHelper.ConvertToEnum("");
EnumHelper.ConvertToEnum("2");
EnumHelper.ConvertToEnum(-1);
EnumHelper.ConvertToEnum(0);
EnumHelper.ConvertToEnum(1);
EnumHelper.ConvertToEnum(9);

sorry for my english