String representation of an Enum

Question

I have the following enumeration:

public enum AuthenticationMethod
{
    FORMS = 1,
    WINDOWSAUTHENTICATION = 2,
    SINGLESIGNON = 3
}

T

Answer 1

Here is yet another way to accomplish the task of associating strings with enums:

struct DATABASE {
    public enum enums {NOTCONNECTED, CONNECTED, ERROR}
    static List strings =
        new List() {"Not Connected", "Connected", "Error"};

    public string GetString(DATABASE.enums value) {
        return strings[(int)value];
    }
}

This method is called like this:

public FormMain() {
    DATABASE dbEnum;

    string enumName = dbEnum.GetString(DATABASE.enums.NOTCONNECTED);
}

You can group related enums in their own struct. Since this method uses the enum type, you can use Intellisense to display the list of enums when making the GetString() call.

You can optionally use the new operator on the DATABASE struct. Not using it means the strings List is not allocated until the first GetString() call is made.