enum Values to NSString (iOS)

Question

I have an enum holding several values:

enum {value1, value2, value3} myValue;

In a certain point in my app, I wish to check which value of

Answer 1

Here is a plug-and-play solution that you can extend with a simple copy and paste of your EXISTING definitions.

I hope you all find it useful, as I have found useful so many other StackOverflow solutions.

- (NSString*) enumItemNameForPrefix:(NSString*)enumPrefix item:(int)enumItem {
NSString* enumList = nil;
if ([enumPrefix isEqualToString:@"[Add Your Enum Name Here"]) {
    // Instructions:
    // 1) leave all code as is (it's good reference and won't conflict)
    // 2) add your own enums below as follows:
    //    2.1) duplicate the LAST else block below and add as many enums as you like
    //    2.2) Copy then Paste your list, including carraige returns
    //    2.3) add a back slash at the end of each line to concatenate the broken string
    // 3) your are done.
}
else if ([enumPrefix isEqualToString:@"ExampleNonExplicitType"]) {
    enumList = @" \
    ExampleNonExplicitTypeNEItemName1, \
    ExampleNonExplicitTypeNEItemName2, \
    ExampleNonExplicitTypeNEItemName3 \
    ";
}
else if ([enumPrefix isEqualToString:@"ExampleExplicitAssignsType"]) {
    enumList = @" \
    ExampleExplicitAssignsTypeEAItemName1 = 1, \
    ExampleExplicitAssignsTypeEAItemName2 = 2, \
    ExampleExplicitAssignsTypeEAItemName3 = 4 \
    ";
}
else if ([enumPrefix isEqualToString:@"[Duplicate and Add Your Enum Name Here #1"]) {
    // Instructions:
    // 1) duplicate this else block and add as many enums as you like
    // 2) Paste your list, including carraige returns
    // 3) add a back slash at the end of each line to continue/concatenate the broken string
    enumList = @" \
    [Replace only this line: Paste your Enum Definition List Here] \
    ";
}

// parse it
int implicitIndex = 0;
NSString* itemKey = nil;
NSString* itemValue = nil;
NSArray* enumArray = [enumList componentsSeparatedByString:@","];
NSMutableDictionary* enumDict = [[[NSMutableDictionary alloc] initWithCapacity:enumArray.count] autorelease];

for (NSString* itemPair in enumArray) {
    NSArray* itemPairArray = [itemPair componentsSeparatedByString:@"="];
    itemValue = [[itemPairArray objectAtIndex:0] stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceAndNewlineCharacterSet]];
    itemKey = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d", implicitIndex];
    if (itemPairArray.count > 1)
        itemKey = [[itemPairArray lastObject] stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceAndNewlineCharacterSet]];
    [enumDict setValue:itemValue forKey:itemKey];
    implicitIndex++;
}

// return value with or without prefix
NSString* withPrefix = [enumDict valueForKey:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d", enumItem]];
NSString* withoutPrefix = [withPrefix stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:enumPrefix withString:@""];
NSString* outValue = (0 ? withPrefix : withoutPrefix);
if (0) NSLog(@"enum:%@ item:%d retVal:%@ dict:%@", enumPrefix, enumItem, outValue, enumDict);
return outValue;
}

Here are the example declarations:

typedef enum _type1 {
ExampleNonExplicitTypeNEItemName1, 
ExampleNonExplicitTypeNEItemName2, 
ExampleNonExplicitTypeNEItemName3
} ExampleNonExplicitType;

typedef enum _type2 {
ExampleExplicitAssignsTypeEAItemName1 = 1, 
ExampleExplicitAssignsTypeEAItemName2 = 2, 
ExampleExplicitAssignsTypeEAItemName3 = 4
} ExampleExplicitAssignsType;

Here is an example call:

NSLog(@"EXAMPLE:  type1:%@  type2:%@ ", [self enumItemNameForPrefix:@"ExampleNonExplicitType" item:ExampleNonExplicitTypeNEItemName2], [self enumItemNameForPrefix:@"ExampleExplicitAssignsType" item:ExampleExplicitAssignsTypeEAItemName3]);

Enjoy! ;-)