Converting between C enum and XML

Question

What\'s the cleanest way to store an enum in XML and read it back out again? Say I\'ve got:

enum ETObjectType {ETNormalObjectType, ETRareObjectType, ETEssent         


        

Answer 1

I echo Jon's solution, but you can use the dreaded X-macro to avoid repeating yourself at all. I don't know how to comment on Jon's answer with code formatting, so here it is as a new answer.

#define ETObjectTypeEntries \
ENTRY(ETNormalObjectType) \
ENTRY(ETRareObjectType) \
ENTRY(ETEssentialObjectType)

typedef enum ETObjectType {
#define ENTRY(objectType) objectType, 
    ETObjectTypeEntries
#undef ENTRY
} ETObjectType;

NSString *ETObjectTypesAsStrings[] = {
#define ENTRY(objectType) [objectType] = @"" # objectType, 
    ETObjectTypeEntries
#undef ENTRY
};

#define countof(array) (sizeof(array)/sizeof(array[0]))

NSString *ETStringFromObjectType(ETObjectType type) {
    return ETObjectTypesAsStrings[type];
}

NSString *ETObjectTypeFromString(NSString *string) {
    NSString *match = nil;
    for(NSInteger idx = 0; !match && (idx < countof(ETObjectTypesAsStrings)); idx += 1) {
        if ([string isEqualToString:ETObjectTypesAsStrings[idx]]) {
            match = ETObjectTypesAsStrings[idx];
        }
    }
    return match;
}