Enum “Inheritance”

Question

I have an enum in a low level namespace. I\'d like to provide a class or enum in a mid level namespace that \"inherits\" the low level enum.

namespace low
{
         


        

Answer 1

I know this answer is kind of late but this is what I ended up doing:

public class BaseAnimal : IEquatable
{
    public string Name { private set; get; }
    public int Value { private set; get; }

    public BaseAnimal(int value, String name)
    {
        this.Name = name;
        this.Value = value;
    }

    public override String ToString()
    {
        return Name;
    }

    public bool Equals(BaseAnimal other)
    {
        return other.Name == this.Name && other.Value == this.Value;
    }
}

public class AnimalType : BaseAnimal
{
    public static readonly BaseAnimal Invertebrate = new BaseAnimal(1, "Invertebrate");

    public static readonly BaseAnimal Amphibians = new BaseAnimal(2, "Amphibians");

    // etc        
}

public class DogType : AnimalType
{
    public static readonly BaseAnimal Golden_Retriever = new BaseAnimal(3, "Golden_Retriever");

    public static readonly BaseAnimal Great_Dane = new BaseAnimal(4, "Great_Dane");

    // etc        
}

Then I am able to do things like:

public void SomeMethod()
{
    var a = AnimalType.Amphibians;
    var b = AnimalType.Amphibians;

    if (a == b)
    {
        // should be equal
    }

    // call method as
    Foo(a);

    // using ifs
    if (a == AnimalType.Amphibians)
    {
    }
    else if (a == AnimalType.Invertebrate)
    {
    }
    else if (a == DogType.Golden_Retriever)
    {
    }
    // etc          
}

public void Foo(BaseAnimal typeOfAnimal)
{
}