Is there a simple way to convert C++ enum to string?

Question

Suppose we have some named enums:

enum MyEnum {
      FOO,
      BAR = 0x50
};

What I googled for is a script (any language) that scans all

Answer 1

I want to post this in case someone finds it useful.

In my case, I simply need to generate ToString() and FromString() functions for a single C++11 enum from a single .hpp file.

I wrote a python script that parses the header file containing the enum items and generates the functions in a new .cpp file.

You can add this script in CMakeLists.txt with execute_process, or as a pre-build event in Visual Studio. The .cpp file will be automatically generated, without the need to manually update it each time a new enum item is added.

generate_enum_strings.py

# This script is used to generate strings from C++ enums

import re
import sys
import os

fileName = sys.argv[1]
enumName = os.path.basename(os.path.splitext(fileName)[0])

with open(fileName, 'r') as f:
    content = f.read().replace('\n', '')

searchResult = re.search('enum(.*)\{(.*?)\};', content)
tokens = searchResult.group(2)
tokens = tokens.split(',')
tokens = map(str.strip, tokens)
tokens = map(lambda token: re.search('([a-zA-Z0-9_]*)', token).group(1), tokens)

textOut = ''
textOut += '\n#include "' + enumName + '.hpp"\n\n'
textOut += 'namespace myns\n'
textOut += '{\n'
textOut += '    std::string ToString(ErrorCode errorCode)\n'
textOut += '    {\n'
textOut += '        switch (errorCode)\n'
textOut += '        {\n'

for token in tokens:
    textOut += '        case ' + enumName + '::' + token + ':\n'
    textOut += '            return "' + token + '";\n'

textOut += '        default:\n'
textOut += '            return "Last";\n'
textOut += '        }\n'
textOut += '    }\n'
textOut += '\n'
textOut += '    ' + enumName + ' FromString(const std::string &errorCode)\n'
textOut += '    {\n'
textOut += '        if ("' + tokens[0] + '" == errorCode)\n'
textOut += '        {\n'
textOut += '            return ' + enumName + '::' + tokens[0] + ';\n'
textOut += '        }\n'

for token in tokens[1:]:
    textOut += '        else if("' + token + '" == errorCode)\n'
    textOut += '        {\n'
    textOut += '            return ' + enumName + '::' + token + ';\n'
    textOut += '        }\n'

textOut += '\n'
textOut += '        return ' + enumName + '::Last;\n'
textOut += '    }\n'
textOut += '}\n'

fileOut = open(enumName + '.cpp', 'w')
fileOut.write(textOut)

Example:

ErrorCode.hpp

#pragma once

#include 
#include 

namespace myns
{
    enum class ErrorCode : uint32_t
    {
        OK = 0,
        OutOfSpace,
        ConnectionFailure,
        InvalidJson,
        DatabaseFailure,
        HttpError,
        FileSystemError,
        FailedToEncrypt,
        FailedToDecrypt,
        EndOfFile,
        FailedToOpenFileForRead,
        FailedToOpenFileForWrite,
        FailedToLaunchProcess,

        Last
    };

    std::string ToString(ErrorCode errorCode);
    ErrorCode FromString(const std::string &errorCode);
}

Run python generate_enum_strings.py ErrorCode.hpp

Result:

ErrorCode.cpp

#include "ErrorCode.hpp"

namespace myns
{
    std::string ToString(ErrorCode errorCode)
    {
        switch (errorCode)
        {
        case ErrorCode::OK:
            return "OK";
        case ErrorCode::OutOfSpace:
            return "OutOfSpace";
        case ErrorCode::ConnectionFailure:
            return "ConnectionFailure";
        case ErrorCode::InvalidJson:
            return "InvalidJson";
        case ErrorCode::DatabaseFailure:
            return "DatabaseFailure";
        case ErrorCode::HttpError:
            return "HttpError";
        case ErrorCode::FileSystemError:
            return "FileSystemError";
        case ErrorCode::FailedToEncrypt:
            return "FailedToEncrypt";
        case ErrorCode::FailedToDecrypt:
            return "FailedToDecrypt";
        case ErrorCode::EndOfFile:
            return "EndOfFile";
        case ErrorCode::FailedToOpenFileForRead:
            return "FailedToOpenFileForRead";
        case ErrorCode::FailedToOpenFileForWrite:
            return "FailedToOpenFileForWrite";
        case ErrorCode::FailedToLaunchProcess:
            return "FailedToLaunchProcess";
        case ErrorCode::Last:
            return "Last";
        default:
            return "Last";
        }
    }

    ErrorCode FromString(const std::string &errorCode)
    {
        if ("OK" == errorCode)
        {
            return ErrorCode::OK;
        }
        else if("OutOfSpace" == errorCode)
        {
            return ErrorCode::OutOfSpace;
        }
        else if("ConnectionFailure" == errorCode)
        {
            return ErrorCode::ConnectionFailure;
        }
        else if("InvalidJson" == errorCode)
        {
            return ErrorCode::InvalidJson;
        }
        else if("DatabaseFailure" == errorCode)
        {
            return ErrorCode::DatabaseFailure;
        }
        else if("HttpError" == errorCode)
        {
            return ErrorCode::HttpError;
        }
        else if("FileSystemError" == errorCode)
        {
            return ErrorCode::FileSystemError;
        }
        else if("FailedToEncrypt" == errorCode)
        {
            return ErrorCode::FailedToEncrypt;
        }
        else if("FailedToDecrypt" == errorCode)
        {
            return ErrorCode::FailedToDecrypt;
        }
        else if("EndOfFile" == errorCode)
        {
            return ErrorCode::EndOfFile;
        }
        else if("FailedToOpenFileForRead" == errorCode)
        {
            return ErrorCode::FailedToOpenFileForRead;
        }
        else if("FailedToOpenFileForWrite" == errorCode)
        {
            return ErrorCode::FailedToOpenFileForWrite;
        }
        else if("FailedToLaunchProcess" == errorCode)
        {
            return ErrorCode::FailedToLaunchProcess;
        }
        else if("Last" == errorCode)
        {
            return ErrorCode::Last;
        }

        return ErrorCode::Last;
    }
}