Using enums in WCF Data Services

Question

I\'m trying to manually build a WCF Data Service using a POCO data model and I cannot figure out how to properly expose enum values. Assuming a simple model lik

Answer 1

As follow-up, the "wrapper" approach is ultimately what worked. Essentially, a small class is written to wrap the enum and return primitive int values in the Data Service:

[IgnoreProperties("EnumValue")]
public class OrderStatusWrapper
{
    private OrderStatus _t;

    public int Value
    {
        get{ return (int)_t; }
        set { _t = (OrderStatus)value; }
    }

    public OrderStatus EnumValue
    {
        get { return _t; }
        set { _t = value; }
    }

    public static implicit operator OrderStatusWrapper(OrderStatus r)
    {
        return new OrderStatusWrapper { EnumValue = r };
    }

    public static implicit operator OrderStatus(OrderStatusWrapper rw)
    {
        if (rw == null)
            return OrderStatus.Unresolved;
        else
            return rw.EnumValue;
    }
}  

This was largely based on the advice given for working around EF4's enum limits:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/alexj/archive/2009/06/05/tip-23-how-to-fake-enums-in-ef-4.aspx

Hope this technique helps others that follow.