Why do “Not all code paths return a value” with a switch statement and an enum?

Question

I have the following code:

public int Method(MyEnum myEnum)
{
    switch (myEnum)
    {
        case MyEnum.Value1: return 1;
        case MyEnum.Val         


        

Answer 1

If you change the values in your enum (adding a fourth) your code will break. You should add a default: case to your switch statement.

of course, the other way to achieve this would be to define the integer values in your enum...

public enum MyEnum
{
    Value1 = 1,
    Value2 = 2,
    Value3 = 3
}

and then cast your enum as an int in code. Instead of int myInt = Method(myEnumValue); you can use int myInt = (int)myEnum