EF 4.1 Code First - map enum wrapper as complex type

Question

I\'m trying to build a generic solution to the problem of enums with EF 4.1. My solution is basically a generic version of How to fake enums in ef 4. The enum wrapper class

Answer 1

I got Nathan generic enum wrapper class to work by simply making it abstract and move:

public static implicit operator EnumWrapper  (TEnum e)

to the derived classes like this:

public class CategorySortWrapper : EnumWrapper
{
    public static implicit operator CategorySortWrapper(CategorySort e)
    {
        return new CategorySortWrapper() { Enum = e };
    }
}

public abstract class EnumWrapper where TEnum : struct, IConvertible
{
    public EnumWrapper()
    {
        if (!typeof(TEnum).IsEnum)
            throw new ArgumentException("Not an enum");
    }

    public TEnum Enum { get; set; }

    public int Value
    {
        get { return Convert.ToInt32(Enum); }
        set { Enum = (TEnum)(object)value; }
    }

    public static implicit operator int(EnumWrapper w)
    {
        if (w == null)
            return Convert.ToInt32(default(TEnum));
        else
            return w.Value;
    }
}

in my code I just using the it like this

public CategorySortWrapper ChildSortType { get; set; }

category.ChildSortType = CategorySort.AlphabeticOrder;

I didn't do anything else and EF 4.1 created a "ComplexType like field" in the database named ChildSortType_Value