Sort a List by enum where enum is out of order

Question

I have a List of messages. Each message has a type.

public enum MessageType
{
    Foo = 0,
    Bar = 1,
    Boo = 2,
    Doo = 3
}

The enum

Answer 1

You can build a mapping dictionary dynamically from the Enum values with LINQ like this:

  var mappingDIctionary = new List((string[])Enum.GetNames(typeof(Hexside)))
                    .OrderBy(label => label )
                    .Select((i,n) => new {Index=i, Label=n}).ToList();

Now any new values added to the Enum n future will automatically get properly mapped.

Also, if someone decides to renumber, refactor, or reorder the enumeration, everything is handled automatically.

Update: As pointed out below, Alphabetical ordering was not called for; rather a semi- alphabetical ordering, so essentially random. Although not an answer to this particular question, this technique might be useful to future visitors, so I will leave it standing.