How do i ToString() an enum in c++? [duplicate]

Answer 1

I really like the macro approach of @Lol4t0.

I extended it to be able to convert an enum from a string too:

#include 
#include 
#include 

// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/236129/how-to-split-a-string-in-c
std::vector split(const std::string &text, char sep) {
    std::vector tokens;
    int start = 0, end = 0;
    while ((end = text.find(sep, start)) != std::string::npos) {
        tokens.push_back(text.substr(start, end - start));
        start = end + 1;
    }
    tokens.push_back(text.substr(start));
    return tokens;
}

#define ENUM(name, ...)\
    enum name\
    {\
        __VA_ARGS__\
    };\
    static const int name##Size = (sizeof((int[]){__VA_ARGS__})/sizeof(int));\
    static const vector name##ToStringMap = split(#__VA_ARGS__, ',');\
    const string name##ToString(const name value)\
    {\
        return name##ToStringMap.at(value);\
    };\
    map name##ToFromStringMap(...)\
    {\
        map m;\
        name args[name##Size] = { __VA_ARGS__ };\
        \
        int i;\
        for(i = 0; i < name##Size; ++i)\
        {\
            m[name##ToString(args[i])] = args[i];\
        }\
        return m;\
    };\
    static map name##FromStringMap = name##ToFromStringMap(__VA_ARGS__);\
    const name name##FromString(const string value, const name defaultValue)\
    {\
        if(name##FromStringMap.count(value) == 0)\
        {\
            return defaultValue;\
        }\
        return name##FromStringMap[value];\
    };

Usage:

ENUM(MyEnum, Value1, Value2)

void main()
{
    string valueName = MyEnumToString(MyEnum::Value2);
    MyEnum value = MyEnumFromString(valueName, MyEnum::Value1);
}

I am not a C++ expert, so let me know what you think or how to do better.