Getting Description Attribute of a Generic Enum

Question

I\'m having some hard time with trying to be generic with enums. I\'ve read that it\'s not that simple, and I can\'t seem to find a solution.

I\'m trying to create a

Answer 1

I took the liberty of modifying some parts of the code, like changing the return types to more C# standard API return values.

You can watch it run here.

public static EnumDescription ConvertEnumWithDescription() where T : struct, IConvertible
{
    if (!typeof(T).IsEnum)
    {
        throw new ArgumentException("Type given T must be an Enum");
    }

    var enumType = typeof(T).Name;
    var valueDescriptions = Enum.GetValues(typeof (T))
        .Cast()
        .ToDictionary(Convert.ToInt32, GetEnumDescription);

    return new EnumDescription
    {
        Type = enumType,
        ValueDescriptions = valueDescriptions
    };

}

public static string GetEnumDescription(Enum value)
{
    FieldInfo fi = value.GetType().GetField(value.ToString());

    DescriptionAttribute[] attributes =
        (DescriptionAttribute[])fi.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);

    if (attributes.Length > 0)
        return attributes[0].Description;
    return value.ToString();
}

public class EnumDescription
{
    public string Type { get; set; }
    public IDictionary ValueDescriptions { get; set; }
}