convert an enum to another type of enum

Question

I have an enum of for example \'Gender\' (Male =0 , Female =1) and I have another enum from a service which has its own Gender enum (Male =0

Answer 1

You can use ToString() to convert the first enum to its name, and then Enum.Parse() to convert the string back to the other Enum. This will throw an exception if the value is not supported by the destination enum (i.e. for an "Unknown" value)

Answer 2

You could write a simple generic extension method like this

public static T ConvertTo<T>(this object value)            
    where T : struct,IConvertible
{
    var sourceType = value.GetType();
    if (!sourceType.IsEnum)
        throw new ArgumentException("Source type is not enum");
    if (!typeof(T).IsEnum)
        throw new ArgumentException("Destination type is not enum");
    return (T)Enum.Parse(typeof(T), value.ToString());
}

Answer 3

In case when the enum members have different values, you can apply something like this:

public static MyGender? MapToMyGender(this Gender gender)
{
    return gender switch
    {
        Gender.Male => MyGender.Male,
        Gender.Female => MyGender.Female,
        Gender.Unknown => null,
        _ => throw new InvalidEnumArgumentException($"Invalid gender: {gender}")
    };
}

Then you can call: var myGender = gender.MapToMyGender();

Update: This previous code works only with C# 8. For older versions of C#, you can use the switch statement instead of the switch expression:

public static MyGender? MapToMyGender(this Gender gender)
{
    switch (gender)
    {
        case Gender.Male: 
            return MyGender.Male;
        case Gender.Female:
            return MyGender.Female;
        case Gender.Unknown:
            return null;
        default:
            throw new InvalidEnumArgumentException($"Invalid gender: {gender}")
    };
}

Answer 4

Using an extension method works quite neatly, when using the two conversion methods suggested by Nate:

public static class TheirGenderExtensions
{
    public static MyGender ToMyGender(this TheirGender value)
    {
        // insert switch statement here
    }
}

public static class MyGenderExtensions
{
    public static TheirGender ToTheirGender(this MyGender value)
    {
        // insert switch statement here
    }
}

Obviously there's no need to use separate classes if you don't want to. My preference is to keep extension methods grouped by the classes/structures/enumerations they apply to.

Answer 5

public static TEnum ConvertByName<TEnum>(this Enum source, bool ignoreCase = false) where TEnum : struct
{
    // if limited by lack of generic enum constraint
    if (!typeof(TEnum).IsEnum)
    {
        throw new InvalidOperationException("enumeration type required.");
    }

    TEnum result;
    if (!Enum.TryParse(source.ToString(), ignoreCase, out result))
    {
        throw new Exception("conversion failure.");
    }

    return result;
}

Answer 6

To be thorough I normally create a pair of functions, one that takes Enum 1 and returns Enum 2 and another that takes Enum 2 and returns Enum 1. Each consists of a case statement mapping inputs to outputs and the default case throws an exception with a message complaining about an unexpected value.

In this particular case you could take advantage of the fact that the integer values of Male and Female are the same, but I'd avoid that as it's hackish and subject to breakage if either enum changes in the future.