Difference between Enum.GetValues and Enum.GetNames

Question

I see the Enum.GetValues returns base Array type and Enum.GetNames returns a string array. But I don\'t understand how th

Answer 1

GetValues will return an Array of the underlying integer values for each item in the Enum.

GetNames will return a string array of the Names for the items in the enum.

The Array returned by GetValues implements IList while the string[] returned by GetNames does not, which explains the binding differences.

Answer 2

Enums are actually numeric. GetNames returns the field names. GetValues returns the numeric values.

MSDN has a great sample on GetValues.

Answer 3

Think of enumerations as Name/Value pairs.

enum SignMagnitude { Negative = -1, Zero = 0, Positive = 1 };

In the example above, GetNames() will return a string array containing the items "Negative", "Zero", and "Positive." GetValues() will return an array of SignMagnitude containing SignMagnitude.Negative, SignMagnitude.Zero and SignMagnitude.One.

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There is an example of binding Enum names to a dropdown in a DataGridView here: Create drop down list options from enum in a DataGridView