Enum ToString with user friendly strings

c# enums tostring
Boris Callens picture Boris Callens · Jan 26, 2009 · Viewed 293.5k times · Source

My enum consists of the following values:

private enum PublishStatusses{
    NotCompleted,
    Completed,
    Error
};

I want to be able to output these values in a user friendly way though.
I don't need to be able to go from string to value again.

Answer

user1228 picture user1228 · Jan 26, 2009

I do this with extension methods:

public enum ErrorLevel
{
  None,
  Low,
  High,
  SoylentGreen
}

public static class ErrorLevelExtensions
{
  public static string ToFriendlyString(this ErrorLevel me)
  {
    switch(me)
    {
      case ErrorLevel.None:
        return "Everything is OK";
      case ErrorLevel.Low:
        return "SNAFU, if you know what I mean.";
      case ErrorLevel.High:
        return "Reaching TARFU levels";
      case ErrorLevel.SoylentGreen:
        return "ITS PEOPLE!!!!";
      default:
        return "Get your damn dirty hands off me you FILTHY APE!";
    }
  }
}

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