Convert.ChangeType and converting to enums?

Question

I got an Int16 value, from the database, and need to convert this to an enum type. This is unfortunately done in a layer of the code that knows very little about the objects except for what it can gather through reflection.

As such, it ends up calling Convert.ChangeType which fails with an invalid cast exception.

I found what I consider a smelly workaround, like this:

String name = Enum.GetName(destinationType, value);
Object enumValue = Enum.Parse(destinationType, name, false);

Is there a better way, so that I don't have to move through this String operation?

Here's a short, but complete, program that can be used if anyone need to experiment:

using System;

public class MyClass
{
    public enum DummyEnum
    {
        Value0,
        Value1
    }

    public static void Main()
    {
        Int16 value = 1;
        Type destinationType = typeof(DummyEnum);

        String name = Enum.GetName(destinationType, value);
        Object enumValue = Enum.Parse(destinationType, name, false);

        Console.WriteLine("" + value + " = " + enumValue);
    }
}

Answer 1

Enum.ToObject(.... is what you're looking for!

C#

StringComparison enumValue = (StringComparison)Enum.ToObject(typeof(StringComparison), 5);

VB.NET

Dim enumValue As StringComparison = CType([Enum].ToObject(GetType(StringComparison), 5), StringComparison)

If you do a lot of Enum converting try using the following class it will save you alot of code.

public class Enum<EnumType> where EnumType : struct, IConvertible
{

    /// <summary>
    /// Retrieves an array of the values of the constants in a specified enumeration.
    /// </summary>
    /// <returns></returns>
    /// <remarks></remarks>
    public static EnumType[] GetValues()
    {
        return (EnumType[])Enum.GetValues(typeof(EnumType));
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Converts the string representation of the name or numeric value of one or more enumerated constants to an equivalent enumerated object.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="name"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    /// <remarks></remarks>
    public static EnumType Parse(string name)
    {
        return (EnumType)Enum.Parse(typeof(EnumType), name);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Converts the string representation of the name or numeric value of one or more enumerated constants to an equivalent enumerated object.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="name"></param>
    /// <param name="ignoreCase"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    /// <remarks></remarks>
    public static EnumType Parse(string name, bool ignoreCase)
    {
        return (EnumType)Enum.Parse(typeof(EnumType), name, ignoreCase);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Converts the specified object with an integer value to an enumeration member.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="value"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    /// <remarks></remarks>
    public static EnumType ToObject(object value)
    {
        return (EnumType)Enum.ToObject(typeof(EnumType), value);
    }
}

Now instead of writing (StringComparison)Enum.ToObject(typeof(StringComparison), 5); you can simply write Enum<StringComparison>.ToObject(5);.

Answer 2

Based on the @Peter's answer here is the method for Nullable<int> to Enum conversion:

public static class EnumUtils
{
        public static bool TryParse<TEnum>(int? value, out TEnum result)
            where TEnum: struct, IConvertible
        {
            if(!value.HasValue || !Enum.IsDefined(typeof(TEnum), value)){
                result = default(TEnum);
                return false;
            }
            result = (TEnum)Enum.ToObject(typeof(TEnum), value);
            return true;
        }
}

Using EnumUtils.TryParse<YourEnumType>(someNumber, out result) becomes useful for many scenarios. For example, WebApi Controller in Asp.NET does not have default protection against invalid Enum params. Asp.NET will just use default(YourEnumType) value, even if some passes null, -1000, 500000, "garbage string" or totally ignores the parameter. Moreover, ModelState will be valid in all these cases, so one of the solution is to use int? type with custom check

public class MyApiController: Controller
{
    [HttpGet]
    public IActionResult Get(int? myEnumParam){    
        MyEnumType myEnumParamParsed;
        if(!EnumUtils.TryParse<MyEnumType>(myEnumParam, out myEnumParamParsed)){
            return BadRequest($"Error: parameter '{nameof(myEnumParam)}' is not specified or incorrect");
        }      

        return this.Get(washingServiceTypeParsed);            
    }
    private IActionResult Get(MyEnumType myEnumParam){ 
       // here we can guarantee that myEnumParam is valid
    }

Answer 3

If you are storing an Enum in a DataTable but don't know which column is an enum and which is a string/int, you can access the value this way:

foreach (DataRow dataRow in myDataTable.Rows)
{
    Trace.WriteLine("=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=");
    foreach (DataColumn dataCol in myDataTable.Columns)
    {
        object v = dataRow[dataCol];
        Type t = dataCol.DataType;
        bool e = false;
        if (t.IsEnum) e = true;

        Trace.WriteLine((dataCol.ColumnName + ":").PadRight(30) +
            (e ? Enum.ToObject(t, v) : v));
    }
}