How can you enumerate a enum in C#?
e.g. the following does not compile:
public enum Suit
{
Spades,
Hearts,
Clubs,
Diamonds
}
public void EnumerateAllSuitsDemoMethod()
{
foreach (Suit suit in Suit)
{
DoSomething(suit);
}
}
It gives the compile time error: 'Suit' is a 'type' but is used like a 'variable'
It fails on the Suit keyword, the 2nd one.
Edit: Got rid of Console.WriteLine(), it was confusing people
It looks to me like you really want to print out the names of each enum, rather than the values. In which case Enum.GetNames seems to be the right approach.
public enum Suits
{
Spades,
Hearts,
Clubs,
Diamonds,
NumSuits
}
public void PrintAllSuits()
{
foreach(string name in Enum.GetNames(typeof(Suits)))
{
System.Console.WriteLine(suit);
}
}
By the way, incrementing the value is not a good way to enumerate the values of an enum. You should do this instead.
I would use Enum.GetValues(typeof(Suit)) instead.
public enum Suits
{
Spades,
Hearts,
Clubs,
Diamonds,
NumSuits
}
public void PrintAllSuits()
{
foreach(var suit in Enum.GetValues(typeof(Suits)))
{
System.Console.WriteLine(suit.ToString());
}
}
Also I believe you're supposed to call it "Suit" not "Suits", unless you're going to be bitwise or-ing the values together, which you probably aren't, since suits themselves are mutually exclusive.
public void PrintAllSuits()
{
foreach(string suit in Enum.GetNames(typeof(Suits)))
{
Console.WriteLine(suit);
}
}
I made some extensions for easy enum usage, maybe someone can use it...
//
// Author: Bob Maes <[email protected]>
//
public static class EnumExtensions
{
/// <summary>
/// Gets all items for an enum value.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
/// <param name="value">The value.</param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static IEnumerable<T> GetAllItems<T>(this Enum value)
{
foreach (object item in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)))
{
yield return (T)item;
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Gets all items for an enum type.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
/// <param name="value">The value.</param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static IEnumerable<T> GetAllItems<T>() where T : struct
{
foreach (object item in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)))
{
yield return (T)item;
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Gets all combined items from an enum value.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
/// <param name="value">The value.</param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static IEnumerable<T> GetAllSelectedItems<T>(this Enum value)
{
int valueAsInt = Convert.ToInt32(value, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
foreach (object item in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)))
{
int itemAsInt = Convert.ToInt32(item, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
if (itemAsInt == (valueAsInt & itemAsInt))
{
yield return (T)item;
}
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Determines whether the enum value contains a specific value.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="value">The value.</param>
/// <param name="request">The request.</param>
/// <returns>
/// <c>true</c> if value contains the specified value; otherwise, <c>false</c>.
/// </returns>
public static bool Contains<T>(this Enum value, T request)
{
int valueAsInt = Convert.ToInt32(value, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
int requestAsInt = Convert.ToInt32(request, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
if (requestAsInt == (valueAsInt & requestAsInt))
{
return true;
}
return false;
}
}
The enum itself must be decorated with the FlagsAttribute
[Flags]
public enum EnumExample
{
ValueA = 1,
ValueB = 2,
ValueC = 4,
ValueD = 8,
Combi = ValueA | ValueB
}
The .NET compact framework does not support Enum.GetValues. Here's a good workaround from Ideas 2.0: Enum.GetValues in Compact Framework:
public IEnumerable<Enum> GetValues(Enum enumeration)
{
List<Enum> enumerations = new List<Enum>();
foreach (FieldInfo fieldInfo in enumeration.GetType().GetFields(
BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.Public))
{
enumerations.Add((Enum)fieldInfo.GetValue(enumeration));
}
return enumerations;
}
> foreach (Suit suit in Enum.GetValues(typeof(Suit))) { }
I've heard vague rumours that this is terifically slow. Anyone know? – Orion Edwards Oct 15 '08 at 1:31 7
I think caching the array would speed it up considerably. It looks like you're getting a new array (through reflection) every time. Rather:
Array ar = Enum.GetValues(typeof(Suit));
foreach(Suit temp_suit in ar) Do_Something(temp_suit);
That's at least a little faster, ja?
Just to add my solution, which works in compact framework (3.5) and supports Type checking at compile time:
public static List<T> getEnumValues<T>() where T : new() {
T valueType = new T();
return typeof(T).GetFields()
.Select(fieldInfo => (T)fieldInfo.GetValue(valueType))
.Distinct()
.ToList();
}
public static List<String> getEnumNames<T>() {
return typeof (T).GetFields()
.Select(info => info.Name)
.Distinct()
.ToList();
}
- If anyone knows how to get rid of the "T valueType = new T()", I'd be happy to see a solution.
A call would look like this:
List<MyEnum> result = Utils.getEnumValues<MyEnum>();
Another way to do this :
for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++)
{
Suit suit = (Suit)i;
DoSomething(suit);
}
But I'm not sure if it's better.