What is the Enum.GetName equivalent for F# union member?

Question

I want to get the equivalent of Enum.GetName for an F# discriminated union member. Calling ToString() gives me TypeName+MemberName, which isn't exactly what I want. I could substring it, of course, but is it safe? Or perhaps there's a better way?

Answer 1

You need to use the classes in the Microsoft.FSharp.Reflection namespace so:

open Microsoft.FSharp.Reflection

///Returns the case name of the object with union type 'ty.
let GetUnionCaseName (x:'a) = 
    match FSharpValue.GetUnionFields(x, typeof<'a>) with
    | case, _ -> case.Name  

///Returns the case names of union type 'ty.
let GetUnionCaseNames <'ty> () = 
    FSharpType.GetUnionCases(typeof<'ty>) |> Array.map (fun info -> info.Name)

// Example
type Beverage =
    | Coffee
    | Tea

let t = Tea
> val t : Beverage = Tea

GetUnionCaseName(t)
> val it : string = "Tea"

GetUnionCaseNames<Beverage>()
> val it : string array = [|"Coffee"; "Tea"|]