in asp.net mvc, can i make a default editor template for enum?

Question

which i mean can i do something like this :

<%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl" %> <% -- any code to read the enum and write a dropdown -->

and put it in the EditorTemplates folder under the name (Enum.ascx) ?

//-------------a work around my problem but it's not what i need------//

here is my Enum

public enum GenderEnum
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Male
    /// </summary>
    [Description("Male Person")]
    Male,

    /// <summary>
    /// Female
    /// </summary>
    [Description("Female Person")]
    Female
}

I made a template Called GenderEnum.acsx and put it under Shared/EditorTemplates folder. and here is the Template:

<%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl<AlefTech.HumanResource.Core.GenderEnum>" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="AlefTech.HumanResource.WebModule.Classes" %>
<%=Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.GetType().Name, Model.GetType()) %>

of course the Method is of my own:

public static class HtmlHelperExtension
    {
        public static MvcHtmlString DropDownListFor<TModel, TProperty>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> htmlHelper, Expression<Func<TModel, TProperty>> expression, Type enumType)
        {
            List<SelectListItem> list = new List<SelectListItem>();
            Dictionary<string, string> enumItems = enumType.GetDescription();
            foreach (KeyValuePair<string, string> pair in enumItems)
                list.Add(new SelectListItem() { Value = pair.Key, Text = pair.Value });
            return htmlHelper.DropDownListFor(expression, list);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// return the items of enum paired with its descrtioption.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="enumeration">enumeration type to be processed.</param>
        /// <returns></returns>
        public static Dictionary<string, string> GetDescription(this Type enumeration)
        {
            if (!enumeration.IsEnum)
            {
                throw new ArgumentException("passed type must be of Enum type", "enumerationValue");
            }

            Dictionary<string, string> descriptions = new Dictionary<string, string>();
            var members = enumeration.GetMembers().Where(m => m.MemberType == MemberTypes.Field);

            foreach (MemberInfo member in members)
            {
                var attrs = member.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);
                if (attrs.Count() != 0)
                    descriptions.Add(member.Name, ((DescriptionAttribute)attrs[0]).Description);
            }
            return descriptions;
        }

    }

but again,this worked for me,but that is not what I'm asking, instead i need the following to work:

Shared\EditorTemplates\Enum.acsx

<%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl<Enum>" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="WhereMyExtentionMethod" %>
<%=Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.GetType().Name, Model.GetType()) %>

so i don't have to make a template for every enum any more.

Answer 1

Yes

Almost sure this works out of the box.

---

Try naming your template the same name as your enum.

Answer 2

I don't think there is a default way to define an editor for all enum types because you could want different behavior depending on the situation. For example, maybe you have a [Flags] enum and want multi select, or you want a dropdownlist, or you want radio buttons.

Plus, generally you are going to want some sort of meaningful display string beyond what you can accomplish in the variable naming limitations.

Certainly assigning to a property of type enum works out of the box but how you get that value is going to be up to you.

Answer 3

Here's a helper I made for this.. In your View you can simply do:

<%= Html.DropDownForEnum<MyEnum>("some-name-for-dropdown", MyEnum.TheFirstValue) %>

for the text in the actual dropdown it will look for a Resource in the resource-file that matches the name of the enum, otherwise just write the actual Enumtext itself.

public static MvcHtmlString DropDownForEnum<T>(this HtmlHelper h, string name, T selectedValue)
{
    Type enumType = typeof(T);
    Tag t = new Tag("select").With("name", name).And("id", name);

    foreach (T val in Enum.GetValues(enumType))
    {
        string enumText = Resources.ResourceManager.GetString(val.ToString());
        if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(enumText)) enumText = val.ToString();
        Tag option = new Tag("option").With("value", (val).ToString()).AndIf(val.Equals(selectedValue), "selected", "selected").WithText(enumText);
        t.Append(option);
    }
    return MvcHtmlString.Create(t.ToString());
}

You will also need my overloaded Tag-class if you want it to work with no rewriting..

public class Tag : TagBuilder
{
public Tag (string TagName): base(TagName)
{

}

public Tag Append(Tag innerTag)
{
    base.InnerHtml += innerTag.ToString();
    return this;
}

public Tag WithText(string text)
{

    base.InnerHtml += text;
    return this;
}

public Tag With(Tag innerTag)
{
    base.InnerHtml = innerTag.ToString();
    return this;
}

public Tag With(string attributeName, string attributeValue)
{
    base.Attributes.Add(attributeName, attributeValue);
    return this;
}

public Tag And(string attributeName, string attributeValue)
{
    base.Attributes.Add(attributeName, attributeValue);
    return this;
}


public Tag AndIf(bool condition, string attributeName, string attributeValue)
{
    if(condition)
        base.Attributes.Add(attributeName, attributeValue);
    return this;
}
}

Answer 4

Hi every,
Thank you all for your contributions
Yngvebn, i tried your solution (in your last comment) before, but the only thing i didn't do is the <dynamic>, i used instead <Enum> in generic type.

at last the solution is :
create a template named Enum.acsx and put it under the Views\Shared\EditorTemplates

<%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl<dynamic>" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="the extension methods namespace" %>
<% Enum model = (Enum)Model; %>
<%=Html.DropDownList(model.GetType().Name,model.GetType())%>

and in your Entity:

public class Person
{
  [UIHint("Enum")]
  public GenderEnum Gender{get;set;}
}

public Enum GenderEnum
{
 [Description("Male Person")]
 Male,
 [Description("Female Person")]
 Female
}

and again there is Extention Methods:

public static class HtmlHelperExtension
    {
        public static MvcHtmlString DropDownListFor<TModel, TProperty>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> htmlHelper, Expression<Func<TModel, TProperty>> expression, Type enumType)
        {
            List<SelectListItem> list = new List<SelectListItem>();
            Dictionary<string, string> enumItems = enumType.GetDescription();
            foreach (KeyValuePair<string, string> pair in enumItems)
                list.Add(new SelectListItem() { Value = pair.Key, Text = pair.Value });
            return htmlHelper.DropDownListFor(expression, list);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// return the items of enum paired with its descrtioption.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="enumeration">enumeration type to be processed.</param>
        /// <returns></returns>
        public static Dictionary<string, string> GetDescription(this Type enumeration)
        {
            if (!enumeration.IsEnum)
            {
                throw new ArgumentException("passed type must be of Enum type", "enumerationValue");
            }

            Dictionary<string, string> descriptions = new Dictionary<string, string>();
            var members = enumeration.GetMembers().Where(m => m.MemberType == MemberTypes.Field);

            foreach (MemberInfo member in members)
            {
                var attrs = member.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);
                if (attrs.Count() != 0)
                    descriptions.Add(member.Name, ((DescriptionAttribute)attrs[0]).Description);
            }
            return descriptions;
        }

    }