What's the best way to handle "type" tables with LINQ to SQL?

Question

I have some tables that represent various types. They usually just consist of an ID (int), and a name. Ideally I would have this in an enum. Is there a way to map a table like this onto an enum?

EDIT: How would I handle it if there were extra fields other than an ID and Name?

Answer 1

If it's just an id and a name, I generally do this:

public enum FootScent : int
{
Unknown = 0,
Mild = 1,
Sweaty =2,
SteppedInSomething = 3
}

and then on the LINQ entity property:

[Column("foot_scent_id", DbType = "Int NOT NULL")]
public FootScent Scent { get; set; }

For lookup tables with columns other than "id" and "name" that are needed, I usually just make a normal LINQ entity for them, though depending on your implementation it would probably be worth caching these to minimize trips to the DB.