You can parse the xml attribute value back to an enum type with:
var value = Enum.Parse(typeof(Fuel), "B");
But I don't think you will get really far with your "special" values (3, a/ etc.).
Why don't you define your enum as
enum Fuel
{
Benzine,
Diesel,
// ...
Three,
ASlash,
// ...
}
And write a static method to convert a string to an enum member?
One thing you could look into for implementing such a method would be to add custom attributes to the enum members containing their string representation - if a value doesn't have an exact counterpart in the enumeration, look for a member with the attribute.
Creating such an attribute is easy:
/// <summary>
/// Simple attribute class for storing String Values
/// </summary>
public class StringValueAttribute : Attribute
{
public string Value { get; private set; }
public StringValueAttribute(string value)
{
Value = value;
}
}
And then you can use them in your enum:
enum Fuel
{
[StringValue("B")]
Benzine,
[StringValue("D")]
Diesel,
// ...
[StringValue("3")]
Three,
[StringValue("/")]
Slash,
// ...
}
These two methods will help you parse a string into an enum member of your choice:
/// <summary>
/// Parses the supplied enum and string value to find an associated enum value (case sensitive).
/// </summary>
public static object Parse(Type type, string stringValue)
{
return Parse(type, stringValue, false);
}
/// <summary>
/// Parses the supplied enum and string value to find an associated enum value.
/// </summary>
public static object Parse(Type type, string stringValue, bool ignoreCase)
{
object output = null;
string enumStringValue = null;
if (!type.IsEnum)
{
throw new ArgumentException(String.Format("Supplied type must be an Enum. Type was {0}", type));
}
//Look for our string value associated with fields in this enum
foreach (FieldInfo fi in type.GetFields())
{
//Check for our custom attribute
var attrs = fi.GetCustomAttributes(typeof (StringValueAttribute), false) as StringValueAttribute[];
if (attrs != null && attrs.Length > 0)
{
enumStringValue = attrs[0].Value;
}
//Check for equality then select actual enum value.
if (string.Compare(enumStringValue, stringValue, ignoreCase) == 0)
{
output = Enum.Parse(type, fi.Name);
break;
}
}
return output;
}
And while I'm at it: here is the other way round ;)
/// <summary>
/// Gets a string value for a particular enum value.
/// </summary>
public static string GetStringValue(Enum value)
{
string output = null;
Type type = value.GetType();
if (StringValues.ContainsKey(value))
{
output = ((StringValueAttribute) StringValues[value]).Value;
}
else
{
//Look for our 'StringValueAttribute' in the field's custom attributes
FieldInfo fi = type.GetField(value.ToString());
var attributes = fi.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(StringValueAttribute), false);
if (attributes.Length > 0)
{
var attribute = (StringValueAttribute) attributes[0];
StringValues.Add(value, attribute);
output = attribute.Value;
}
}
return output;
}
