I like to use properties in a class instead of methods, since they look more enum-like.
Here’s an example for a Logger:
public class LogCategory
{
private LogCategory(string value) { Value = value; }
public string Value { get; private set; }
public static LogCategory Trace { get { return new LogCategory(“Trace”); } }
public static LogCategory Debug { get { return new LogCategory(“Debug”); } }
public static LogCategory Info { get { return new LogCategory(“Info”); } }
public static LogCategory Warning { get { return new LogCategory(“Warning”); } }
public static LogCategory Error { get { return new LogCategory(“Error”); } }
}
Pass in type-safe string values as a parameter:
public static void Write(string message, LogCategory logCategory)
{
var log = new LogEntry { Message = message };
Logger.Write(log, logCategory.Value);
}
Usage:
Logger.Write(“This is almost like an enum.”, LogCategory.Info);
You could also use the extension model:
public enum MyEnum
{
[Description(“String 1”)]
V1= 1,
[Description(“String 2”)]
V2= 2
}
Your Extension Class
public static class MyEnumExtensions
{
public static string ToDescriptionString(this MyEnum val)
{
DescriptionAttribute[] attributes = (DescriptionAttribute[])val
.GetType()
.GetField(val.ToString())
.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);
return attributes.Length > 0 ? attributes[0].Description : string.Empty;
}
}
usage:
MyEnum myLocal = MyEnum.V1;
print(myLocal.ToDescriptionString());