Converting Strings to Enums

In my last post I showed how to use the DescriptionAttribute to specify a customized value for an Enum value and I promised to show how to convert back to an Enum. Here it is, the FromDescription string extension method. This time I did remember to get the link from the SO answer I got this from. Thanks, max!

   1: public static T FromDescription(this string description)

   2: {

   3:   var type = typeof(T;

   4:   if (!type.IsEnum)

   5:   {

   6:     throw new InvalidOperationException($"{description} does not match any of the enumeration values);

   7:   }

   8: 

   9:   foreach (var field in type.GetFields())

  10:   {

  11:     if (Attribute.GetCustomAttribute(field, typeof(DescriptionAttribute)) is DescriptionAttribute attribute)

  12:     {

  13:       if (attribute.Description == description)

  14:       {

  15:         return (T)field.GetValue(null);

  16:       }

  17:     }

  18:     else

  19:     {

  20:       if (field.Name == description)

  21:       {

  22:         return (T)field.GetValue(null);

  23:       }

  24:     }

  25:   }

  26: 

  27:   throw new InvalidOperationException($"{description} does not match any of the enumeration values);

  28: }

Now that we have the extension method we can invoke it on any string, like this:

var contactType = "Phone Call".FromDescription<ContactTypes>();