Wrong C# Enum value result?

Question

3.33/5 (2 votes)

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Hi,

I use the following code:

C#

namespace wpfEmun
{
    enum Seizoen { lente , zomer, herfst, winter, autumn = herfst, spring = lente, summer = zomer };

    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Seizoen seizoen = Seizoen.autumn;
            int seizoengetal = (int)seizoen;
            MessageBox.Show(string.Format("Seizoen nr {0} is {1}", seizoengetal, seizoen .ToString()));

        }

If I debug and add a watch to seizoen then I see "herfst", and the result is ok.
BUT, in the message box the text "autumn" is displayed.
So in short: var seizoen contains "herfst" but shows "autumn" and it should be "herfst".

Alex

Posted 5-Apr-14 7:38am

Alex Houben

Updated 5-Apr-14 8:04am

v2

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Comments

Bernhard Hiller 7-Apr-14 2:56am

If you are just interesetd in showing a "readable" value for your enum, look at a trick which uses a Description attribute for each enum value. If you need globalization/localization support, you can use the attribute for providing the name of the localized resource instead.

2 solutions

Solution 1

You should try it the other way around: now you do English word = Dutch word, but you should do Dutch word = English word:

C#

enum Seizoen { spring, summer, autumn, winter, lente = spring, zomer = summer, herfst = autumn };

First, add the English words to the enum and then add the Dutch words to it.

Posted 5-Apr-14 8:12am

Thomas Daniels

Updated 5-Apr-14 22:04pm

v3

Comments

Alex Houben 5-Apr-14 16:53pm

Hi ProgramFOX,

Unfortunately this gives me 2 errors:
1) Cannot implicitly convert type 'wpfEmun.Form1.Seizoen' to 'int'. An explicit conversion exists (are you missing a cast?)
2) The evaluation of the constant value for 'wpfEmun.Form1.Seizoen.lente' involves a circular definition.

BTW I tested it on VS2008 & VS2012 but they give both the same result.

Thomas Daniels 6-Apr-14 4:05am

I updated my answer. I was wrong about the order of items in the enum.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 5-Apr-14 18:10pm

This is not a solution. The problem is quite non-trivial. Please see my answer where I refer to my detailed article on this problem (the article is about the fact that enum types don't support IEnumerable interface, but big part is devoted to this very problem).
—SA

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Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-05T12:08:00

Solution 2

This is the perfectly expected result. I described the phenomenon you observed in detail in my article where I also created some interesting work-around solution: Enumeration Types do not Enumerate! Working around .NET and Language Limitations.

—SA

Posted 5-Apr-14 12:08pm

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov