CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#
Graviton
Graviton

Reputation: 83316

Get a List of available Enums

I have the enum structure as follows:

public enum MyEnum
{
   One=1,
   Two=2,
   Three=3
}

Now I want to get a list of MyEnum, i.e., List<MyEnum> that contains all the One, Two Three. Again, I am looking for a one liner that does the thing. I came out with a LINQ query but it was unsatisfactory because it was a bit too long, I think: 

Enum.GetNames(typeof(MyEnum))
                            .Select(exEnum =>
                                (MyEnum)Enum.Parse(typeof(MyEnum), exEnum))
                            .ToList();

A better suggestion?

Upvotes: 5

Views: 274

Answers (3)

Randolpho
Randolpho

Reputation: 56448

I agree with @mquander's code.

However, I would suggest you also cache the list, since it's extremely unlikely to change over the course of the execution of your program. Put it in a static readonly variable in some global location:

public static class MyGlobals
{
   public static readonly List<MyEnum> EnumList = 
       Enum.GetValues(typeof(MyEnum)).Cast<MyEnum>().ToList();
}

Upvotes: 3

Bayard Randel
Bayard Randel

Reputation: 10086

Not a one liner (well the implementation isn't, but the method is :P), but perhaps add something like this to a tools/ utility class which will return a generic list:

public static List<T> EnumToList<T>()

{

 Type enumType = typeof(T);

 // Can't use type constraints on value types, so have to do check like this

 if (enumType.BaseType != typeof(Enum))

  throw new ArgumentException("T must be of type System.Enum");

 return new List<T>(Enum.GetValues(enumType) as IEnumerable<T>);

}

Upvotes: 2

mqp
mqp

Reputation: 72015

Enum.GetValues(typeof(MyEnum)).Cast<MyEnum>();

Upvotes: 14

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