MVC.net get enum display name in view without having to refer to enum type in view - asp.net-mvc

Question

I have the following helper method in a ViewModelBase class, which is inherited by other view Models:
public string GetEnumName<T>(Enum value)
{
Type enumType = typeof(T);
var enumValue = Enum.GetName(enumType, value);
MemberInfo member = enumType.GetMember(enumValue)[0];
var attrs = member.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DisplayAttribute), false);
var outString = ((DisplayAttribute)attrs[0]).Name;
if (((DisplayAttribute)attrs[0]).ResourceType != null)
{
outString = ((DisplayAttribute)attrs[0]).GetName();
}
return outString;
}
I then call this from the view like this:
<p>
#{var rel = Model.GetEnumDisplayName<Enums.wheteverEnum>(Model.wheteverEnum); }
#rel
</p>
Question is - can I work this method so I don't have to tell it the type of the enum? Basically I'd like todo this for all enums:
#Model.GetEnumDisplayName(Model.wheteverEnum)
No typeof, no T, no need to add a reference to the Enums namespace in the View...
Possible?

Answer 1

You can simply remove the type parameter and make it an extension method.
public static string DisplayName(this Enum value)
{
Type enumType = value.GetType();
var enumValue = Enum.GetName(enumType, value);
MemberInfo member = enumType.GetMember(enumValue)[0];
var attrs = member.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DisplayAttribute), false);
var outString = ((DisplayAttribute)attrs[0]).Name;
if (((DisplayAttribute)attrs[0]).ResourceType != null)
{
outString = ((DisplayAttribute)attrs[0]).GetName();
}
return outString;
}
#Model.wheteverEnum.DisplayName()

Answer 2

Could you not write this as an extension method? Something like...
public static class EnumExtensions
{
public static string ToDescription(this Enum e)
{
var attributes = (DisplayAttribute[])e.GetType().GetField(e.ToString()).GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DisplayAttribute), false);
return attributes.Length > 0 ? attributes[0].Description : string.Empty;
}
}
Usage:
#Model.WhateverEnum.ToDescription();

Answer 3

Nice work #jrummell!
I've added a small tweak below which captures the scenario where an enum doesn't have an associated Display attribute (currently it throws an exception)
/// <summary>
/// Gets the DataAnnotation DisplayName attribute for a given enum (for displaying enums values nicely to users)
/// </summary>
/// <param name="value">Enum value to get display for</param>
/// <returns>Pretty version of enum (if there is one)</returns>
/// <remarks>
/// Inspired by :
/// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9328972/mvc-net-get-enum-display-name-in-view-without-having-to-refer-to-enum-type-in-vi
/// </remarks>
public static string DisplayFor(this Enum value) {
Type enumType = value.GetType();
var enumValue = Enum.GetName(enumType, value);
MemberInfo member = enumType.GetMember(enumValue)[0];
string outString = "";
var attrs = member.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DisplayAttribute), false);
if (attrs.Any()) {
var displayAttr = ((DisplayAttribute)attrs[0]);
outString = displayAttr.Name;
if (displayAttr.ResourceType != null) {
outString = displayAttr.GetName();
}
} else {
outString = value.ToString();
}
return outString;
}

Answer 4

The answer of #jrummell in VB.NET for the few of us...
Module ModuleExtension
<Extension()>
Public Function DisplayName(ByVal value As System.Enum) As String
Dim enumType As Type = value.GetType()
Dim enumValue = System.Enum.GetName(enumType, value)
Dim member As MemberInfo = enumType.GetMember(enumValue)(0)
Dim attrs = member.GetCustomAttributes(GetType(DisplayAttribute), False)
Dim outString = CType(attrs(0), DisplayAttribute).Name
If (CType(attrs(0), DisplayAttribute).ResourceType IsNot Nothing) Then
outString = CType(attrs(0), DisplayAttribute).GetName()
End If
Return outString
End Function
End Module

Answer 5

for anyone who might reach to this question, I found this a lot easier than any thing else:
https://www.codeproject.com/articles/776908/dealing-with-enum-in-mvc
Just create a folder "DisplayTemplate" under "Views\Shared", and create an empty view (Name it "Enum") in the new folder "DisplayTemplate", and copy this code to it"
#model Enum
#if (EnumHelper.IsValidForEnumHelper(ViewData.ModelMetadata))
{
// Display Enum using same names (from [Display] attributes) as in editors
string displayName = null;
foreach (SelectListItem item in EnumHelper.GetSelectList(ViewData.ModelMetadata, (Enum)Model))
{
if (item.Selected)
{
displayName = item.Text ?? item.Value;
}
}
// Handle the unexpected case that nothing is selected
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(displayName))
{
if (Model == null)
{
displayName = String.Empty;
}
else
{
displayName = Model.ToString();
}
}
#Html.DisplayTextFor(model => displayName)
}
else
{
// This Enum type is not supported. Fall back to the text.
#Html.DisplayTextFor(model => model)
}

Answer 6

Here is an extension method that I've written to do just this... it has a little extra logic in it to parse Enum names and split by capital letters. You can override any name by using the Display Attribute
public static TAttribute GetAttribute<TAttribute>(this ICustomAttributeProvider parameterInfo) where TAttribute : Attribute
{
object[] attributes = parameterInfo.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(TAttribute), false);
return attributes.Length > 0 ? (TAttribute)attributes[0] : null;
}
public static bool HasAttribute<TAttribute>(this ICustomAttributeProvider parameterInfo) where TAttribute : Attribute
{
object[] attributes = parameterInfo.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(TAttribute), false);
return attributes.Length > 0 ? true : false;
}
public static string ToFriendlyEnum(this Enum type)
{
return type.GetType().HasAttribute<DescriptionAttribute>() ? type.GetType().GetAttribute<DescriptionAttribute>().Description : type.ToString().ToFriendlyEnum();
}
public static string ToFriendlyEnum(this string value)
{
char[] chars = value.ToCharArray();
string output = string.Empty;
for (int i = 0; i < chars.Length; i++)
{
if (i <= 0 || chars[i - 1].ToString() != chars[i - 1].ToString().ToUpper() && chars[i].ToString() != chars[i].ToString().ToLower())
{
output += " ";
}
output += chars[i];
}
return output.Trim();
}
The GetAttribute extension methods could be slightly overkill, but I use them elsewhere in my projects, so they got reused when I wrote my Enum extension. You could easily combine them back into the ToFriendlyEnum(this Enum type) method

Answer 7

The suggested sollutions does not worked for me with MVC3: so the helper below is good.:
public static string GetEnumDescription(this Enum value)
{
Type type = value.GetType();
string name = Enum.GetName(type, value);
if (name != null)
{
FieldInfo field = type.GetField(name);
if (field != null)
{
string attr = field.GetCustomAttributesData()[0].NamedArguments[0].TypedValue.Value.ToString();
if (attr == null)
{
return name;
}
else
{
return attr;
}
}
}
return null;
}