Creating a list from ENUM into Model - asp.net-mvc

Question

I got the following model piece of code:
public enum EnumTest
{
[Description ("Enum Text 1")]
Value_1 = 1,
[Description ("Enum Text 2")]
Value_2 = 2,
}
public List<Fields> listFields = new List<Fields>();
public class Fields
{
public int Code { get; set;}
public string Description { get; set;}
}
I got an Enum and I would like to fill my variable CODE with enum value and the variable Description with the same enum description. I looked up a long time and failed to initialize my "ListFields" into its constructor with the enum VALUE/DESCRIPTION.
I already got the enum and the method to get its description.. I found it usefull, so I'll leave it here, maybe it can be useful for someone..
public static string GetDescription(this Enum value)
{
return (from m in value.GetType().GetMember(value.ToString())
let attr =(DescriptionAttribute)m.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false).FirstOrDefault()
select attr == null ? value.ToString() : attr.Description).FirstOrDefault();
}
To use this you just need to do something like this:
String xx = Enum.EnumName.GetDescription();

Answer 1

You have to use reflection.
public static Fields[] GetEnumFields(Type enumType)
{
if (enumType == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("enumType");
if (!enumType.IsEnum)
throw new ArgumentException("Not an enum");
FieldInfo[] fieldInfos = enumType.GetFields(BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.Public);
Fields[] result = new Fields[fieldInfos.Length];
for (int i = 0; i < fieldInfos.Length; ++i)
{
FieldInfo field = fieldInfos[i];
int value = (int)field.GetValue(null);
DescriptionAttribute attrib = Attribute.GetCustomAttribute(field, typeof(DescriptionAttribute)) as DescriptionAttribute;
string desc = attrib != null ? attrib.Description : field.Name;
result[i] = new Fields(value, desc);
}
return result;
}
public class Fields
{
private int value;
private string description;
public int Value
{
get { return this.value; }
}
public string Description
{
get { return this.description; }
}
public Fields(int value, string description)
{
this.value = value;
this.description = description;
}
}
To use it is quite simple:
enum test
{
[Description("hello!")]
ciao,
www
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
foreach (Fields f in GetEnumFields(typeof(test)))
{
Console.WriteLine(f.Description);
}
}
In my implementation when a descriptionattribute is not found, field name is used.
We must also say that reflection can be slow and rebuilding the entire array when you need it is a waste of time, if you need it often.
You can store the array somewhere so you can compute it only once and keep it cached.
This of course and as I said, makes sense only if you need this readonly list very often.