c++ Function to return an enum?

Question

So I have this namespace called paddleNS for the class called paddle, inside paddleNS I have an enum known as colour

namespace paddleNS
{
   enum COLOUR {WHITE = 0, RED = 1, PURPLE = 2, BLUE = 3, GREEN = 4, YELLOW = 5, ORANGE = 6};
}

class Paddle : public Entity
{
private:
    paddleNS::COLOUR colour;
public:
    void NextColour();
    void PreviousColour();
    void PaddleColour(paddleNS::COLOUR col) { colour = col; }
};

Now then, what I was wondering is how would I go about creating a function that will return what the colour currently is also is there an easier way to return it in text form instead of a value or am I better of just using a switch to figure out what the colour is?

Answer 1

Just return the enum by value:

class Paddle : public Entity
{
  // as before...

  paddleNS::COLOUR currentColour() const { return colour; }
};

Answer 2

Hey you can make your function in header that look like this:

enum COLOUR function();

and when you define a function:

enum Paddle::COLOUR Paddle::function(){
        // return some variable that hold enum of COLOUR
}

in main.cpp i enter code herethink you can manage it

Answer 3

class Paddle : public Entity
{
  // ----

  const char* currentColour() const { 
switch(couleur)
{
 case WHITE:
   return "white";
   break;
//And so on
}
}
};