c# : Why is a cast needed from an Enum to an INT when used in a switch statement?, enums are ints

Question

Can anyone tell me why i need to cast to Int from my enum

        switch (Convert.ToInt32(uxView.SelectedValue))
        {
            case (int)ViewBy.Client:

If i remove the cast (int) it fails and says i must use a cast.

Here is my enum, and enums are ints.... anybody know about this?

    public enum ViewBy
    {
        Client,
        Customer
    }

Answer 1

In C# enums aren't just numbers. Rather, they are numbers associated with the type or number with a name in a context.

To avoid casts in case statements, you can do a cast in switch:

switch((ViewBy)Convert.ToInt32(uxView.SelectedValue))

This, however, has its own problems. For example, this piece of code will write out 7 to the console.

enum ViewBy
{
    ChuckNorris = 1,
    JamesBond
}

Console.WriteLine((ViewBy)7);

Answer 2

You should convert your string value to an enum using Enum.Parse.

ViewBy selected = (ViewBy) Enum.Parse(typeof(ViewBy), uxView.SelectedValue);        
switch (selected)
{
    case ViewBy.Client:
    // etc.
}

Also, underlying type for an enum doesn't necessarily need to be Int32.