forcing a variable to hold certain values only

Question

I am using vs 2012. I have a simple string property

 string _someString;

 public string MyString
  {
     get
       {
          return _someString;
       }

   }

I want this property to hold only certain values. So that when the client uses this property only those certain values can be used.

Answer 1

It sounds like what you really want is an enum:

public enum MyValues //TODO rename all the things
{
    SomeValue,
    SomeOtherValue,
    FinalValue,
}

Then your property can be:

private MyValues value;
public  MyValues MyValue
{
    get { return value; }
}

If you need to get a string representation of that value just call ToString on the enum value:

string stringValue = value.ToString();

Answer 2

Use an enum as in :

enum MyEnum
{
AllowableValue#1,
AllowableValue#2,
...
}

public MyEnum myEnum { get; set; }

Then populate some UI element with only the values of the enum.