How can i get enum to contain a dash (-)?

Question

I'm generating business objects from this schema using Enterprise Architect.

The schema has the following enumeration specification:

<xs:simpleType name="PackageMedium">
    <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
        <xs:enumeration value="NTP"/>
        <xs:enumeration value="DAT"/>
        <xs:enumeration value="Exabyte"/>
        <xs:enumeration value="CD-ROM"/>
        <xs:enumeration value="DLT"/>
        <xs:enumeration value="D1"/>
        <xs:enumeration value="DVD"/>
        <xs:enumeration value="BD"/>
        <xs:enumeration value="LTO"/>
        <xs:enumeration value="LTO2"/>
        <xs:enumeration value="LTO4"/>
    </xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>

Enterprise architect generates the following code but Visual Studio doesn't like the dash(-) in CD-ROM and will not compile.

public enum PackageMedium : int {
    NTP,
    DAT,
    Exabyte,
    CD-ROM,
    DLT,
    D1,
    DVD,
    BD,
    LTO,
    LTO2,
    LTO4
}

What can i do to make this work?

---

based on @Craig Stuntz answer i was able to find this article which helped me retrieve these special characters from the Enum.

Answer 1

You can't. Full stop. However, there are workarounds. You can, e.g., use DescriptionAttribute:

public enum PackageMedium : int {
    NTP,
    DAT,
    Exabyte,
    [Description("CD-ROM")]
    CDROM,
    DLT,
    D1,
    DVD,
    BD,
    LTO,
    LTO2,
    LTO4
}

This means, unfortunately, that you have more work to do when mapping values. On the other hand, it at lest compiles.

If you don't like that, pick another workaround, e.g., a dictionary:

var dict = Enum.GetValues(typeof(PackageMedium))
               .Cast<PackageMedium>()
               .Select(v => Tuple.Create(v == PackageMedium.CDROM ? "CD-ROM" : v.ToString(), v))
               .ToDictionary(t => t.Item1, t => t.Item2);

var myEnumVal = dict["CD-ROM"];

Answer 2

Short answer: No.

The reason being is that the - character is used as a token by the lexer for other purposes such as representing the binary and unary minus operator.

Your best bet is to either remove the - or replace it with some other character that is a valid character in identifier names. The only non-letter character you can generally use is _.

You can find more information in the C# Specification.