How to get the underlying value of an enum

Question

I have the following enum declared:

 public enum TransactionTypeCode { Shipment = 'S', Receipt = 'R' }

How do I get the value 'S' from a TransactionTypeCode.Shipment or 'R' from TransactionTypeCode.Receipt ?

Simply doing TransactionTypeCode.ToString() gives a string of the Enum name "Shipment" or "Receipt" so it doesn't cut the mustard.

Answer 1

You have to check the underlying type of the enumeration and then convert to a proper type:

public enum SuperTasks : int
    {
        Sleep = 5,
        Walk = 7,
        Run = 9
    }

    private void btnTestEnumWithReflection_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        SuperTasks task = SuperTasks.Walk;
        Type underlyingType = Enum.GetUnderlyingType(task.GetType());
        object value = Convert.ChangeType(task, underlyingType); // x will be int
    }    

Answer 2

I believe Enum.GetValues() is what you're looking for.