How to set space on Enum

Question

You can decorate your Enum values with DataAnnotations, so the following is true:

using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;

public enum Boys
{
    [Display(Name="Good Boy")]
    GoodBoy,
    [Display(Name="Bad Boy")]
    BadBoy
}

I'm not sure what UI Framework you're using for your controls, but ASP.NET MVC can read DataAnnotations when you type HTML.LabelFor in your Razor views.

Here' a Extension method

If you are not using Razor views or if you want to get the names in code:

public class EnumExtention
{
    public Dictionary<int, string> ToDictionary(Enum myEnum)
    {
        var myEnumType = myEnum.GetType();
        var names = myEnumType.GetFields()
            .Where(m => m.GetCustomAttribute<DisplayAttribute>() != null)
            .Select(e => e.GetCustomAttribute<DisplayAttribute>().Name);
        var values = Enum.GetValues(myEnumType).Cast<int>();
        return names.Zip(values, (n, v) => new KeyValuePair<int, string>(v, n))
            .ToDictionary(kv => kv.Key, kv => kv.Value);
    }
}

Then use it:

Boys.GoodBoy.ToDictionary()

You are misunderstanding what an enum is used for. An enum is for programming purposes, essentially giving a name to a number. This is for the programmer's benefit while reading the source code.

status = StatusLevel.CRITICAL; // this is a lot easier to read...
status = 5;                    // ...than this

Enums are not meant for display purposes and should not be shown to the end user. Like any other variable, enums cannot use spaces in the names.

To associate internal values with "pretty" labels you can display to a user, can use a dictionary or hash.

myDict["Bad Boy"] = "joe blow";

Think this might already be covered, some suggestions:

• How do I have an enum bound combobox with custom string formatting for enum values?
• C# Getting Enum values

Just can't beat stackoverflow ;) just sooo much on here nowdays.

using System.ComponentModel;

then...

public enum category
{
    [Description("Good Boy")]
    goodboy,
    [Description("Bad Boy")]
    badboy
}

Solved!!