nested enum in c# and classes

Question

I heard that nesting of enum is not possible in C#. Then how can convert the following structure to a class hierarchy or something else. So I want the class to act as an enum

Answer 1

nested classes and const fields

class Cat1
{
    public const int Public = 1;
    public class Private
    {
        public const int Abc = 2;
        public const int Mno = 3;
        public const int Pqr = 4;
    }
}

Answer 2

public class Cat1
{
  public enum Publicpart
  {
     Xyz
  }

  private enum Privatepart
  {
     Abc, Mno, Pqr
  }
}

then you can call it like this

Cat1.Publicpart.Xyz

or if you have private acces

Cat1.Privatepart.Abc

Answer 3

you can use the hirerchy as class structure , which every class has a property of its own of enum

Answer 4

You should rethink if you want to solve this problems via enums because the first enum category represents to me some kind of "visibility" concept while the second category is only valid of instances with visibility "public".

What about solving your issue with something like this:

public enum Visibility
{
    Public,
    Private
}

public abstract class VisibilityState
{
    public Visibility Visibility { get; private set; }

    protected VisibilityState(Visibility visibility)
    {
        Visibility = visibility;
    }
}

public class PublicVisibilityState : VisibilityState
{
    public PublicVisibilityState() : base(Visibility.Public) { }
}

public class PrivateVisibilityState : VisibilityState
{
    public PrivateVisibilityState() : base(Visibility.Private) { }
    public OtherEnum OtherEnumState { get; set; }
}

public enum OtherEnum
{
    Abc, Mno, Pqr
}