Why is this an invalid cast?

Question

I'm populating a combo box with custom enum vals:

    private enum AlignOptions
    {
        Left,
        Center,
        Right
    }

. . .

    comboBoxAlign1.DataSource = Enum.GetNames(typeof(AlignOptions));

When I try to assign the selected item to a var of that enum type, though:

    AlignOptions alignOption;
. . .
    alignOption = (AlignOptions)comboBoxAlign1.SelectedItem;

...it blows up with: "System.InvalidCastException was unhandled Message=Specified cast is not valid."

Isn't the item an AlignOptions type?

UPDATE

Dang, I thought I was being clever. Ginosaji is right, and I had to change it to:

    alignOptionStr = comboBoxAlign1.SelectedItem.ToString();
    if (alignOptionStr.Equals(AlignOptions.Center.ToString()))
    {
        lblBarcode.TextAlign = ContentAlignment.MiddleCenter;
    }
    else if (alignOptionStr.Equals(AlignOptions.Left.ToString()))
    {
        . . .

Answer 1

It's an invalid cast because you do not have an enum, you have the string name representation of the enum. To get that enum back, you need to parse it.

alignOption = (AlignOptions)Enum.Parse(typeof(AlignOptions), (string)comboBoxAlign1.SelectedItem);

Answer 2

You shoul use Enum.GetValues Method to initialize your combobox instead:

comboBoxAlign1.DataSource = Enum.GetValues(typeof(AlignOptions));

Now combobox contains the elements of the enum and

AlignOptions alignOption = (AlignOptions)comboBoxAlign1.SelectedItem;

is a correct cast.