C# - Enum

References:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.enum.aspx - System.Enum

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms229058.aspx - Enumeration Design

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc138362.aspx - Enumeration Programming

Notes:

• System.Enum - Derived from ValueType

• The approved types for an enum are 
byte, sbyte, short, ushort, int, uint, long, or ulong.  Default is int

• Flag
enumerations must have values explicitly assigned that are unique powers of two: 1 2 4 8 16 32 to work correctly.

• Important methods:

• Enum.TryParse()

• Enum.Parse()

• Enum.IsDefined()

• HasFlag()

• Enum.GetValues(typeof(MyEnumInstance))

• Enum.GetName(typeof(MyEnumInstance), myEnumVariable)

• You can't override ToString()  for an Enum

• You can attach meta data to Enum types with Attribute mechanism and Extension Methods.  

• (MyAttribute[]) MyEnumVariable.GetType().GetField(
MyEnumVariable.ToString()).GetCustomAttributes(typeof(MyAttributes), false);