Bdtjtk

For example, let be enum and let us loop over it

enum Main_menu { NewGame, Options, AboutAuthor, Exit }

    static void Main(string args)

    {



        int k = 0;

        foreach (Main_menu item in Enum.GetValues(typeof(Main_menu)))

        {

            Console.Write($"{k} ");

            Console.Write(item);

            Console.WriteLine();

            k++;

        }

        Console.ReadLine();





    }

This enum represents very simple type menu, in the program i work on, i have to use this kind of menus a several times, so i prefer to add it in a separate function, by targeting the part of code with loop and using hotkeys Ctrl+Dot i received following:

enum Main_menu { NewGame, Options, AboutAuthor, Exit }

    static void Main(string args)

    {



        int k = 0;

        k = LoopOverEnum(k);

        Console.ReadLine();





    }



    private static int LoopOverEnum(int k)

    {

        foreach (Main_menu item in Enum.GetValues(typeof(Main_menu)))

        {

            Console.Write($"{k} ");

            Console.Write(item);

            Console.WriteLine();

            k++;

        }



        return k;

    }

}

Now, I want to add enum Main_menu as variable, so, i will be able to apply this loop over every defined enums, I try to do it as follows:

namespace ConsoleApp11

{

class Program

{

    enum Main_menu { NewGame, Options, AboutAuthor, Exit }

    static void Main(string args)

    {



        int k = 0;

        k = LoopOverEnum(k, Main_menu);

        Console.ReadLine();





    }



    private static int LoopOverEnum(int k, enum Main_menu)

    {

        foreach (Main_menu item in Enum.GetValues(typeof(Main_menu)))

        {

            Console.Write($"{k} ");

            Console.Write(item);

            Console.WriteLine();

            k++;

        }



        return k;

    }

}

}

But the function's code becomes fully red with different errors. The questions are:

1) How to write the function that loops over enum, in sence that enum is variable ?

2) How to use space in definition of the enum terms ?

k should not be a local variable in Main. It should be a local variable in LoopOverEnum.

There are two ways to pass a type to a method. Your attempt of LoopOverEnum(int k, enum Main_menu) is a good try but is unfortunately not valid C#.

You can either:

• 
  

  use a generic type parameter:

  
  
  

  public static void LoopOverEnum<T>()
  
      int k = 0;
  
      foreach (T item in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)))
  
      {
  
          Console.Write($"{k} ");
  
          Console.Write(item);
  
          Console.WriteLine();
  
          k++;
  
      }
  
  }
  
  // usage:
  
  LoopOverEnum<Main_menu>()
  
  

  
  


• 
  

  use a parameter of type Type:

  
  
  

  public static void LoopOverEnum(Type type)
  
      int k = 0;
  
      foreach (var item in Enum.GetValues(type))
  
      {
  
          Console.Write($"{k} ");
  
          Console.Write(item);
  
          Console.WriteLine();
  
          k++;
  
      }
  
  }
  
  
  
  // usage:
  
  LoopOverEnum(typeof(Main_menu))
  
  

  
  

Here's a generic way to Loop over Enums:

static void IterateEnum<T>(T enumSource)

{

    foreach(var item in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)))

    {

        Console.WriteLine(item);

    }

}

public static IEnumerable<T> GetValues<T>() => Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)).Cast<T>();

Usage:

foreach (Main_menu item in GetValues<Main_menu>())

    MessageBox.Show(item.ToString());

To iterate over enum of any type And
To have spaces in enum values

you can use description attribute as shown below. You can get the values mentioned in descriptionAttribute using the below method. Method is generic and hence can be used with any enum.

using System.ComponentModel; 



public enum MyEnum 

{ 

    [Description("value 1")] 

    Value1, 



    [Description("value 2")]

    Value2, 



    [Description("value 3")]

    Value3

}





public static string GetDescription<T>( T e) 

{

      if (e is Enum)

      {

         Type type = e.GetType();

         Array values = System.Enum.GetValues(type);



         foreach (int val in values)

         {

              if (val == e.ToInt32(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture))

              {

                   var memInfo = type.GetMember(type.GetEnumName(val));

                   var descriptionAttribute = memInfo[0].GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false).FirstOrDefault() as DescriptionAttribute;



                if (descriptionAttribute != null)

                {

                      return descriptionAttribute.Description;

                 }

            }

        }

     }



      return null; // could also return string.Empty

}