Question

For converting a string to an enum, which of the following ways is better?

1. This code:

   colorEnum color = (colorEnum)Enum.Parse(typeof(colorEnum), "Green");
   

2. or this:

   string colorString = ...
   colorEnum color;        
   switch (colorString)
   {
       case "Green":
           color = colorEnum.Green;
           break;
       case "Red":
           color = colorEnum.Red;
           break;
       case "Orange":
           color = colorEnum.Orange;
           break;
       ....
   }
   

Answer 1

You should use the Enum.TryParse, if it fails you can handle the error correctly.

sample:

     ColorsEnum colorValue; 
     if (Enum.TryParse(colorString, out colorValue))        
        if (Enum.IsDefined(typeof(Colors), colorValue) | colorValue.ToString().Contains(","))  
           Console.WriteLine("Converted '{0}' to {1}.", colorString, colorValue.ToString());
        else
           Console.WriteLine("{0} is not an underlying value of the Colors enumeration.", colorString);
     else
        Console.WriteLine("{0} is not a member of the Colors enumeration.", colorString);