Question

I am having trouble with enums in C#

I have an enum here:

namespace Project.Shared
{
    public enum CostType
    {
        Dollars,
        Percent
    }
}

I have an object that is trying to use the enum here:

using Project.Shared;
namespace Project.Shared.FooNamespace
{
    public class Foo
    {
        public int CostType { get; set; }

        public Foo()
        {

            CostType = (int)CostType.Dollars; // <--- error syntax highlighting on 'Dollars'
        }
    }
}

This results in an error:

‘int’ does not contain a definition for ‘Dollars’ and no extension method ‘Dollars’ accepting a first argument of type ‘int’ could be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)

I do not understand why I can’t use my enum there. Can someone help explain it to me?

Answer 1

Because your class Foo has this definition – public int CostType { get; set; } – which has more local scope than your enum.

Try fully qualifying it with its namespace:

CostType = (int)Project.Shared.CostType.Dollars;