Question

I have a database with an status field that can keep the following values:

• 0 Registrado
• 1 Activo
• 2 Finalizado
• 3 Anticipado
• 4 Reestructurado

Of course I just keep the number in a tinyint datatype in my database. Then I need to query that table but the GUI must show string value and not numeric value.

What is the best way to achieve it? Should I use a Enum datatype or dictionary ? What would the advantages of using one over the other?

In addition, results will be shown in a datagrid

Answer 1

The approach I would take is

• Map the tinyint values into an enum
• Create a static Dictionary<TheEnumType, string> which maps the values to the user string

For example

public enum Names {
  Registrado = 0,
  Activo = 1,
  Finalizado = 2,
  Anticipado = 3,
  Reestructurado = 4
}

Now you can easily convert between the DB value and the appropriate enum

int theDbValue = ...;
Names name = (Names)theDbValue;

Building up the mapping between the names can now be easily done with a Dictionary<Names, string>.

var map = new Dictionary<Names, string>();
map[Names.Registrado] = "...";
map[Names.Activo] = "...";
// etc ...