Question

I have regularly wondered why C# has not yet implemeted a Generic Enum.Parse

Lets say I have

enum MyEnum
{
   Value1,
   Value2
}

And from an XML file/DB entry I wish to to create an Enum.

MyEnum val = (MyEnum)Enum.Parse(typeof(MyEnum), "value1", true);

Could it not have been implemented as something like

MyEnum cal = Enum.Parse<MyEnum>("value1");

This might seem like a small issue, but it seems like an overlooked one.

Any thoughts?

Answer 1

It is already implemented in .NET 4 😉 Take a look here.

MyEnum cal;
if (!Enum.TryParse<MyEnum>("value1", out cal))
   throw new Exception("value1 is not valid member of enumeration MyEnum");

Also the discussion here contains some interesting points.