Question

Is it possible to add a string with spaces or special characters to an enum?

For example, I have a string Insurance KR Users (Name), I have tried to include this string into an enum:

    public enum MemberGroup
    {
        Insurance KR Users (Name)
    }

but it throws an error.

How can I include these types of strings into enum?

Answer 1

The enum members itself must be a valid identifier, so it can’t contain spaces or special characters.

But you could use the DescriptionAttribute to provide a more complete description of each enum value:

public enum MemberGroup
{
    [Description("Insurance KR Users (Name)")]
    InsuranceKrUsers_Name
}

To retrieve the description, use something like this:

public static string GetDescription(Enum value)
{
   FieldInfo fi = value.GetType().GetField(value.ToString()); 
   DescriptionAttribute[] attributes = 
     (DescriptionAttribute[])fi.GetCustomAttributes(
     typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);
   return (attributes.Length > 0) ? attributes[0].Description : value.ToString();
}