Question

Let’s say I have the following simple enum:

enum Response {     Yes = 1,     No = 2,     Maybe = 3 } 

How can I bind this enum to a DropDownList control so that the descriptions are displayed in the list as well as retrieve the associated numeric value (1,2,3) once an option has been selected?

Answer 1

I probably wouldn’t bind the data as it’s an enum, and it won’t change after compile time (unless I’m having one of those stoopid moments).

Better just to iterate through the enum:

Dim itemValues As Array = System.Enum.GetValues(GetType(Response)) Dim itemNames As Array = System.Enum.GetNames(GetType(Response))  For i As Integer = 0 To itemNames.Length - 1     Dim item As New ListItem(itemNames(i), itemValues(i))     dropdownlist.Items.Add(item) Next 

Or the same in C#

Array itemValues = System.Enum.GetValues(typeof(Response)); Array itemNames = System.Enum.GetNames(typeof(Response));  for (int i = 0; i <= itemNames.Length - 1 ; i++) {     ListItem item = new ListItem(itemNames[i], itemValues[i]);     dropdownlist.Items.Add(item); }