Question

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Is there a simple script to convert C++ enum to string?

In the C# program below, while using enumeration Priority, i need the string “None” and not the id 0. The C# code for doing this is given below. Is there an elegant way of doing this in C++. Can a map be avoided in the C++ implementation.

enum Priority
{
    None,
    Trivial,
    Normal,
    Important,
    Critical
}

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
    // Write string representation for Important.
    Priority enum1 = Priority.Important;
    string value1 = enum1.ToString();

    // Loop through enumerations and write string representations. (See GetNames)
    for (Priority enum2 = Priority.None; enum2 <= Priority.Critical; enum2++)
    {
        string value2 = enum2.ToString();
        Console.WriteLine(value2); //outputs the string None, Trivial etc ...
    }
    }
}

public override string ToString()
{
    Type type = base.GetType();
    object obj2 = ((RtFieldInfo)GetValueField(type)).InternalGetValue(this, false);
    return InternalFormat(type, obj2);
}

Answer 1

In C++, an enum is nothing more than a bit of syntactic sugar around an integral literal. The compiler quickly strips the enumerator name away, so the runtime never has access to it. If you want to have a string name for an enum, you have to do it the hard way.