Problem

Enumeration or Enum types are an integral part of C# language. They have been around since the inception of language. Unfortunately, the Enum types also have some limitations. Enum types are not object-oriented. When we have to use Enums for control flow statements, behavior around Enums gets scattered across the application. We cannot inherit or extend the Enum types. These issues can especially be a deal-breaker in Domain-Driven Design (DDD).
Read more here and here.

Regardless of the behaviors, there is a repetitive section where you have to write your class fields similar to what you have in a enum type.

// Enum
public enum CardType
{
    Amex,
    Visa,
    MasterCard
}

// Converts to

// Enumeration Class
public class CardType : Enumeration
{
    public static CardType Amex = new(1, nameof(Amex));
    public static CardType Visa = new(2, nameof(Visa));
    public static CardType MasterCard = new(3, nameof(MasterCard));

    public CardType(int id, string name)
        : base(id, name)
    {
    }
    
    // Other behaviors
}

Solution

This generator helps you to focus on your business, no need to know about this pattern or details of Enumeration base class.

Define your enum typeand putEnumerationClass` attribute on top of it.

namespace MyLibrary
{
    [EnumerationClass]
    public enum CardType
    {
        Amex,
        Visa,
        MasterCard
    }
}

Your enumeration class is ready and generated! before saying how to extend it, I should say how to find it!

If you use parameter-less EnumerationClass the default options are:

• Same namespace as you enum => MyLibrary for this sample.
• The class name will be combination of enum type name + "Enumeration" => CardTypeEnumeration for this sample.

But you can customize them:

namespace MyLibrary
{
    [EnumerationClass("MyClass", "MyNamespace")]
    public enum CardType
    {
        Amex,
        Visa,
        MasterCard
    }
}

The generated class is partial to help you add your business rules, so you can find it as following based on above setting:

// How to extend it?
// Use same namespace name as you defined.
// Use same class name as you defined.
// Use 'partial' keyword for the class.
// To access the base class functionality you should inherit from 'Enumeration'.

namespace MyNamespace
    public partial class MyClass /*: Enumeration*/
    {
        public void MyNewMethod()
        {
            // MasterCard
        }
        
        // ...
    }
}

Enumeration Base Class

As you can see there is a base class that provides some functionalities which includes the following:

// Returns 'Name' property.
override string ToString()

// Returns all fields
IEnumerable<T> GetAll<T>()

// Returns difference of two enumerations in integer.
int AbsoluteDifference(Enumeration firstValue, Enumeration secondValue)

// Returns value from an integer number.
T FromValue<T>(int value)

// Returns value from a string name.
T FromDisplayName<T>(string displayName)

// Parse a value based on a condition.
T Parse<T, K>(K value, string description, Func<T, bool> predicate)

// Parse a value based on a condition with an result.
bool TryParse<T, K>(K value, string description, Func<T, bool> predicate, out T result)

// Returns status of comparison in number.
int CompareTo(object other)

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Nuget

Install-Package EnumerationClassGenerator

dotnet add package EnumerationClassGenerator

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