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Enum.TryParse implementation in .NET 3.5

How can I implement the .NET 4 Enum.TryParse method in .NET 3.5?

public static bool TryParse<TEnum>(string value, out TEnum result) where TEnum : struct
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4 answers

Took more time than I hoped to get this right, but it works and has been tested. Hope this helps someone!

    private static readonly char[] FlagDelimiter = new [] { ',' };

    public static bool TryParseEnum<TEnum>(string value, out TEnum result) where TEnum : struct {
        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(value)) {
            result = default(TEnum);
            return false;
        }

        var enumType = typeof(TEnum);

        if (!enumType.IsEnum)
            throw new ArgumentException(string.Format("Type '{0}' is not an enum", enumType.FullName));


        result = default(TEnum);

        // Try to parse the value directly 
        if (Enum.IsDefined(enumType, value)) {
            result = (TEnum)Enum.Parse(enumType, value);
            return true;
        }

        // Get some info on enum
        var enumValues = Enum.GetValues(enumType);
        if (enumValues.Length == 0)
            return false;  // probably can't happen as you cant define empty enum?
        var enumTypeCode = Type.GetTypeCode(enumValues.GetValue(0).GetType());

        // Try to parse it as a flag 
        if (value.IndexOf(',') != -1) {
            if (!Attribute.IsDefined(enumType, typeof(FlagsAttribute)))
                return false;  // value has flags but enum is not flags

            // todo: cache this for efficiency
            var enumInfo = new Dictionary<string, object>();
            var enumNames = Enum.GetNames(enumType);
            for (var i = 0; i < enumNames.Length; i++)
                enumInfo.Add(enumNames[i], enumValues.GetValue(i));

            ulong retVal = 0;
            foreach(var name in value.Split(FlagDelimiter)) {
                var trimmedName = name.Trim();
                if (!enumInfo.ContainsKey(trimmedName))
                    return false;   // Enum has no such flag

                var enumValueObject = enumInfo[trimmedName];
                ulong enumValueLong;
                switch (enumTypeCode) {
                    case TypeCode.Byte:
                        enumValueLong = (byte)enumValueObject;
                        break;
                    case TypeCode.SByte:
                        enumValueLong = (byte)((sbyte)enumValueObject);
                        break;
                    case TypeCode.Int16:
                        enumValueLong = (ushort)((short)enumValueObject);
                        break;
                    case TypeCode.Int32:
                        enumValueLong = (uint)((int)enumValueObject);
                        break;
                    case TypeCode.Int64:
                        enumValueLong = (ulong)((long)enumValueObject);
                        break;
                    case TypeCode.UInt16:
                        enumValueLong = (ushort)enumValueObject;
                        break;
                    case TypeCode.UInt32:
                        enumValueLong = (uint)enumValueObject;
                        break;
                    case TypeCode.UInt64:
                        enumValueLong = (ulong)enumValueObject;
                        break;
                    default:
                        return false;   // should never happen
                }
                retVal |= enumValueLong;
            }
            result = (TEnum)Enum.ToObject(enumType, retVal);
            return true;
        }

        // the value may be a number, so parse it directly
        switch (enumTypeCode) {
            case TypeCode.SByte:
                sbyte sb;
                if (!SByte.TryParse(value, out sb))
                    return false;
                result = (TEnum)Enum.ToObject(enumType, sb);
                break;
            case TypeCode.Byte:
                byte b;
                if (!Byte.TryParse(value, out b))
                    return false;
                result = (TEnum)Enum.ToObject(enumType, b);
                break;
            case TypeCode.Int16:
                short i16;
                if (!Int16.TryParse(value, out i16))
                    return false;
                result = (TEnum)Enum.ToObject(enumType, i16);
                break;
            case TypeCode.UInt16:
                ushort u16;
                if (!UInt16.TryParse(value, out u16))
                    return false;
                result = (TEnum)Enum.ToObject(enumType, u16);
                break;
            case TypeCode.Int32:
                int i32;
                if (!Int32.TryParse(value, out i32))
                    return false;
                result = (TEnum)Enum.ToObject(enumType, i32);
                break;
            case TypeCode.UInt32:
                uint u32;
                if (!UInt32.TryParse(value, out u32))
                    return false;
                result = (TEnum)Enum.ToObject(enumType, u32);
                break;
            case TypeCode.Int64:
                long i64;
                if (!Int64.TryParse(value, out i64))
                    return false;
                result = (TEnum)Enum.ToObject(enumType, i64);
                break;
            case TypeCode.UInt64:
                ulong u64;
                if (!UInt64.TryParse(value, out u64))
                    return false;
                result = (TEnum)Enum.ToObject(enumType, u64);
                break;
            default:
                return false; // should never happen
        }

        return true;
    }
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I don’t like to use try-catchconversion errors or other non-exceptional events as part of the normal flow of my application to handle, so my own method Enum.TryParsefor .NET 3.5 and earlier uses Enum.IsDefined()it to make sure there is no exception thrown by Enum.Parse (). You can also enable multiple null checks on valueto prevent ArgumentNullExceptionif the value is null.

public static bool TryParse<TEnum>(string value, out TEnum result)
    where TEnum : struct, IConvertible
{
    var retValue = value == null ? 
                false : 
                Enum.IsDefined(typeof(TEnum), value);
    result = retValue ?
                (TEnum)Enum.Parse(typeof(TEnum), value) :
                default(TEnum);
    return retValue;
}

, Enum, , .

Enum , , . Enum.IsDefined ArgumentException, TEnum Enum, , . IConvertible , .

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Enum ( ),

public static class EnumHelpers
{
    public static bool TryParse<TEnum>(string value, out TEnum result)
        where TEnum : struct
    {
        try
        {
            result = (TEnum)Enum.Parse(typeof(TEnum), value); 
        }
        catch
        {
            return false;
        }

        return true;
    }
}
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In NLog, we also needed it Enum.TryParsefor .Net 3.5. We implemented the main functions (we simply analyze, are case sensitive and case insensitive, not flags), which were affected by this post.

This basic version has been tested with a high degree of modularity, so it has the same behavior as the implementation of Microsoft.Net 4.

Code can be found on NLog GitHub , and unit tests are on GitHub (xUnit)

Usage (all .Net versions) - same signature as .Net 4.0

EnumHelpers.TryParse(value, true, out parsedValue) //case insensitive
//or
EnumHelpers.TryParse(value,  out parsedValue)
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