Using enum values with Chars and integer types in a switch statement in C#

Question

So, I was wondering if it is acceptable practice or bad practice to use both integer and character types within an Enum type. For example, I am currently working with a payment processing vendor system. They can call our soap request and send ids for payment types anywhere from 1 to 25 and also can send characters such as C,M, and O. I wanted to use an enum for clarity in reading the code, but one problem I am having is that I also wanted to sue a switch for this. Is this a bad practice on handling this, also can I handle this safely in a switch or should I just do a if else, and try parse for handling incorrect casting?

Example of Enum values would be the following:

internal enum PaymentTypeEnum
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Payment Type Id via Phone from ACI. Note: Int32
    /// </summary>
    PhonePayment_IVR = '9',
    /// <summary>
    /// Payment Type Id via electronic from ACI. Note: Int32
    /// </summary>
    eCollectPayment = '5',
    /// <summary>
    /// Payment Type Id for CANCEL payment. Note: Char
    /// </summary>
    CancelPayment = 'C',
}

Why concerns do you have about using a switch statement? You can use either the label or the value of the enum. — ryanyuyu
– ryanyuyu, Commented Mar 21, 2016 at 13:34
This might lead to subtle bugs if one uses (PaymentTypeEnum)9 instead of (PaymentTypeEnum)'9'. I would prefer defining a lookup method or dictionary that makes the char type explicit. — Douglas
– Douglas, Commented Mar 21, 2016 at 13:39

Matthew Layton · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-21 14:05:59Z

1

It seems like ludicrous practice to use char members for enumerations, since they are numeric types under the hood.

Want to see how your example compiles?

//Your code...
internal enum PaymentTypeEnum
{
    PhonePayment_IVR = '9',
    eCollectPayment = '5',
    CancelPayment = 'C',
}

// Compiled...
internal enum PaymentTypeEnum
{
    PhonePayment_IVR = 57,
    eCollectPayment = 53,
    CancelPayment = 67
}

You seem to be missing a level of abstraction. Your enum should represent payment types, then if you need characters to represent each enum member, use a dictionary

Dictionary<PaymentTypeEnum, char> types = new Dictionary<PaymentTypeEnum, char>();

types[PaymentTypeEnum.PhonePayment_IVR] = '9';
types[PaymentTypeEnum.eCollectPayment] = '5';
types[PaymentTypeEnum.CancelPayment] = 'C';

public char GetPaymentType(PaymentTypeEnum pt)
{
    if(types.ContainsKey(pt))
    {
        return types[pt];
    }

    return default(char); // assuming (char)0 is meaningless in this context...otherwise...

    throw new InvalidArgumentException(...);
}

Also, don't suffix your enum with Enum...you already know it's an enum!

edited Mar 21, 2016 at 14:05

answered Mar 21, 2016 at 14:02

Matthew Layton

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1 Comment

Casey ScriptFu Pharr Over a year ago

Iw as also thinking about using dictionary. Thanks, I will do so, and that is why I asked.

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