Multi dimensional enum Array list

Question

I have currently the following and I think it is very cumbersome. I generically create different buttons on a form and accomplish it by passing an array of buttons. Each button have a set of properties to setup the button on the fly.

public enum BtnType { bOK , bCancel, bYes, bNo };

public enum bOk { Name = "OKBtn", Text = "OK" }
public enum bCancel { Name = "CancelBtn", Text = "Cancel" }
public enum bYes { Name = "YesBtn", Text = "Cancel" }  

public static void SetButtons(BtnType[] _btnType, string onClick)
        {
            foreach (int i in _btnType)
            {
                switch (_btnType[i])
                {
                    case BtnType.bOK:
                        {
                            btnp.Name = bOk.Name;
                            btnp.Text = bOk.Text;
                        }
                        break;
                    case BtnType.bCancel:
                        {
                            btnp.Name = bCancel.Name;
                            btnp.Text = bCancel.Text;
                        }
                        break;
                    case BtnType.bYes:
                        {
                            btnp.Name = bYes.Name;
                            btnp.Text = bYes.Text;
                        }
                        break;
                }

            }

Then I call it like this and it will create 2 buttons for me.

SetButtons(new BtnType[] { BtnType.bYes, BtnType.bNo });

What I would like to accomplish is the following and I cannot find a solution.

public enum BtnType { bOK = { Name = "OKBtn", Text = "OK" }, 
                      bCancel = {}, 
                      bYes = {}, 
                      bNo = {} };

public static void SetButtons(BtnType[] _btnType, string onClick)
        {            
            foreach (int i in _btnType)
            {
                btnp.Name = _btnType[i].Name;
                btnp.Text = _btnType[i].Text;                
            }
        }

Thank you.

You cannot assign values to enum cases in C#. You need to use class instead of enum. Also, your loop to iterate throw values is completely wrong. With foreach you won't get index but a BtnType object. — Maxim Kosov
– Maxim Kosov, Commented Apr 28, 2016 at 11:29

Maxim Kosov · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-28 11:44:36Z

C# doesn't have any associated values with enum cases. So to limit kinds of button to be created you can create a usual C# enum

enum ButtonType { OK, Cancel, Yes, No }

When it would be convenient to create some factory which will create UI button for each of the enum value

static class ButtonFactory
{
    public static Button CreateButton(ButtonType buttonType)
    {
        switch (buttonType)
        {
            case ButtonType.OK:
                return CreateButton("OKBtn", "OK");

            // process other button types
        }
    }

    private static Button CreateButton(string name, string text)
    {
        var button = new Button();
        button.Name = name;
        button.Text = text;
        return button;
    }
}

And then you can create SetButtons which will create and add button to UI for each of the passed type

public static void SetButtons(params ButtonType[] buttonTypes)
{
    var buttons = buttonTypes.Select(ButtonFactory.CreateButton);
    // add buttons to UI
}

Stefan Steinegger · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-28 11:39:11Z

1

What you need is not an enum, you need real classes to put your button configuration in:

class ButtonConfig
{
  public string Name { get; set; }
  public string Text { get; set; }
}

var myButtons = new [
  new ButtonConfig { Name = "OKBtn", Text = "OK" },
  new ButtonConfig { Name = "CancelBtn", Text = "Cancel" },
  // ...
]

You don't need SetButtons as you have it in the question, because the buttons are already complete.

I don't know if this helps to solve your problem, because you don't have anything about what you actually want to do with this information in the question.

To navigate from a button type to the button configuration, you may use a dictionary

enum ButtonType
{
  Ok,
  Cancel,
  Whatever
}

Dictionary<ButtonType, ButtonConfig> buttons = new Dictionary<ButtonType, ButtonConfig>()
{
  {ButtonType.Ok, new ButtonConfig { Name = "OKBtn", Text = "OK" }},
  {ButtonType.Cancel, new ButtonConfig { Name = "CancelBtn", Text = "Cancel" }},
  {ButtonType.Whatever, new ButtonConfig { Name = "WhateverBtn", Text = "Whatever" }},
};

Access:

var okButton = buttons[ButtonType.Ok];

answered Apr 28, 2016 at 11:39

Stefan Steinegger

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1 Comment

Hennie van den Berg Over a year ago

Thanks @StefanSteinegger

Hennie van den Berg · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-28 17:07:50Z

Thanks for your answers. It is working very well and I use a bit from each answer to get to my requirement.

This is what I did:

public enum ButtonType { mbOK, mbCancel, mbYes, mbNo };

class ButtonConfig
    {
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public string Text { get; set; }
        public string ModelResult { get; set; }
    }

private static Dictionary<ButtonType, ButtonConfig> ButtonsSettings = new Dictionary<ButtonType, ButtonConfig>()
        {
            {ButtonType.mbOK, new ButtonConfig { Name = "btnOK", Text = "OK", ModelResult = "mrOk"}},
            {ButtonType.mbCancel, new ButtonConfig { Name = "btnCancelBtn", Text = "Cancel", ModelResult = "mrCancel" }},
            {ButtonType.mbYes, new ButtonConfig { Name = "btnYes", Text = "Yes", ModelResult = "mrYes" }},
            {ButtonType.mbNo, new ButtonConfig { Name = "btnNo", Text = "No", ModelResult = "mrNo"}},

I then have my method

public static XXX XXX(ButtonType[] _ButtonType, string onClick)

With I call like this:

XXX(new ButtonType[] { ButtonType.mbYes, ButtonType.mbNo },"onCLink");

and then I use a foreach loop

foreach (ButtonType button in _ButtonType)
{
   var Button = ButtonsSettings[button];
   htmlHelper.DevExpress().Button(buttonSettings =>
   {
      buttonSettings.Name = Button.Name;
      buttonSettings.ControlStyle.CssClass = "button";
      buttonSettings.Width = 80;
      buttonSettings.Text = Button.Text;
      buttonSettings.ClientSideEvents.Click = String.Format("function(s, e) {{" + onClick + "(\"{0}\"); pcMessage.Hide();}}", Button.ModelResult);
 }).Render();

Thanks

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