Generic Array of Enum Values?

Question

I'm currently writing a helper function in VB.NET to convert an array of enum values to a CSV, but I'm encounting a few difficulties....

I'm not sure what type of arguement my function should take if I want to make it generic enough to handle any enum I pass into it.

This is what I've got so far:

Public Shared Function EnumArrayToCSV(ByVal values() As System.Enum) As String
    Dim result As Generic.List(Of String) = New Generic.List(Of String)

    For i As Integer = 0 To values.GetUpperBound(0)
        result.Add(Convert.ToInt32(values(i)))
    Next i

    Return String.Join(",", result.ToArray)
End Function

I realise that the arguement is incorrect as I am working with an array of enums. Ideally, I'd like to be working with a generic set of enum values.

Can anyone help?

Joel Coehoorn · Accepted Answer · 2009-04-21 02:14:51Z

4

Public Shared Function CSVFromEnumValues(Of T)(ByVal values As IEnumerable(Of T)) As String
    Dim sb As New StringBuilder()

    Dim delimiter As String = ""
    For Each item As T In values
        sb.Append(delimiter).Append(Convert.ToInt32(item).ToString())
        delimiter = ","
    Next item

    return sb.ToString()
End Function

Some notes on this code:

I have come to prefer the TypeFromType() rather than TypeToType() naming convention, because it places the types near the variable that contain them rather than the reverse.
This code will accept an array. It will also accept a list or most any other collection you can think of. This is a good thing- it makes your code more powerful and flexible.
This code is not restricted to enum values, but enum values are just a type. There's nothing special about the values themsevles. This isn't really a bad thing. It still works for enum values, so you can use it just fine. That it works for other items isn't necessarily a flaw.

edited Apr 21, 2009 at 2:14

answered Apr 20, 2009 at 14:36

Joel Coehoorn

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2 Comments

Sonny Boy Over a year ago

Slight syntax error in the code above For loop should probably read "For each item As T in Values"

Joel Coehoorn Over a year ago

Thanks, fixed. Spending too much time writing C# lately :o

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