MVC.net get enum display name in view without having to refer to enum type in view

Question

I have the following helper method in a ViewModelBase class, which is inherited by other view Models:

public string GetEnumName<T>(Enum value)
        {
            Type enumType = typeof(T);
            var enumValue = Enum.GetName(enumType, value);
            MemberInfo member = enumType.GetMember(enumValue)[0];

            var attrs = member.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DisplayAttribute), false);
            var outString = ((DisplayAttribute)attrs[0]).Name;

            if (((DisplayAttribute)attrs[0]).ResourceType != null)
            {
                outString = ((DisplayAttribute)attrs[0]).GetName();
            }

            return outString;
        }

I then call this from the view like this:

<p>
@{var rel = Model.GetEnumDisplayName<Enums.wheteverEnum>(Model.wheteverEnum); }
@rel
</p>

Question is - can I work this method so I don't have to tell it the type of the enum? Basically I'd like todo this for all enums:

@Model.GetEnumDisplayName(Model.wheteverEnum)

No typeof, no T, no need to add a reference to the Enums namespace in the View...

Possible?

Working solution for Asp.NetMVC 5 stackoverflow.com/a/75884887/7873901 — avr-girl
– avr-girl, Commented Mar 30, 2023 at 6:50

jrummell · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-17 15:50:40Z

54

You can simply remove the type parameter and make it an extension method.

    public static string DisplayName(this Enum value)
    {
        Type enumType = value.GetType();
        var enumValue = Enum.GetName(enumType, value);
        MemberInfo member = enumType.GetMember(enumValue)[0];

        var attrs = member.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DisplayAttribute), false);
        var outString = ((DisplayAttribute)attrs[0]).Name;

        if (((DisplayAttribute)attrs[0]).ResourceType != null)
        {
            outString = ((DisplayAttribute)attrs[0]).GetName();
        }

        return outString;
    }

    @Model.wheteverEnum.DisplayName()

edited Feb 17, 2012 at 15:50

answered Feb 17, 2012 at 13:41

jrummell

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4 Comments

Nope Over a year ago

+1 Very nice. It used the original code plus added the code implementation of the extension method including how to call it.

flipchart Over a year ago

For completeness sake, you should add a check that there are any DisplayAttributes applied to the enum value and return value.ToString() as a default if there aren't any. Otherwise you'll get an IndexOutOfRangeException when you call ((DisplayAttribute)attrs[0]).Name

Ashwini Verma Over a year ago

If someone try to call from controller: DisplayName((MyEnum)id);

VSB Over a year ago

When i add this extension method to my model which contains enum types, ide report error Extension method must be defined in a non-generic static class and when I change my model class to static class, i got tons of other errors which generated due to static definitions. I don't know where to add this snippet? I also created a static base-class for models however I cannot inherit non-static models from a base static model class.

devdigital · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-04 10:18:19Z

7

Could you not write this as an extension method? Something like...

public static class EnumExtensions
{
  public static string ToDescription(this Enum e)
  {
     var attributes = (DisplayAttribute[])e.GetType().GetField(e.ToString()).GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DisplayAttribute), false);
     return attributes.Length > 0 ? attributes[0].Description : string.Empty;
  }
}

Usage:

@Model.WhateverEnum.ToDescription();

edited Nov 4, 2013 at 10:18

answered Feb 17, 2012 at 13:34

devdigital

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Comments

toepoke.co.uk · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-15 08:29:41Z

Nice work @jrummell!

I've added a small tweak below which captures the scenario where an enum doesn't have an associated Display attribute (currently it throws an exception)

/// <summary>
/// Gets the DataAnnotation DisplayName attribute for a given enum (for displaying enums values nicely to users)
/// </summary>
/// <param name="value">Enum value to get display for</param>
/// <returns>Pretty version of enum (if there is one)</returns>
/// <remarks>
/// Inspired by :
///     http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9328972/mvc-net-get-enum-display-name-in-view-without-having-to-refer-to-enum-type-in-vi
/// </remarks>
public static string DisplayFor(this Enum value) {
    Type enumType = value.GetType();
    var enumValue = Enum.GetName(enumType, value);
    MemberInfo member = enumType.GetMember(enumValue)[0];
    string outString = "";

    var attrs = member.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DisplayAttribute), false);
    if (attrs.Any()) {
        var displayAttr = ((DisplayAttribute)attrs[0]);

        outString = displayAttr.Name;

        if (displayAttr.ResourceType != null) {
            outString = displayAttr.GetName();
        }
    } else {
        outString = value.ToString();
    }

    return outString;
}

Rabskatran · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-17 11:46:57Z

1

The answer of @jrummell in VB.NET for the few of us...

Module ModuleExtension

    <Extension()>
    Public Function DisplayName(ByVal value As System.Enum) As String

        Dim enumType As Type = value.GetType()
        Dim enumValue = System.Enum.GetName(enumType, value)
        Dim member As MemberInfo = enumType.GetMember(enumValue)(0)

        Dim attrs = member.GetCustomAttributes(GetType(DisplayAttribute), False)
        Dim outString = CType(attrs(0), DisplayAttribute).Name

        If (CType(attrs(0), DisplayAttribute).ResourceType IsNot Nothing) Then
            outString = CType(attrs(0), DisplayAttribute).GetName()
        End If

        Return outString
    End Function


End Module

answered Jun 17, 2014 at 11:46

Rabskatran

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Comments

Muhannad Al-Khodari · Accepted Answer · 2017-02-15 08:14:52Z

for anyone who might reach to this question, I found this a lot easier than any thing else: https://www.codeproject.com/articles/776908/dealing-with-enum-in-mvc

Just create a folder "DisplayTemplate" under "Views\Shared", and create an empty view (Name it "Enum") in the new folder "DisplayTemplate", and copy this code to it"

@model Enum

@if (EnumHelper.IsValidForEnumHelper(ViewData.ModelMetadata))
{
    // Display Enum using same names (from [Display] attributes) as in editors
    string displayName = null;
    foreach (SelectListItem item in EnumHelper.GetSelectList(ViewData.ModelMetadata, (Enum)Model))
    {
        if (item.Selected)
        {
            displayName = item.Text ?? item.Value;
        }
    }

    // Handle the unexpected case that nothing is selected
    if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(displayName))
    {
        if (Model == null)
        {
            displayName = String.Empty;
        }
        else
        {
            displayName = Model.ToString();
        }
    }

    @Html.DisplayTextFor(model => displayName)
}
else
{
    // This Enum type is not supported.  Fall back to the text.
    @Html.DisplayTextFor(model => model)
}

Anthony Shaw · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-17 13:42:00Z

Here is an extension method that I've written to do just this... it has a little extra logic in it to parse Enum names and split by capital letters. You can override any name by using the Display Attribute

public static TAttribute GetAttribute<TAttribute>(this ICustomAttributeProvider parameterInfo) where TAttribute : Attribute
{
    object[] attributes = parameterInfo.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(TAttribute), false);
    return attributes.Length > 0 ? (TAttribute)attributes[0] : null;
}
public static bool HasAttribute<TAttribute>(this ICustomAttributeProvider parameterInfo) where TAttribute : Attribute
{
    object[] attributes = parameterInfo.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(TAttribute), false);
    return attributes.Length > 0 ? true : false;
}

public static string ToFriendlyEnum(this Enum type)
{
    return type.GetType().HasAttribute<DescriptionAttribute>() ? type.GetType().GetAttribute<DescriptionAttribute>().Description : type.ToString().ToFriendlyEnum();
}

public static string ToFriendlyEnum(this string value)
{
    char[] chars = value.ToCharArray();
    string output = string.Empty;

    for (int i = 0; i < chars.Length; i++)
    {
        if (i <= 0 || chars[i - 1].ToString() != chars[i - 1].ToString().ToUpper() && chars[i].ToString() != chars[i].ToString().ToLower())
        {
            output += " ";
        }

        output += chars[i];
    }

    return output.Trim();
}

The GetAttribute extension methods could be slightly overkill, but I use them elsewhere in my projects, so they got reused when I wrote my Enum extension. You could easily combine them back into the ToFriendlyEnum(this Enum type) method

Anis Saddoud · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-21 11:26:32Z

The suggested sollutions does not worked for me with MVC3: so the helper below is good.:

    public static string GetEnumDescription(this Enum value)
    {
        Type type = value.GetType();
        string name = Enum.GetName(type, value);
        if (name != null)
        {
            FieldInfo field = type.GetField(name);
            if (field != null)
            {
                string attr = field.GetCustomAttributesData()[0].NamedArguments[0].TypedValue.Value.ToString();
                if (attr == null)
                {
                    return name;
                }
                else
                {
                    return attr;
                }
            }
        }
        return null;
    }

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