Invalid enum value

Question

So I have a type:

public enum Types
{
    aaa= 1,
    bbb= 2,
    ccc= 4
}

public class RequestPayload
{
    public int Prop1 { get; set; }
    public string Prop2 { get; set; }
    public Types Prop3 { get; set; }
}

And with Postman I am testing a web api.

public MyType Create([FromBody] RequestPayloadpayload)
{
    return null
}

Here are my postman settings:

So why in the controller my object has property Prop3 to 6666 when my enum does not have this value?

Possible duplicate of Validating Enum Values within C# MVC. Partial validation occurs - How to change validation behaviour? — Peter B
– Peter B, Commented Nov 17, 2016 at 16:08

D Stanley · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-17 16:23:42Z

2

I don't know anything about "postman", but I assume you're surprised that an int value other than 1, 2, or 4 can be assigned to Prop3. The reason is - that's just how enums work in C# since, under the hood, a field of an enum type is converted to an int (or whatever the underlying type of the enum is), any int value can legally be stored in it.

From MSDN:

enum Days : byte {Sat=1, Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri};  
A variable of type Days can be assigned any value in the range of the underlying type; the values are not limited to the named constants.

This is probably to avoid expensive run-time checking of values against "defined" values, but there may be other architectural reasons as well (the use of "flag" enums is one that comes to mind).

edited Nov 17, 2016 at 16:23

answered Nov 17, 2016 at 16:12

D Stanley

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1 Comment

Buda Gavril Over a year ago

Indeed, I was surprised that I can assign other values to mu enum.

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