How to make a const array of string with enum as keys?

Question

Here's what I'd like to do in CSharp but I dont know how to do this (I know this is not valid C#):

const enum GameOver { Winner, Looser, Tied, };
GameOvers = [
    GameOver.Winner: "Person is the winner",
    GameOver.Looser: "Person is the looser",
    GameOver.Tied: "Game is tied",
]

And later on, I want to be able to call it like:

Display(GameOvers[GameOver.Winner])

(I want to handle a const array of errors like this actually).

How would you do in C#?

You could use the Description attribute or something like this ? — Ňɏssa Pøngjǣrdenlarp
– Ňɏssa Pøngjǣrdenlarp, Commented Nov 26, 2017 at 0:37
learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/programming-guide/… — Hans Passant
– Hans Passant, Commented Nov 26, 2017 at 0:53
This question could have what you need: stackoverflow.com/questions/479410/… — user4331373
– user4331373, Commented Nov 26, 2017 at 2:13

adjan · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-26 00:49:59Z

1

The closest approach that comes into my mind is using a Dictionary<GameOver, string>:

enum GameOver { Winner, Loser, Tied };

Dictionary<GameOver, string> GameOvers =  new Dictionary<GameOver, string>()
{
    {GameOver.Winner, "Person is the winner"}, 
    {GameOver.Loser,  "Person is the loser"},
    {GameOver.Tied,   "Game is tied"}
};

But notice, that you can't make the Dictionary really constant, since the instance is mutable.

edited Nov 26, 2017 at 0:49

answered Nov 26, 2017 at 0:43

adjan

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1 Comment

Olivier Pons Over a year ago

That's exactly what I've done just before you answered ;^) Thanks a lot, and have a nice day ahead!

Tommaso Belluzzo · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-26 01:05:22Z

0

public static readonly String[] Messages =
{
    "Person is the winner",
    "Person is the looser",
    "Game is tied"
};

public enum GameOver
{
    Winner = 0,
    Looser = 1,
    Tied = 2
}

Display(Messages[(Int32)GameOver.Winner]);

Maybe less compact, but functional. Your strings will also be insured to be immutable thanks to the readonly attribute (What are the benefits to marking a field as `readonly` in C#?).

edited Nov 26, 2017 at 1:05

answered Nov 26, 2017 at 0:51

Tommaso Belluzzo

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2 Comments

dumetrulo Over a year ago

Strings are always immutable. The array, however, is not. The readonly keyword only makes the variable Messages read-only, not the array it points to.

Tommaso Belluzzo Over a year ago

I problably explained it in a wrong way but the concept behind the code looks kinda clear.

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