这是一个使用lambda进行选择的通用实现

public static Expected GetAttributeValue<T, Expected>(this Enum enumeration, Func<T, Expected> expression)
    where T : Attribute
{
    T attribute =
      enumeration
        .GetType()
        .GetMember(enumeration.ToString())
        .Where(member => member.MemberType == MemberTypes.Field)
        .FirstOrDefault()
        .GetCustomAttributes(typeof(T), false)
        .Cast<T>()
        .SingleOrDefault();

    if (attribute == null)
        return default(Expected);

    return expression(attribute);
}

这样叫它:

string description = targetLevel.GetAttributeValue<DescriptionAttribute, string>(x => x.Description);

这段代码应该为任何枚举提供了一个不错的扩展方法，使您可以检索泛型属性。我相信它与上面的lambda函数不同，因为它使用起来更简单，而且稍微-你只需要传入泛型类型。

public static class EnumHelper
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets an attribute on an enum field value
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T">The type of the attribute you want to retrieve</typeparam>
    /// <param name="enumVal">The enum value</param>
    /// <returns>The attribute of type T that exists on the enum value</returns>
    /// <example><![CDATA[string desc = myEnumVariable.GetAttributeOfType<DescriptionAttribute>().Description;]]></example>
    public static T GetAttributeOfType<T>(this Enum enumVal) where T:System.Attribute
    {
        var type = enumVal.GetType();
        var memInfo = type.GetMember(enumVal.ToString());
        var attributes = memInfo[0].GetCustomAttributes(typeof(T), false);
        return (attributes.Length > 0) ? (T)attributes[0] : null;
    }
}

用法如下:

string desc = myEnumVariable.GetAttributeOfType<DescriptionAttribute>().Description;

我已经创建了一个扩展方法，它将返回c#中枚举中所有元素的描述。

public static List<string> GetAllEnumDescriptions(this Type enumType)
    {
        try
        {
            var enumList = Enum.GetValues(enumType).Cast<Enum>().ToList();
            List<string> result = new List<string>();
            foreach (var enumItem in enumList)
            {
                result.Add(enumItem.EnumDescription());
            }
            return result;
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            return new List<string>();
        }
    }

此方法将使用内置的EnumDescription()扩展方法添加枚举中元素的描述。

这个扩展方法将使用枚举值的XmlEnumAttribute获得枚举值的字符串表示形式。如果没有XmlEnumAttribute，则返回到枚举. tostring()。

public static string ToStringUsingXmlEnumAttribute<T>(this T enumValue)
    where T: struct, IConvertible
{
    if (!typeof(T).IsEnum)
    {
        throw new ArgumentException("T must be an enumerated type");
    }

    string name;

    var type = typeof(T);

    var memInfo = type.GetMember(enumValue.ToString());

    if (memInfo.Length == 1)
    {
        var attributes = memInfo[0].GetCustomAttributes(typeof(System.Xml.Serialization.XmlEnumAttribute), false);

        if (attributes.Length == 1)
        {
            name = ((System.Xml.Serialization.XmlEnumAttribute)attributes[0]).Name;
        }
        else
        {
            name = enumValue.ToString();
        }
    }
    else
    {
        name = enumValue.ToString();
    }

    return name;
}

我这回答设置一个组合框从枚举属性，这是伟大的。

然后，我需要编写反向代码，以便从框中获得选择并返回正确类型的enum。

我还修改了代码，以处理缺少属性的情况

为了下一个人的利益，这是我的最终解决方案

public static class Program
{
   static void Main(string[] args)
    {
       // display the description attribute from the enum
       foreach (Colour type in (Colour[])Enum.GetValues(typeof(Colour)))
       {
            Console.WriteLine(EnumExtensions.ToName(type));
       }

       // Get the array from the description
       string xStr = "Yellow";
       Colour thisColour = EnumExtensions.FromName<Colour>(xStr);

       Console.ReadLine();
    }

   public enum Colour
   {
       [Description("Colour Red")]
       Red = 0,

       [Description("Colour Green")]
       Green = 1,

       [Description("Colour Blue")]
       Blue = 2,

       Yellow = 3
   }
}

public static class EnumExtensions
{

    // This extension method is broken out so you can use a similar pattern with 
    // other MetaData elements in the future. This is your base method for each.
    public static T GetAttribute<T>(this Enum value) where T : Attribute
    {
        var type = value.GetType();
        var memberInfo = type.GetMember(value.ToString());
        var attributes = memberInfo[0].GetCustomAttributes(typeof(T), false);

        // check if no attributes have been specified.
        if (((Array)attributes).Length > 0)
        {
            return (T)attributes[0];
        }
        else
        {
            return null;
        }
    }

    // This method creates a specific call to the above method, requesting the
    // Description MetaData attribute.
    public static string ToName(this Enum value)
    {
        var attribute = value.GetAttribute<DescriptionAttribute>();
        return attribute == null ? value.ToString() : attribute.Description;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Find the enum from the description attribute.
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
    /// <param name="desc"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static T FromName<T>(this string desc) where T : struct
    {
        string attr;
        Boolean found = false;
        T result = (T)Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)).GetValue(0);

        foreach (object enumVal in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)))
        {
            attr = ((Enum)enumVal).ToName();

            if (attr == desc)
            {
                result = (T)enumVal;
                found = true;
                break;
            }
        }

        if (!found)
        {
            throw new Exception();
        }

        return result;
    }
}

}

感谢Bryan Rowe和AdamCrawford的回答!

但是如果有人需要方法来获取描述(而不是扩展)，你可以使用它:

string GetEnumDiscription(Enum EnumValue)
        {
            var type = EnumValue.GetType();
            var memInfo = type.GetMember(EnumValue.ToString());
            var attributes = memInfo[0].GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);
            return (attributes.Length > 0) ? ((DescriptionAttribute)attributes[0]).Description : null;
        }