以上建议的干净总结与样本:

namespace EnumExtensions {

using System;
using System.Reflection;

public class TextAttribute : Attribute {
   public string Text;
   public TextAttribute( string text ) {
      Text = text;
   }//ctor
}// class TextAttribute

public static class EnumExtender {

public static string ToText( this Enum enumeration ) {

   MemberInfo[] memberInfo = enumeration.GetType().GetMember( enumeration.ToString() );

   if ( memberInfo != null && memberInfo.Length > 0 ) {

      object[] attributes = memberInfo[ 0 ].GetCustomAttributes( typeof(TextAttribute),  false );

      if ( attributes != null && attributes.Length > 0 ) {
         return ( (TextAttribute)attributes[ 0 ] ).Text;
      }

   }//if

   return enumeration.ToString();

}//ToText

}//class EnumExtender

}//namespace

用法:

using System;
using EnumExtensions;

class Program {

public enum Appearance {

  [Text( "left-handed" ) ]
  Left,

  [Text( "right-handed" ) ]
  Right,

}//enum

static void Main( string[] args ) {

   var appearance = Appearance.Left;
   Console.WriteLine( appearance.ToText() );

}//Main

}//class

这是对Ray Booysen的代码的更新，使用通用的GetCustomAttributes方法和LINQ使事情变得更整洁。

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the value of the <see cref="T:System.ComponentModel.DescriptionAttribute"/> on an struct, including enums.  
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T">The type of the struct.</typeparam>
    /// <param name="enumerationValue">A value of type <see cref="T:System.Enum"/></param>
    /// <returns>If the struct has a Description attribute, this method returns the description.  Otherwise it just calls ToString() on the struct.</returns>
    /// <remarks>Based on http://stackoverflow.com/questions/479410/enum-tostring/479417#479417, but useful for any struct.</remarks>
    public static string GetDescription<T>(this T enumerationValue) where T : struct
    {
        return enumerationValue.GetType().GetMember(enumerationValue.ToString())
                .SelectMany(mi => mi.GetCustomAttributes<DescriptionAttribute>(false),
                    (mi, ca) => ca.Description)
                .FirstOrDefault() ?? enumerationValue.ToString();
    }   

我使用一个泛型类来存储枚举/描述对，并使用一个嵌套的helper类来获取描述。

枚举:

enum Status { Success, Fail, Pending }

泛型类:

注意:由于泛型类不能被枚举约束，我用struct来代替约束，并在构造函数中检查enum。

public class EnumX<T> where T : struct
{
    public T Code { get; set; }
    public string Description { get; set; }

    public EnumX(T code, string desc)
    {
        if (!typeof(T).IsEnum) throw new NotImplementedException();

        Code = code;
        Description = desc;
    }

    public class Helper
    {
        private List<EnumX<T>> codes;

        public Helper(List<EnumX<T>> codes)
        {
            this.codes = codes;
        }

        public string GetDescription(T code)
        {
            EnumX<T> e = codes.Where(c => c.Code.Equals(code)).FirstOrDefault();
            return e is null ? "Undefined" : e.Description;
        }
    }
}

用法:

EnumX<Status>.Helper StatusCodes = new EnumX<Status>.Helper(new List<EnumX<Status>>()
        {
            new EnumX<Status>(Status.Success,"Operation was successful"),
            new EnumX<Status>(Status.Fail,"Operation failed"),
            new EnumX<Status>(Status.Pending,"Operation not complete. Please wait...")
        });

        Console.WriteLine(StatusCodes.GetDescription(Status.Pending));

这里最简单的解决方案是使用自定义扩展方法(至少在。net 3.5中-您可以将其转换为早期框架版本的静态帮助器方法)。

public static string ToCustomString(this PublishStatusses value)
{
    switch(value)
    {
        // Return string depending on value.
    }
    return null;
}

我在这里假设您希望返回enum值的实际名称以外的内容(您可以通过简单地调用ToString来获得)。

不要使用枚举，使用静态类。

取代

private enum PublishStatuses{
    NotCompleted,
    Completed,
    Error
};

with

private static class PublishStatuses{
    public static readonly string NotCompleted = "Not Completed";
    public static readonly string Completed = "Completed";
    public static readonly string Error = "Error";
};

它是这样使用的

PublishStatuses.NotCompleted; // "Not Completed"

使用顶级“扩展方法”解决方案的问题:

私有枚举通常在另一个类中使用。扩展方法解决方案在那里无效，因为它必须在它自己的类中。这个解决方案可以是私有的，并嵌入到另一个类中。

public enum MyEnum
{
    [Description("Option One")]
    Option_One
}

public static string ToDescriptionString(this Enum This)
{
    Type type = This.GetType();

    string name = Enum.GetName(type, This);

    MemberInfo member = type.GetMembers()
        .Where(w => w.Name == name)
        .FirstOrDefault();

    DescriptionAttribute attribute = member != null
        ? member.GetCustomAttributes(true)
            .Where(w => w.GetType() == typeof(DescriptionAttribute))
            .FirstOrDefault() as DescriptionAttribute
        : null;

    return attribute != null ? attribute.Description : name;
}