Turn an Enum into a DataTable

Introduction

Do you have tons of enums like I do? Are you tired of having to manually add those values to your dropdowns, and then update them manually every time you update your enums? No more! Bind your controls to your enums so that they will update dynamically should you ever have to change them.

Using the Code

What I've done is basically written a simple, reuseable function you can put in a module somewhere and call any time you need to turn an enum into workable data. Of course you can modify this code to return any sort of data you want, like an array list, a List(of) something, a DataSet, etc. Simply supply an instance of your enum and its type, and that's all!

The example I've given binds a combobox for a Windows app. However, the GetDataFromEnum function will work anywhere.

I've heavily commented the code so you can see exactly what's going on at all times.

Public Enum SomeEnum 'create your enum
    Bing
    Bang
    Bongo
End Enum

Public Function GetDataFromEnum(ByVal enumlist As System.Enum, ByVal enumtype As Type) _
        As DataTable
    Dim dt As New DataTable
    dt.Columns.Add("value", GetType(Integer)) 'set your table up
    dt.Columns.Add("text", GetType(String))
    Dim row As DataRow
    'get the values from your enum, i.e. 1, 2, 3, etc.    
    Dim values As Array = System.Enum.GetValues(enumtype) 
    'get the string values (Bing, Bang, and Bongo in this example)
    Dim names As Array = System.Enum.GetNames(enumtype) 

    For i As Integer = 0 To names.GetUpperBound(0)
        row = dt.NewRow 'build a row in the format of the table
        row("value") = values(i) 'put values in your row
        row("text") = names(i) 'put strings in your row
        dt.Rows.Add(row) 'add row to table
    Next
    
    Return dt 'return full table of enum values!
End Function

Public Sub Main()
    dim list as SomeEnum
    ComboBox1.DisplayMember = "text"
    ComboBox1.ValueMember = "value"
    ComboBox1.DataSource = GetDataFromEnum(list, GetType(SomeEnum))
End Sub

Easy as pie, cake, or even piecakes!

History

• 16^th May, 2007: Original article posted