21.3 Enum members

The body of an enum type declaration defines zero or more enum members,
which are the named constants
of the enum type. No two enum members can have the same name.
enum-member-declarations:
enum-member-declaration
enum-member-declarations , enum-member-declaration
enum-member-declaration:
attributesopt identifier
attributesopt identifier = constant-expression
Each enum member has an associated constant value. The type of this value is
the underlying type for the
containing enum. The constant value for each enum member must be in the
range of the underlying type for
the enum. [Example: The example
enum Color: uint
{
Red = -1,
Green = -2,
Blue = -3
}
results in a compile-time error because the constant values -1, -2, and ?3
are not in the range of the
underlying integral type uint. end example]
Multiple enum members may share the same associated value. [Example: The
example
enum Color
{
Red,
Green,
Blue,
Max = Blue
}
shows an enum that has two enum members?Blue and Max?that have the same
associated value. end
example]
The associated value of an enum member is assigned either implicitly or
explicitly. If the declaration of the
enum member has a constant-expression initializer, the value of that
constant expression, implicitly
converted to the underlying type of the enum, is the associated value of
the enum member. If the declaration
of the enum member has no initializer, its associated value is set
implicitly, as follows:
? If the enum member is the first enum member declared in the enum type,
its associated value is zero.
? Otherwise, the associated value of the enum member is obtained by
increasing the associated value of
the textually preceding enum member by one. This increased value must be
within the range of values
that can be represented by the underlying type.
Chapter 21 Enums
295
[Example: The example
using System;
enum Color
{
Red,
Green = 10,
Blue
}
class Test
{
static void Main() {
Console.WriteLine(StringFromColor(Color.Red));
Console.WriteLine(StringFromColor(Color.Green));
Console.WriteLine(StringFromColor(Color.Blue));
}
static string StringFromColor(Color c) {
switch (c) {
case Color.Red:
return String.Format("Red = {0}", (int) c);
case Color.Green:
return String.Format("Green = {0}", (int) c);
case Color.Blue:
return String.Format("Blue = {0}", (int) c);
default:
return "Invalid color";
}
}
}
prints out the enum member names and their associated values. The output is:
Red = 0
Green = 10
Blue = 11
for the following reasons:
? the enum member Red is automatically assigned the value zero (since it
has no initializer and is the first
enum member);
? the enum member Green is explicitly given the value 10;
? and the enum member Blue is automatically assigned the value one greater
than the member that
textually precedes it.
end example]
The associated value of an enum member may not, directly or indirectly, use
the value of its own associated
enum member. Other than this circularity restriction, enum member
initializers may freely refer to other
enum member initializers, regardless of their textual position. Within an
enum member initializer, values of
other enum members are always treated as having the type of their
underlying type, so that casts are not
necessary when referring to other enum members.
[Example: The example
enum Circular
{
A = B,
B
}
results in a compile-time error because the declarations of A and B are
circular. A depends on B explicitly,
and B depends on A implicitly. end example]
C# LANGUAGE SPECIFICATION
296
Enum members are named and scoped in a manner exactly analogous to fields
within classes. The scope of
an enum member is the body of its containing enum type. Within that scope,
enum members can be referred
to by their simple name. From all other code, the name of an enum member
must be qualified with the name
of its enum type. Enum members do not have any declared accessibility?an
enum member is accessible if
its containing enum type is accessible.