I have an enum:
public enum Color { Red, Blue, Green, } Now if I read those colors as literal strings from an XML file, how can I convert it to the enum type Color.
class TestClass { public Color testColor = Color.Red; } Now when setting that attribute by using a literal string like so, I get a very harsh warning from the compiler. :D Can't convert from string to Color.
Any help?
TestClass.testColor = collectionofstrings[23].ConvertToColor?????; Is something like this what you're looking for?
TestClass.testColor = (Color)Enum.Parse(typeof(Color), collectionofstrings[23]); 
Try:
TestClass.testColor = (Color)Enum.Parse(typeof(Color), collectionofstrings[23]); Edit: in .NET 4.0 you can use a more type-safe method (and also one that doesn't throw exceptions when parsing fails):
Color myColor; if (Enum.TryParse(collectionofstring[23], out myColor)) { // Do stuff with "myColor" } 
0 entry in the enum is and you'd have no clue it actually failed.You need to use Enum.Parse to convert your string to the correct Color enum value:
TestClass.testColor = (Color)Enum.Parse(typeof(Color), collectionofstrings[23], true); As everyone else has said:
TestClass.testColor = (Color) Enum.Parse(typeof(Color), collectionofstrings[23]); If you're having an issue because the collectionofstrings is a collection of objects, then try this:
TestClass.testColor = (Color) Enum.Parse( typeof(Color), collectionofstrings[23].ToString()); 