property with enum as type

Question

In a solution I have noticed a property that has a type enum:

Public Enum ContentType
  HTML = 1
  JSON = 2
  XML  = 3
End Enum

Public Property ContentID() As ContentType
  Get
    Return _contentID
  End Get
  Set(ByVal value As ContentType)
    _contentID= value
  End Set
End Property

Strangely these enums reflect a primary key in a table, I had an issue as a client had different primary keys and this was causing a select statement to not be entered.

Everything else seems to be working and it just got me thinking. My question is will this property throw an error if I try to set the value to be something that isn't contained in the enum? Because as I say this will definitely be happening and I have seen no errors thrown or am I missing something.

Oded · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-12 13:00:50Z

5

will this property throw an error if I try to set the value to be something that isn't contained in the enum?

It will not. Enumerations are backed by an integral type (Integer, Long etc...) and a variable will accept any valid value for its underlying type.

You can use the System.Enum.IsDefined method to check the value before trying to use it:

Returns an indication whether a constant with a specified value exists in a specified enumeration.

answered Sep 12, 2013 at 13:00

Oded

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2 Comments

DavidB Over a year ago

Thank you, that what I thought. The clue was in 'enum as integer' when I hover over the type but it's good for someone with so many numbers after their username to confirm it for me!

Oded Over a year ago

@DavidB - Don't assume the numbers are meaningful to your situation (check where they come from - perhaps from PHP or SQL, not VB.NET...)

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