Getting the string representing the enum value ~ Proposal

[kris]

Ben Gardner wrote:
> I've done that "the hard way" in C.
> Here's an example in D:
> 
> /////
> import std.stdio;
> import std.string;
> 
> enum X {
>   Apple,
>   Bat,
>   Car,
> }
> 
> char [][] X_names = [
>    X.Apple : "Apple",
>    X.Bat   : "Bat",
>    X.Car   : "Car",
> ];
> 
> char [] get_X_name(X e)
> {
>    if ((e >= X.min) && (cast(int)e < X_names.length) &&
>        (X_names[e] !is null)) {
>       return X_names[e];
>    }
>    return ("invalid");
> }
> 
> X get_X_id(char [] name)
> {
>    for (int idx = 0; idx < X_names.length; idx++) {
>       if ((X_names[idx] !is null) && (icmp(X_names[idx], name) == 0))
>          return cast(X)idx;
>    }
>    return cast(X)-1;
> }
> 
> void main(char [][] args)
> {
>    for (int i = -1; i < 4; i++)
>    {
>       writef("%d = '%s'\n", i, get_X_name(cast(X)i));
>    }
> 
>    char [] name = "bat";
>    writef("id for '%s' is %d\n", name, cast(int)get_X_id(name));
> }
> ////
> 
> Running this produces the output:
> -1 = 'invalid'
> 0 = 'Apple'
> 1 = 'Bat'
> 2 = 'Car'
> 3 = 'invalid'
> id for 'bat' is 1
> 
> Ben
> 
> Hasan Aljudy wrote:
> 
>>say I have an enum
>>
>>    enum X
>>    {
>>     A,
>>     B,
>>     C
>>    }
>>
>>and I have
>>
>>    void someFunc( X e )
>>    {
>>     //.. some code
>>    }
>>
>>I want to print the value of 'e' but I don't want to get a number!! I
>>want to get a string that represents it. i.e. A or B or C
>>
>>
>>    void someFunc( X e )
>>    {
>>       toString(e);
>>       e.string;
>>       e.value;
>>       //or something like that ..
>>    }
>>
>>Is there any such thing in D?
>>


I'll propose that a new property be added, somewhat like the .mangleof 
property. Instead, a .nameof property would simply return the lexical 
token for the named entity. Doesn't matter whether it refers to a 
struct, class, some attribute thereof, enum types or members, whatever 
... the x.nameof should just return a char[] of the respective name.

Thoughts?