Getting the string representing the enum value

[Chris Nicholson-Sauls]

You have the right idea, although I think it would be better to name the X->char[] 
function 'toString' and the char[]->X function 'toX' and the map with all capitals. 
Convention, you see, and clarity through expressions like:
# X var = X.Apple;
# char[] str = var.toString;
# X another = str.toX;

In fact, if you don't want the char[]->X conversion at all, then the map can be a static 
variable of 'toString(X)', to prevent namespace pollution.

One other suggestion: note the rewritten code below:

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");
> }

char[] toString (X value) {
   if (auto foo = value in X_NAMES)
     return *foo;
   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;
> }

X toX (char[] value) {
   foreach (id, name; X_NAMES) {
     if (icmp(name, value) == 0)
       return id;
   }
   return cast(X)-1;
}

-- Chris Nicholson-Sauls