C# – Auto-populate a dropdown with enum values

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When you need to show enum values in a dropdown, it’s a good idea to automatically populate the list, instead of manually setting all of the values.

To autopopulate the dropdown, set the DataSource to Enum.Values(), like this:

dropDownListPets.DataSource = Enum.GetValues(typeof(PetType));

Code language: C# (cs)

Then to get the option the user picked, do the following:

var choice = (PetType)dropDownListPets.SelectedItem;

Code language: C# (cs)

When I launch my form, I can see it correctly populated the dropdown from my Pets enum:

Pets dropdown showing values from Pets enum

Note: “Dropdown” refers to a ComboBox control with DropDownStyle=DropDown.

Binding to an enum property

Let’s say you’re binding your controls to an object, and one of the object’s properties is an enum. Here’s an example of how to bind the enum property to a dropdown control:

person = new Person()
{
	Name = "Bob",
	Pet = PetType.Dog
};

//auto-populate with all possible values
dropDownListPets.DataSource = Enum.GetValues(typeof(PetType));

//bind the enum property
dropDownListPets.DataBindings.Add(nameof(ComboBox.SelectedItem), person, nameof(person.Pet));

Code language: C# (cs)
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