How to display custom string for enum value in C#

For example:

using System.ComponentModel;

public enum CardType
{
    [Description("Standard Card")]
    StandardCard,
    
    [Description("Premium Card")]
    PremiumCard
}

Create an extension method that uses reflection to get the DisplayAttribute and returns the custom display name.

using System;
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;
using System.Reflection;

public static class EnumExtensions
{
    public static string GetDisplayName(this Enum value)
    {
        var field = value.GetType().GetField(value.ToString());
        var attribute = (DisplayAttribute)Attribute.GetCustomAttribute(field, typeof(DisplayAttribute));
        return attribute?.Name ?? value.ToString(); // Fallback to enum name
    }
}

You can now retrieve the display name directly from any enum instance.

var cardType = CardType.StandardCard;
Console.WriteLine(cardType.GetDisplayName()); // Outputs: "Standard Card"

This simple syntax (enum.ToDisplayName()) allows for easy access to custom display names defined in the DisplayAttribute, making your code cleaner and more readable.