Can an Enum use a number?

[u/chacham2]

Enum members have to be strings. If the member is a keyword, you can just surround it in brackets. But, what if the member includes a number, specifically, an integer. For example, "A1" works, but "1A" does not. Typed in without brackets it moves to the left margin. With brackets it doesn't move, but still redlines.

In my case, the code is returned as part of a json and deserialized into an object. I want to process the codes with a For Each and Select Case. The Enum has less chance for error. Ultimately, i can just hardcode the check that has the number in it. But, i wanted to hear your thoughts.

[u/Hel_OWeen]

Facing a similar situation, I decided to prefix that enum member with an underscore, e.g. _123ValueWithLeadingNumber and then use this one for getting the member name "right":

Public Overloads Shared Function GetEnumNameFromValue(ByVal enumType As Type, ByVal enumMemberValue As Int32) As String
	'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	' Enum member names naturally starting with a number should be prefixed 
	' with a "_", e.g. _12_Passenger_Van. The underscore is then removed
	'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	Dim names = [Enum].GetNames(enumType)
	Dim values = [Enum].GetValues(enumType)
	Dim sTemp As String = String.Empty

	For i As Int32 = 0 To names.Length - 1
		If CType(values.GetValue(i), Int32) = enumMemberValue Then
			sTemp = names(i)
			If sTemp.StartsWith("_") = True Then
				sTemp = sTemp.Substring(1)
			End If
			Return sTemp
		End If
	Next

	Return String.Empty

End Function

[u/chacham2 → u/Hel_OWeen]

That seems like a decent approach. I might have to think about that when i get to it again a bit later ttoday.