MetaEnum class

4 min

When a new meta-enum is created, a meta-type with the McDataType property and McDataType.Enum value is registered. If an enumerator was created, you can create a field with the enumerator meta-type. The entity object property returns the selected item ID (Int32) or an array of selected item IDs (Int32[]).

📘 Note When you create and delete meta-enums, remember that you can only modify a meta-model in Design mode. See the MetaClassManager classMetaClassManager class section.

Get an enumerator collection

Because the enumerator is an original meta-type, you can get all enumerators from the MetaClassManager.RegisteredTypes property.

Example: Find all enumerators:

foreach(MetaFieldType type in DataContext.Current.MetaModel.RegisteredTypes)
{
  if (type.McDataType == McDataType.Enum)
  {
    // The enumerator is found
  }
}

Manage enumerators

The following MetaEnum class methods are useful when managing enumerators:

Call AddItem, passing meta-type, item-friendly name, and order ID, to add an enum item to the enumerator.

Call ChangeOrder, passing meta-type, item ID, and new order ID to rename an enum item.

Call Create, passing type name, friendly name, and MultyValue flag to create a new enumerator.

Call GetItems, passing meta-type, to get all enum items.

Call IsUsed, passing meta-type, to determine whether the specified type is used in any meta-class.

Call Remove, passing meta-type, to delete an enumerator.

Call RemoveItem, passing meta-type and item ID, to remove an enum item.

Call RenameItem, passing meta-type, item ID, and the new enum name, to rename an enum item.

Call UpdateItem, passing meta-type, item-friendly name, and order ID to update an enum item.

Create an enumerator

Call the Create method of the MetaEnum class, passing type name, friendly name, and MultyValue flag to create a new enumerator.

Example: Create an enumerator:

MetaFieldType newEnum = MetaEnum.Create(enumName, enumFriendlyName, bMultyValue);

Create an enum meta-field

You can create a field with the enumerator meta-type if you created an enumerator.

Example: Create an enum meta-field:

public MetaField CreateEnumField(string name, string friendlyName, string enumName, bool isNullable, string defaultValue, bool enumEditable) {
  if (name == null)
    throw new ArgumentNullException("name");

  if (friendlyName == null)
    throw new ArgumentNullException("friendlyName");

  AttributeCollection attr = new AttributeCollection();
  attr.Add(McDataTypeAttribute.EnumEditable, enumEditable);
  MetaField retVal = this.MetaClass.CreateMetaField(name, friendlyName, enumName, isNullable, defaultValue, attr);
  return retVal;
}