Parse a string to an Enum value in VB.NET

Question

How can I parse a string in VB.NET to enum value?

Example I have this enum:

Public Enum Gender
    NotDefined
    Male
    Female
End Enum

how can I convert a string "Male" to the Gender enum's Male value?

user_86296 · Answer

Dim val = DirectCast([Enum].Parse(GetType(Gender), "Male"), Gender)

user_60188 · Answer

See Enum.TryParse.

user_5264741 · Answer

If you want the parse to be case insensitive, you can use the following:

[Enum].Parse(Gender, DirectCast(MyGender, String), True)

This will handle dim MyGender as string = "Male" or dim MyGender as string = "male"