Finding an enum value by its Description Attribute

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This may seem a little upside down faced, but what I want to be able to do is get an enum value from an enum by its Description attribute.

So, if I have an enum declared as follows:

enum Testing
{
    [Description("David Gouge")]
    Dave = 1,
    [Description("Peter Gouge")]
    Pete = 2,
    [Description("Marie Gouge")]
    Ree = 3
}

I'd like to be able to get 2 back by supplying the string "Peter Gouge".

As a starting point, I can iterate through the enum fields and grab the field with the correct attribute:

string descriptionToMatch = "Peter Gouge";
FieldInfo[] fields = typeof(Testing).GetFields();

foreach (FieldInfo field in fields)
{
    if (field.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false).Count() > 0)
    {
        if (((DescriptionAttribute)field.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false)[0]).Description == descriptionToMatch)
        {

        }
    }
}

But then I'm stuck as to what to do in that inner if. Also not sure if this is the way to go in the first place.

3 Answers
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