public static T ParseToEnum(this string name)

Very handy. I’ve made it a little more robust, and turned it into an extension method:

public static T ParseToEnum(this string name)
{
if (false == typeof(T).IsEnum)
throw new NotSupportedException(typeof(T).Name + ” must be an Enum”);

if(false == Enum.IsDefined(typeof(T), name))
throw new ArgumentException(string.Format(“{0} is not defined in type of enum {1}”, name, typeof(T).Name));

return (T)Enum.Parse(typeof(T), name);
}

And some unit tests for it:

[Test]
public void ParseToEnum_ValidStringValidEnum_ReturnsSuccess()
{
var e = “Success”.ParseToEnum();
Assert.AreEqual(WebExceptionStatus.Success, e);
}

[Test, ExpectedException("System.NotSupportedException")]
public void ParseToEnum_TypeIsNotAnEnum_ThrowsException()
{
var e = “Success”.ParseToEnum();
}

[Test, ExpectedException("System.ArgumentException")]
public void ParseToEnum_StringNotDefinedInEnum_ThrowsException()
{
var e = “ThisDoesNotExist”.ParseToEnum();
}