Is there a way for hiding some enum values for specific property of class?

Question

I have enum lets say for example:

public enum Color
{
  red,
  green,
  blue
}

And have two classes. which have property of enum.

public class ClassA
{
    public Color Color{get;set;}
}

public class ClassB
{
    [InvisibleFlag(Color.red)]  // I want something like that
    public Color Color{get;set;}
}

Now in Windows Forms Designer, I want to hide the red flag only from the Color enumeration for ClassB only.

I know that I can create a separated enum. but why duplicate values? I gave a simple example only.

Something I guess might help for superior who can help me at it.

Descriptor API. which I hate. ;(

Maybe something like TypeDescriptor.AddAttributes(object, new BrowsableAttribute(false));

This answer will not work in this case. I don't want to apply Browsable attribute to the enum flags because it hides that flag in property grid for all classes. I want to be able to hide specific enum values for specific classes only, not for all classes.

Answer 1

The class which helps you to show the enum values in PropertyGrid is EnumConverter and the method which is responsible to list enum values in GetStandardValues.

So as an option, you can can create a custom enum converter class by deriving from EnumConverter and the override its GetStandardValues to return standard values based on a specific attribute which you have for the property.

How to get context information like attributes of property in TypeConverter methods?

An instance of ITypeDescriptorContext class is passed to context parameter of the TypeConverter method. Using that class, you have access to the object which is being edited and the property descriptor of the property which is being edited has some useful properties. Here you can rely on
PropertyDescriptor property of the context and get the Attributes and check if the specific attribute in which we are interested, has been set for the property.

Example

[TypeConverter(typeof(ExcludeColorTypeConverter))]
public enum Color
{
    Red,
    Green,
    Blue,
    White,
    Black,
}
public class ExcludeColorAttribute : Attribute
{
    public Color[] Exclude { get; private set; }
    public ExcludeColorAttribute(params Color[] exclude)
    {
        Exclude = exclude;
    }
}
public class ExcludeColorTypeConverter : EnumConverter
{
    public ExcludeColorTypeConverter() : base(typeof(Color))
    {
    }
    public override StandardValuesCollection GetStandardValues(
        ITypeDescriptorContext context)
    {
        var original = base.GetStandardValues(context);
        var exclude = context.PropertyDescriptor.Attributes
            .OfType<ExcludeColorAttribute>().FirstOrDefault()?.Exclude
            ?? new Color[0];
        var excluded = new StandardValuesCollection(
            original.Cast<Color>().Except(exclude).ToList());
        Values = excluded;
        return excluded;
    }
}

As an example of the usage:

public class ClassA
{
    public Color Color { get; set; }
}

public class ClassB
{
    [ExcludeColor(Color.White, Color.Black)]
    public Color Color { get; set; }
}