Enums with description in c#

Sometime when we have Enum , we want to use it /bind it on the list as well with a better description/ word. With this method you can bind enum to a list which display its description but store its value as well.This is very useful function.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Xml;
using System.Reflection;
using System.ComponentModel;

public class Enums
    {
        #region helpers
        public static string GetEnumDescription(Enum value)
        {
            FieldInfo fi = value.GetType().GetField(value.ToString());
            DescriptionAttribute[] attributes =
              (DescriptionAttribute[])fi.GetCustomAttributes
              (typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);
            return (attributes.Length > 0) ? attributes[0].Description : value.ToString();
        }

        public static T Parse(string input)
        {
            return (T)Enum.Parse(typeof(T), input);
        }
        #endregion

        #region enums
        public enum ResultsType
        {
            [Description("Featured Products")]
            FeaturedProducts,
            [Description("New Products")]
            NewStock,
            CategoryResults,
            [Description("Specials")]
            Specials,
            Brand,
            Row1,
            Row2,
            Row3,
            [Description("This Weeks Specials")]
            ThisWeeksSpecials,
            [Description("Top 10 Best Sellers")]
            Top10BestSellers,
            [Description("Special Offers")]
            SpecialOffers,
            [Description("Buy 1 Get 1 Free")]
            Buy1Get1Free,
            [Description("Half Price Bargains")]
            HalfPriceBargains,
            [Description("Top Sellers")]
            TopSellers,
            [Description("Summer Specials")]
            SummerSpecials,
            [Description("CUSTOMERS WHO BOUGHT THIS ALSO BOUGHT")]
            AlsoBought,
            [Description("Related Products")]
            Upsell
        }

          public enum ReportType
         {
            [Description("Monthly Sales Report")]
            MonthySalesReport = 1,
            [Description("Dispatched Orders Report")]
            DispatchedOrdersReport = 2,
            [Description("Order Report")]
            OrderReport = 3
         }

#endregion

}

This is how you bind it

Private Sub PopulateReportType()

        ddlReportType.Items.Clear()
        ddlReportType.Items.Add(New ListItem(Enums.GetEnumDescription(Enums.ReportType.MonthySalesReport), Convert.ToInt32(Enums.ReportType.MonthySalesReport)))
        ddlReportType.Items.Add(New ListItem(Enums.GetEnumDescription(Enums.ReportType.DispatchedOrdersReport), Convert.ToInt32(Enums.ReportType.DispatchedOrdersReport)))
        ddlReportType.Items.Add(New ListItem(Enums.GetEnumDescription(Enums.ReportType.OrderReport), Convert.ToInt32(Enums.ReportType.OrderReport)))

    End Sub