How do I cast a string to type System.Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons

[Vernware]

In C#: I am building the MessageBox parameter: MessageBoxButtons.OK from a string. The string is defined this way: string buttonSelected = “MessageBoxButtons.” + selectedButton; selectedButton is defined elsewhere in the program, lets say as “OK”. When I call MessageBox, I try to cast the parameter MessageBoxButtons like this: MessageBox.Show(“test”,”test”, (System.Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons) buttonSelected); I get an error that says I cannot convert type string to System.Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons. Why can’t I do this? Vern

[Luc Pattyn]

In general you can not cast a string to just any kind of object you are dreaming of. You can do the opposite, that is each kind of object has a ToString() method (inherited from Object) to give you a string representation (although the default implementation returns simply the type name, not always very useful; but you can and should override the ToString method). If you want to communicate about message buttons between different pieces of code, you should use a variable of type MessageBoxButtons. Example:

MessageBoxButtons myButtons;
bool withCancel=false;
if(withCancel) myButtons=MessageBoxButtons.OKCancel;
else myButtons=MessageBoxButtons.OK;
... whatever other things you want to do
MessageBox.Show("text", "caption", myButtons);

:)

Luc Pattyn

[Christian Graus]

You can use enum.Parse to turn a string into an enum instance

Christian Graus - C++ MVP 'Why don't we jump on a fad that hasn't already been widely discredited ?' - Dilbert

[Vernware]

Christian: Thanks for you response. The enum.Parse was a good tip. Thanks again. Vern

[Vernware]

Luc: Thanks for the response. I did finally end up using some code that used MessageBoxButtons and MessageBoxIcon variables. Thanks again. Vern