using System;

using System.ComponentModel;

using System.Reflection;

using System.Linq;

using System.Diagnostics;

using Enums;

using Enums.Outer;

​

namespace Enums

{

    public enum en

    {

        [Description("desc")]

        val = 1

    }

}

​

namespace Enums.Outer

{

    [BaseEnum(typeof (en))]

    public enum inher

    {

        //I have no description set

        val = en.val

    }

}

​

public class Program

{

    public static void Main()

    {

        Console.WriteLine("Readable name of Outer.inher.val is: " + EnumHelper.GetReadableName(inher.val));

        int iterations = 1000;

        Func<Enum, long> GetNameLoop = x => {

            var sw = new Stopwatch();

            sw.Start();

            for(int i = iterations; i>0; i--){

                EnumHelper.GetReadableName(x);

            }

            sw.Stop();

            return sw.ElapsedMilliseconds;

        };

        Console.WriteLine("Base: " + GetNameLoop(en.val) + "ms");

        Console.WriteLine("Inherited: " + GetNameLoop(inher.val) + "ms");

    }

}

​

public static class EnumHelper{

    public static string GetReadableName(Enum e){

        string output = string.Empty;

        //get the description attribute of the given enum

        DescriptionAttribute descriptionAttribute = e.GetType().GetField(e.ToString())

            .GetCustomAttribute(typeof(DescriptionAttribute)) as DescriptionAttribute;

        if(descriptionAttribute!=null){

            output = descriptionAttribute.Description;

        }

        //if we didn't find an attribute

        else{

            //find the BaseEnum attribute to find which enum our enum is a child of

            BaseEnum baseEnum = e.GetType().GetCustomAttribute(typeof(BaseEnum)) as BaseEnum;

            if(baseEnum!=null){

                //get the enum from the base that matches the enum we were given

                FieldInfo baseValue = baseEnum.BaseType.GetField(e.ToString());

                if(baseValue!=null){

                    //get the Dscription attribute of the base enum

                    descriptionAttribute = baseValue.GetCustomAttribute(typeof(DescriptionAttribute)) as DescriptionAttribute;

                    if(descriptionAttribute!=null){

                        output = descriptionAttribute.Description;

                    }

                }

            }

        }

        return output;

    }

}

​

[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Enum)]

public class BaseEnum : Attribute

{

    public Type BaseType {get; set;}

​

    public BaseEnum(Type t){

        BaseType = (t);

    }

}