Enum helper classes to present enums in a UI friendly manner (e.g. convert MyEnum to "My Enum" instead of the value "MyEnum", that MyEnum.ToString() would return.

Enums.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace EnumHelpers
{
    [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Enum | AttributeTargets.Field, AllowMultiple = false)]
    public sealed class EnumDescriptionAttribute : Attribute
    {
        public string Description { get; private set;  }
        
        public EnumDescriptionAttribute(string description)
        {
            Description = description;
        }
    }
    
    /// <summary>
    /// This class provides helper functions to enumerations.
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
    public static class Enum<T>
    {        
        public static T Parse(string value)
        {
            return (T) Enum.Parse(typeof (T), value);
        }
    
        public static T GetEnumFromDescription(string description)
        {
            var names = Enum.GetNames(typeof (T));
            foreach(var value in names)
            {
                if (value == description) return Parse(value);
    
                var desc = value.ToString();
                var fieldInfo = typeof(T).GetField(desc);
                var attributes =
                    (EnumDescriptionAttribute[])fieldInfo.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(EnumDescriptionAttribute), false);
                if (attributes != null && attributes.Length > 0)
                {
                    if (attributes[0].Description == description)
                    {
                        return Parse(value);
                    }
                }
            }
            throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("Cannot translate '" + description + "' into a value from '" +
                                                  typeof (T).Name);
        }
    
        public static string GetDescription(Enum value)
        {
            var description = value.ToString();
            var fieldInfo = value.GetType().GetField(description);
            var attributes =
                (EnumDescriptionAttribute[]) fieldInfo.GetCustomAttributes(typeof (EnumDescriptionAttribute), false);
    
            if (attributes != null && attributes.Length > 0)
            {
                description = attributes[0].Description;
            }
            return description;
        }
    
        public static IList<string> GetAllDescriptions()
        {
            IList<string> descs = new List<string>();
            var enumValues = Enum.GetValues(typeof (T));
    
            foreach (Enum value in enumValues)
            {
                descs.Add(GetDescription(value));
            }
    
            return descs;
        }
    }
    
    public static class EnumExtension
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Gets any descriptive value associated with this enum value. Otherwise calls ToString()
        /// </summary>  
        public static string GetDescription<TEnum>(this TEnum e) where TEnum : struct, IConvertible
        {
            // default to enum ToString but look for something more descriptive.
            var description = e.ToString();
            var fieldInfo = e.GetType().GetField(description);

            try
            {
                // First look for an XmlEnumAttribute attribute, as these come from WSDL etc
                var attributes = (XmlEnumAttribute[]) fieldInfo.GetCustomAttributes(typeof (XmlEnumAttribute), false);

                if (attributes != null && attributes.Length > 0)
                {
                    return attributes[0].Name;
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex) { /* Supress and continue */ }
            
            try
            {
                var attributes =
                    (DescriptionAttribute[]) fieldInfo.GetCustomAttributes(typeof (DescriptionAttribute), false);
                if (attributes != null && attributes.Length > 0)
                {
                    return attributes[0].Description;
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex) { /* Supress and continue */ }
            
            try
            {
                var attributes =
                    (EnumDescriptionAttribute[]) fieldInfo.GetCustomAttributes(typeof (EnumDescriptionAttribute), false);
                if (attributes != null && attributes.Length > 0)
                {
                    return attributes[0].Description;
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex) { /* Supress and continue */ }
            
            return description;
        }
    }
}