I have an object that needs to be serialized to an EDI format. For this example we'll say it's a car. A car might not be the best example b/c options change over time, but for the real object the Enums will never change.

I have many Enums like the following with custom attributes applied.

public enum RoofStyle
{
    [DisplayText("Glass Top")]
    [StringValue("GTR")]
    Glass,
    [DisplayText("Convertible Soft Top")]
    [StringValue("CST")]
    ConvertibleSoft,
    [DisplayText("Hard Top")]
    [StringValue("HT ")]
    HardTop,
    [DisplayText("Targa Top")]
    [StringValue("TT ")]
    Targa,
}

The Attributes are accessed via Extension methods:

public static string GetStringValue(this Enum value)
{
    // Get the type
    Type type = value.GetType();

    // Get fieldinfo for this type
    FieldInfo fieldInfo = type.GetField(value.ToString());

    // Get the stringvalue attributes
    StringValueAttribute[] attribs = fieldInfo.GetCustomAttributes(
        typeof(StringValueAttribute), false) as StringValueAttribute[];

    // Return the first if there was a match.
    return attribs.Length > 0 ? attribs[0].StringValue : null;
}

public static string GetDisplayText(this Enum value)
{
    // Get the type
    Type type = value.GetType();

    // Get fieldinfo for this type
    FieldInfo fieldInfo = type.GetField(value.ToString());

    // Get the DisplayText attributes
    DisplayTextAttribute[] attribs = fieldInfo.GetCustomAttributes(
        typeof(DisplayTextAttribute), false) as DisplayTextAttribute[];

    // Return the first if there was a match.
    return attribs.Length > 0 ? attribs[0].DisplayText : value.ToString();
}

There is a custom EDI serializer that serializes based on the StringValue attributes like so:

    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
    sb.Append(car.RoofStyle.GetStringValue());
    sb.Append(car.TireSize.GetStringValue());
    sb.Append(car.Model.GetStringValue());
    ...

There is another method that can get Enum Value from StringValue for Deserialization:

   car.RoofStyle = Enums.GetCode<RoofStyle>(EDIString.Substring(4, 3))

Defined as:

public static class Enums
    {
        public static T GetCode<T>(string value)
        {
            foreach (object o in System.Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)))
            {
                if (((Enum)o).GetStringValue() == value.ToUpper())
                    return (T)o;
            }
            throw new ArgumentException("No code exists for type " + typeof(T).ToString() + " corresponding to value of " + value);
        }
} 

And Finally, for the UI, the GetDisplayText() is used to show the user friendly text.

What do you think? Overkill? Is there a better way? or Goldie Locks (just right)?

Just want to get feedback before I intergrate it into my personal framework permanently. Thanks.