如何在VB.NET中让类与枚举直接比较并获Intellisense枚举提示？

问题背景 #

最初定义的Company类如下：

Public Class Company
      Public CompanyName As String
      (... some other properties ...)
End Class 

代码中常需要判断公司类型，最初使用字符串比较：

If SomeCompany.CompanyName = "Google" Then

这种方式不仅编写耗时，还容易出现拼写错误。因此新增枚举属性优化：

Public Enum eWellKnownCompany
     eNone = 0
     eAmazon = 1
     eGoogle = 2
End Enum

Public Class Company
      Public Identifier As eWellKnownCompany
      Public CompanyName As String
      (... some other properties ...)
End Class 

现在改为通过枚举判断：

If SomeCompany.Identifier = eGoogle Then

这种方式避免了拼写错误，但仍需要输入.Identifier，期望能直接写：

If SomeCompany = eGoogle Then 

已按照建议重载了运算符，功能正常，但Intellisense未达到预期——希望输入=后仅提示枚举值，而非当前显示的其他内容，询问VB.NET是否有合适的解决方案。

解决方案 #

方案1：重载运算符+EditorBrowsable特性隐藏无关成员 #

通过重载=和<>运算符实现对象与枚举的直接比较，同时用EditorBrowsable特性隐藏类中不需要智能提示的成员，让Intellisense仅聚焦枚举值：

Imports System.ComponentModel

Public Enum eWellKnownCompany
    eNone = 0
    eAmazon = 1
    eGoogle = 2
End Enum

Public Class Company
    Public Identifier As eWellKnownCompany
    Public CompanyName As String

    ' 隐藏不需要智能提示的成员
    <EditorBrowsable(EditorBrowsableState.Never)>
    Public SomeOtherProperty As String

    ' 重载Company与枚举的等于运算符
    Public Shared Operator =(company As Company, companyType As eWellKnownCompany) As Boolean
        Return company?.Identifier = companyType
    End Operator

    ' 必须成对重载不等于运算符
    Public Shared Operator <>(company As Company, companyType As eWellKnownCompany) As Boolean
        Return Not (company = companyType)
    End Operator

    ' 重载反向比较（枚举与Company）
    Public Shared Operator =(companyType As eWellKnownCompany, company As Company) As Boolean
        Return company?.Identifier = companyType
    End Operator

    Public Shared Operator <>(companyType As eWellKnownCompany, company As Company) As Boolean
        Return Not (companyType = company)
    End Operator
End Class

方案2：隐式类型转换 #

定义从Company到eWellKnownCompany的隐式转换，编译器会自动将对象转换为枚举值进行比较，Intellisense会优先识别枚举类型并提示枚举成员：

Imports System.ComponentModel

Public Enum eWellKnownCompany
    eNone = 0
    eAmazon = 1
    eGoogle = 2
End Enum

Public Class Company
    Public Identifier As eWellKnownCompany
    Public CompanyName As String

    <EditorBrowsable(EditorBrowsableState.Never)>
    Public SomeOtherProperty As String

    ' 定义隐式转换：Company -> eWellKnownCompany
    Public Shared Widening Operator CType(company As Company) As eWellKnownCompany
        ' 处理对象为Nothing的情况，返回默认枚举值
        Return company?.Identifier ?? eWellKnownCompany.eNone
    End Operator
End Class

注意事项 #

• 隐式转换需处理对象为Nothing的场景，避免空引用异常
• 运算符重载必须成对实现=和<>，同时覆盖正向和反向比较，避免编译警告
• EditorBrowsable特性需要引用System.ComponentModel命名空间，仅影响智能提示，不影响代码编译

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者tmighty