Best method to store Enum in Database

    [Required]
    public virtual int PhoneTypeId
    {
        get
        {
            return (int)this.PhoneType;
        }
        set
        {
            PhoneType = (PhoneTypes)value;
        }
    }
    [EnumDataType(typeof(PhoneTypes))]
    public PhoneTypes PhoneType { get; set; }

public enum PhoneTypes
{
    Mobile = 0,
    Home = 1,
    Work = 2,
    Fax = 3,
    Other = 4
}

Works like a charm! No need to convert (int)Enum or (Enum)int in code. Just use the enum and ef code first will save the int for you. p.s.: "[EnumDataType(typeof(PhoneTypes))]" attribute is not required, just an extra if you want additional functionality.

Alternatively you can do:

[Required]
    public virtual int PhoneTypeId { get; set; }
    [EnumDataType(typeof(PhoneTypes))]
    public PhoneTypes PhoneType
    {
        get
        {
            return (PhoneTypes)this.PhoneTypeId;
        }
        set
        {
            this.PhoneTypeId = (int)value;
        }
    }

We store ours as ints or longs and then we can just cast 'em back and forth. Probably not the most robust solution, but that what we do.

we are using typed DataSets, so, for example:

enum BlockTreatmentType 
{
    All = 0
};

// blockTreatmentType is an int property
blockRow.blockTreatmentType = (int)BlockTreatmentType.All;
BlockTreatmentType btt = (BlockTreatmentType)blockRow.blocktreatmenttype;

If you need store in DB string values of enum field, better do like show below. For example, it can be needed if you are using SQLite, which don`t support enum fields.

[Required]
public string PhoneTypeAsString
{
    get
    {
        return this.PhoneType.ToString();
    }
    set
    {
        PhoneType = (PhoneTypes)Enum.Parse( typeof(PhoneTypes), value, true);
    }
}

public PhoneTypes PhoneType{get; set;};

public enum PhoneTypes
{
    Mobile = 0,
    Home = 1,
    Work = 2,
    Fax = 3,
    Other = 4
}

If you want a store of all of your enums values, you can try the below tables to store enums and their members, and the code snippet to add those values. I'd only do this at install time, however, since those values will never change until you recompile!

DB Table:

   create table EnumStore (
    EnumKey int NOT NULL identity primary key,
    EnumName varchar(100)
);
GO

create table EnumMember (
    EnumMemberKey int NOT NULL identity primary key,
    EnumKey int NOT NULL,
    EnumMemberValue int,
    EnumMemberName varchar(100)
);
GO
--add code to create foreign key between tables, and index on EnumName, EnumMemberValue, and EnumMemberName

C# Snippet:

void StoreEnum<T>() where T: Enum
    {
        Type enumToStore = typeof(T);
        string enumName = enumToStore.Name;

        int enumKey = DataAccessLayer.CreateEnum(enumName);
        foreach (int enumMemberValue in Enum.GetValues(enumToStore))
        {
            string enumMemberName = Enum.GetName(enumToStore, enumMemberValue);
            DataAccessLayer.AddEnumMember(enumKey, enumMemberValue, enumMemberName);
        }
    }