Any trick to defining an enum as flags/powers of 2 without eventually needing a calculator?

Write the values as shifted bits and let the compiler do the math:

[Flags]
private enum Targets : uint
{
    None                = 0,
    Campaigns           = 1,
    CampaignGroups      = 2 << 0,
    Advertisers         = 2 << 1,
    AdvertiserGroups    = 2 << 2,
    AffiliateGroups     = 2 << 3,
    Affiliates          = 2 << 4,
    Creatives           = 2 << 5,
    DetailedLeads       = 2 << 6,
    DetailedSales       = 2 << 7,
    ProgramLeads        = 2 << 8,
    CreativeDeployments = 2 << 9,
    CampaignCategories  = 2 << 10,
    Payouts             = 2 << 11,
    // etc.
}

James's suggestion is a good one, too. In fact I like this way even better. You could also write it like this:

[Flags]
private enum Targets : uint
{
    None                = 0,
    Campaigns           = 1 << 0,
    CampaignGroups      = 1 << 1,
    Advertisers         = 1 << 2,
    AdvertiserGroups    = 1 << 3,
    AffiliateGroups     = 1 << 4,
    // etc.
}

Using hexadecimal notation is a little simpler than decimal notation as well (no calculator required):

[Flags]
private enum Targets : uint
{
    None                = 0,
    Campaigns           = 0x01,
    CampaignGroups      = 0x02,
    Advertisers         = 0x04,
    AdvertiserGroups    = 0x08,
    AffiliateGroups     = 0x10,
    Affiliates          = 0x20,
    Creatives           = 0x40,
    DetailedLeads       = 0x80,
    DetailedSales       = 0x100,
    ProgramLeads        = 0x200,
    CreativeDeployments = 0x400,
    CampaignCategories  = 0x800,
    Payouts             = 0x1000,
    // and the pattern of doubling continues
    // 0x2000
    // 0x4000
    // 0x8000
    // 0x10000
}

Not quite as elegant as Cody and James' solutions, but requires no calculator.


Fast forward five years into the future, and starting with C# 7.0 you can use the new numeric binary literal to simplify the enum flags declaration.

[Flags]
private enum Targets : uint
{
    None = 0,
    Campaigns =             0b0000_0000_0000_0001,
    CampaignGroups =        0b0000_0000_0000_0010,
    Advertisers =           0b0000_0000_0000_0100,
    AdvertiserGroups =      0b0000_0000_0000_1000,
    AffiliateGroups =       0b0000_0000_0001_0000,
    Affiliates =            0b0000_0000_0010_0000,
    Creatives =             0b0000_0000_0100_0000,
    DetailedLeads =         0b0000_0000_1000_0000,
    DetailedSales =         0b0000_0001_0000_0000,
    ProgramLeads =          0b0000_0010_0000_0000,
    CreativeDeployments =   0b0000_0100_0000_0000,
    CampaignCategories =    0b0000_1000_0000_0000,
    Payouts =               0b0001_0000_0000_0000,
    All = uint.MaxValue
}

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/whats-new/csharp-7#numeric-literal-syntax-improvements

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