Converter to show description of an enum, and convert back to enum value on selecting an item from combo box in wpf

Here is ConvertBack method:

public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
{
    return value;
}

Full Converter Code:

public class EnumConverter : IValueConverter
{
    public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
    {
        if (value == null) return DependencyProperty.UnsetValue;

        return GetDescription((Enum)value);
    }

    public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
    {
        return value;
    }

    public static string GetDescription(Enum en)
    {
        Type type = en.GetType();
        MemberInfo[] memInfo = type.GetMember(en.ToString());
        if (memInfo != null && memInfo.Length > 0)
        {
            object[] attrs = memInfo[0].GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);
            if (attrs != null && attrs.Length > 0)
            {
                return ((DescriptionAttribute)attrs[0]).Description;
            }
        }
        return en.ToString();
    }
}

EDIT

Here is my ComboBox XAML:

<ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding SampleValues}" 
          SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedValue, Converter={StaticResource enumConverter}}">
    <ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
        <DataTemplate>
            <TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=., Converter={StaticResource enumConverter}}" />
        </DataTemplate>
    </ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
</ComboBox>

I know this is an old question, but for some reason, this is rather complicated, even though it seems like it'd be a pretty common task (I'm currently doing this on a UWP app). Using a combination of the accepted answer, some other items I found, and a bit of my own work, here's the simplest way I've found to accomplish this menial task. In short:

• Define your enum along w/ setting the description in the Display attribute
• Create a converter that converts from an enum value to the description
• In your viewmodel, expose a collection of enum values from which to choose, the selected enum value, then initialize those
• Define a couple of handy enum extension methods
• Finally, some simple binding to the ComboBox, just overriding its ItemTemplate to use the converter.

Enum

public enum EnumOptions
{
    [Display(Description = "Option 1")]
    OptionOne= 1,
    [Display(Description = "Option 2")]
    OptionTwo,
    [Display(Description = "Option 3")]
    OptionThree
}

Converter

public class EnumToDisplayConverter : IValueConverter
{
    public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, string language)
    {
        var enumValue = value as Enum;

        return enumValue == null ? DependencyProperty.UnsetValue : enumValue.GetDescriptionFromEnumValue();
    }

    public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, string language)
    {
        return value;
    }
}

Viewmodel (partial)

public IReadOnlyList<EnumOptions> Options { get; }

private EnumOptions _selectedOption;

public EnumOptions SelectedOption
{
    get { return _selectedOption; }
    set
    {
        _selectedOption = value;
        OnPropertyChanged(() => SelectedOption);
    }
}

// Initialization in constructor
Options = EnumExtensions.GetValues<EnumOptions>().ToArray();
// If you want to set a default.
SelectedOption = Options[0];

Extensions

public static class EnumExtensions
{
    public static string GetDescriptionFromEnumValue(this Enum value)
    {
        var attribute = value.GetType()
            .GetField(value.ToString())
            .GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DisplayAttribute), false)
            .SingleOrDefault() as DisplayAttribute;
        return attribute == null ? value.ToString() : attribute.Description;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Enumerates all enum values
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T">Enum type</typeparam>
    /// <returns>IEnumerable containing all enum values</returns>
    /// <see cref="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/972307/can-you-loop-through-all-enum-values"/>
    public static IEnumerable<T> GetValues<T>()
    {
        return Enum.GetValues(typeof (T)).Cast<T>();
    }
}

XAML (partial)

<TextBlock Grid.Row="1">Choose an option</TextBlock>
<ComboBox Grid.Row="2"
          ItemsSource="{Binding Options}"
          SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedOption, Mode=TwoWay}">
    <ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
        <DataTemplate>
            <TextBlock Text="{Binding Converter={StaticResource EnumToDisplayConverter}}"></TextBlock>
        </DataTemplate>
    </ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
</ComboBox>

[ValueConversion(typeof(MyEnum), typeof(String))]
public class MyEnumConverter : IValueConverter
{
    public object Convert(object value,
        Type targetType,
        object parameter,
        CultureInfo culture)
    {
        var enumVal = (MyEnum)value;

        // in this example, this is an extension method
        return enumValue.Description();
    }

    public object ConvertBack(object value,
        Type targetType,
        object parameter,
        CultureInfo culture)
    {
        var enumDesc = value as string;
        MyEnum val;
        if (Enum.TryParse(typeof(MyEnum), strValue, out val))
        {
            return val;
        }
        return DependencyProperty.UnsetValue;
    }
}

The extension method in the example might look like this:

public static string Description(this MyEnum enumVal)
{
    // you could use a switch statement here;
    // or maybe a Dictionary
}