# Migration guide for describeEnum and EnumProperty

> Learn about the removal of describeEnum and how to migrate.




:::important
These breaking change docs are accurate, as of the release
under which they are published. Over time, the
workarounds described here might become inaccurate.
We don't, in general, keep these breaking change docs up
to date as of each release.

The [breaking change index file](/release/breaking-changes)
lists the docs created for each release.
:::


## Summary

The global method `describeEnum` has been deprecated. Previous uses
of `describeEnum(Enum.something)` should use
`Enum.something.name` instead.

The class `EnumProperty` was modified to
extend `<T extends Enum?>` instead of `<T>`.
Existing uses of `EnumProperty<NotAnEnum>` should
use `DiagnosticsProperty<NotAnEnum>` instead.

## Context

Dart 2.17 introduced [enhanced enums][], which added `Enum` as a type.
As a result, all enums got a `name` getter, which made `describeEnum`
redundant. Before that, enum classes were often analyzed using an
`EnumProperty`.

The `describeEnum` method was used to convert an enum value to a string,
since `Enum.something.toString()` would produce `Enum.something` instead
of `something`, which a lot of users wanted. Now, the `name` getter does this.

The `describeEnum` function is being deprecated,
so the `EnumProperty` class is updated to only accept `Enum` objects.

[enhanced enums]: https://dart.dev/language/enums#declaring-enhanced-enums

## Description of change

Remove `describeEnum`.

- Replace `describeEnum(Enum.something)` with `Enum.something.name`.

The `EnumProperty` now expects null or an `Enum`;
you can no longer pass it a non-`Enum` class.

## Migration guide

If you previously used `describeEnum(Enum.field)` to access the
string value from an enum, you can now call `Enum.field.name`.

If you previously used `EnumProperty<NotAnEnum>`, you can
now use the generic `DiagnosticsProperty<NotAnEnum>`.

Code before migration:

```dart
enum MyEnum { paper, rock }

print(describeEnum(MyEnum.paper)); // output: paper

// TextInputType is not an Enum
properties.add(EnumProperty<TextInputType>( ... ));
```

Code after migration:

```dart
enum MyEnum { paper, rock }

print(MyEnum.paper.name); // output: paper

// TextInputType is not an Enum
properties.add(DiagnosticsProperty<TextInputType>( ... ));
```

## Timeline

Landed in version: 3.14.0-2.0.pre<br>
In stable release: 3.16

## References

API documentation:

* [`describeEnum`][]
* [`EnumProperty`][]

Relevant issues:

* [Cleanup SemanticsFlag and SemanticsAction issue][]

Relevant PRs:

* [Deprecate `describeEnum` PR][]

[`describeEnum`]: https://api.flutter.dev/flutter/foundation/describeEnum.html
[`EnumProperty`]: https://api.flutter.dev/flutter/foundation/EnumProperty-class.html

[Cleanup SemanticsFlag and SemanticsAction issue]: https://github.com/flutter/flutter/issues/123346
[Deprecate `describeEnum` PR]: https://github.com/flutter/flutter/pull/125016