Override the default toString function of an enum

[kevinresol]

Currently there seems no way to override the default toString behaviour of enum that would work with Std.string()

class Main {
	static function main() {
		final e = Integer(16);
		trace(e.toString()); // static extension works
		trace(Std.string(e)); // but can't override the default toString impl
	}
}

class EntryValueTools {
	public static function toString(v:EntryValue) {
		return switch v {
			case Integer(i): 'Integer(0x${StringTools.hex(i, 2)})';
		}
	}
}

@:using(Main.EntryValueTools)
enum EntryValue {
	Integer(i:Int);
	
	// public function toString():String; // perhaps support toString function inside enum itself?
}

ref: HaxeFoundation/haxe-evolution#10

[RealyUniqueName]

What's the point of Std.string(e) here instead of just tracing e?
I guess the only case for that is when the type of e is not known to be the enum at compile time.

[back2dos]

I guess the point is that as soon as you want to trace something that contains the enum, e.g. Array<EntryValueTools>, the static extension isn't used.

[Simn]

Std.string(e) is nothing more than a run-time call so of course static extensions don't apply.

This would be a new feature where the printing implementation somehow routes to a custom function for enums. On some targets we might be able to cheat by actually injecting toString methods into the generated code, but eeeh...

Either way, this would require a haxe-evolution that considers all targets, and probably also the "" + enum situation. I agree that this would be nice to have, but it's going to require quite a bit of effort.