That's right. One of the only examples I can think of where I had to perform a string to enum and vice versa was dealing with xml files and shuffling attribute values into objects that held enum data.
and it was a snap in C#
but in c++, not so much. You should develop a "when in Rome..." attitude when going from one programming language to another. C++ can frustrate me to no end because many things are just easier to pull-off in other languages. Sometimes I feel like a complete idiot coding things in C++. Oh well, I do it because i think it's fun and challenging.