string DecodeMessageType(int code){
    switch(code){
        case 0: return "roomopen";
        case 1: return "roomclose";
    ///...etc
    }
}

int EncodeMessageType(string sCode){
    switch(sCode){
        case "roomopen": return 0;
        case "roomclose": return 1;
///...etc
    }
}

EncodeMessageType("roomopen"); //returns 0, as a 16bit int
DecodeMessageType(0); //returns "roomopen" as string.

//so before you send the data, Encode it to an int, and when you recieve it, before you read it decode it back to a string

//you could even go one step further and register each message type and let it figure out the int value for it automatically, instead of having to add a new case in Decode/EncodeMessageType
List<string> messageTypes = new List();

void RegisterMessage(string sCode){
    messageTypes.add(sCode);
}

int EncodeMessageType(string sCode){
    return messageTypes.indexOf(sCode);
}

string DecodeMessageType(int code){
    return messageTypes[code);
{