diff --git a/library/DataDefs.cpp b/library/DataDefs.cpp
index 77b159205..2396e03fd 100644
--- a/library/DataDefs.cpp
+++ b/library/DataDefs.cpp
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ std::string DFHack::bitfieldToString(const void *p, int size, const bitfield_ite
     std::string res;
     const char *data = (const char*)p;
 
-    for (int i = 0; i < size*8; i++) {
+    for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
         unsigned v;
 
         if (items[i].size > 1) {
@@ -199,12 +199,22 @@ std::string DFHack::bitfieldToString(const void *p, int size, const bitfield_ite
     return res;
 }
 
-int DFHack::findBitfieldField(const std::string &name, int size, const bitfield_item_info *items)
+int DFHack::findBitfieldField_(const std::string &name, int size, const bitfield_item_info *items)
 {
-    for (int i = 0; i < size*8; i++) {
+    for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
         if (items[i].name && items[i].name == name)
             return i;
     }
 
     return -1;
 }
+
+int DFHack::findEnumItem_(const std::string &name, int size, const char *const *items)
+{
+    for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
+        if (items[i] && items[i] == name)
+            return i;
+    }
+
+    return -1;
+}
diff --git a/library/TileTypes.cpp b/library/TileTypes.cpp
index 660114d3f..fa5d99555 100644
--- a/library/TileTypes.cpp
+++ b/library/TileTypes.cpp
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ namespace DFHack
             return sourceTileType;
 
         #ifdef assert
-        assert(tiletype::is_valid(sourceTileType));
+        assert(is_valid_enum_item(sourceTileType));
         #endif
 
         // Special case for smooth pillars.
diff --git a/library/include/DataDefs.h b/library/include/DataDefs.h
index 78c59f51d..b4623f791 100644
--- a/library/include/DataDefs.h
+++ b/library/include/DataDefs.h
@@ -125,13 +125,6 @@ namespace DFHack
     template<class T>
     T *ifnull(T *a, T *b) { return a ? a : b; }
 
-    // Enums
-    template<class T, T start, bool (*isvalid)(T)>
-    inline T next_enum_item_(T v) {
-        v = T(int(v) + 1);
-        return isvalid(v) ? v : start;
-    }
-
     template<class T>
     struct enum_list_attr {
         size_t size;
@@ -143,19 +136,6 @@ namespace DFHack
         const char *name;
         int size;
     };
-
-    DFHACK_EXPORT std::string bitfieldToString(const void *p, int size, const bitfield_item_info *items);
-    DFHACK_EXPORT int findBitfieldField(const std::string &name, int size, const bitfield_item_info *items);
-
-    template<class T>
-    inline int findBitfieldField(const T &val, const std::string &name) {
-        return findBitfieldField(name, sizeof(val.whole), val.get_items());
-    }
-
-    template<class T>
-    inline std::string bitfieldToString(const T &val) {
-        return bitfieldToString(&val.whole, sizeof(val.whole), val.get_items());
-    }
 }
 
 template<class T>
@@ -183,6 +163,12 @@ namespace df
     using DFHack::BitArray;
     using DFHack::DfArray;
 
+    template<class T>
+    struct enum_traits {};
+
+    template<class T>
+    struct bitfield_traits {};
+
     template<class T>
     class class_virtual_identity : public virtual_identity {
     public:
@@ -227,14 +213,70 @@ namespace df
     namespace enums {}
 }
 
-#define ENUM_ATTR(enum,attr,val) (df::enums::enum::get_##attr(val))
+namespace DFHack {
+    // Enums
+    template<class T>
+    inline typename df::enum_traits<T>::enum_type next_enum_item(T v) {
+        typedef df::enum_traits<T> traits;
+        typedef typename traits::base_type base_type;
+        base_type iv = base_type(v);
+        return (iv < traits::last_item_value) ? T(iv+1) : traits::first_item;
+    }
+
+    template<class T>
+    inline bool is_valid_enum_item(T v) {
+        return df::enum_traits<T>::is_valid(v);
+    }
+
+    template<class T>
+    inline const char *enum_item_raw_key(T val) {
+        typedef df::enum_traits<T> traits;
+        return traits::is_valid(val) ? traits::key_table[val - traits::first_item_value] : NULL;
+    }
+
+    template<class T>
+    inline const char *enum_item_key_str(T val) {
+        return ifnull(enum_item_raw_key(val), "?");
+    }
+
+    DFHACK_EXPORT int findEnumItem_(const std::string &name, int size, const char *const *items);
+
+    template<class T>
+    inline bool find_enum_item(T *var, const std::string &name) {
+        typedef df::enum_traits<T> traits;
+        int size = traits::last_item_value-traits::first_item_value+1;
+        int idx = findEnumItem_(name, size, traits::key_table);
+        if (idx < 0) return false;
+        *var = T(traits::first_item_value+idx);
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    DFHACK_EXPORT int findBitfieldField_(const std::string &name, int size, const bitfield_item_info *items);
+
+    template<class T>
+    inline int findBitfieldField(const std::string &name) {
+        typedef df::bitfield_traits<T> traits;
+        return findBitfieldField_(name, traits::bit_count, traits::bits);
+    }
+
+    DFHACK_EXPORT std::string bitfieldToString(const void *p, int size, const bitfield_item_info *items);
+
+    template<class T>
+    inline std::string bitfieldToString(const T &val) {
+        typedef df::bitfield_traits<T> traits;
+        return bitfieldToString(&val.whole, traits::bit_count, traits::bits);
+    }
+}
+
+
+#define ENUM_ATTR(enum,attr,val) (df::enum_traits<df::enum>::attrs(val).attr)
 #define ENUM_ATTR_STR(enum,attr,val) DFHack::ifnull(ENUM_ATTR(enum,attr,val),"?")
-#define ENUM_KEY_STR(enum,val) ENUM_ATTR_STR(enum,key,val)
-#define ENUM_FIRST_ITEM(enum) (df::enums::enum::_first_item_of_##enum)
-#define ENUM_LAST_ITEM(enum) (df::enums::enum::_last_item_of_##enum)
+#define ENUM_KEY_STR(enum,val) (DFHack::enum_item_key_str<df::enum>(val))
+#define ENUM_FIRST_ITEM(enum) (df::enum_traits<df::enum>::first_item)
+#define ENUM_LAST_ITEM(enum) (df::enum_traits<df::enum>::last_item)
 
 #define ENUM_NEXT_ITEM(enum,val) \
-    (DFHack::next_enum_item_<df::enum,ENUM_FIRST_ITEM(enum),df::enums::enum::is_valid>(val))
+    (DFHack::next_enum_item<df::enum>(val))
 #define FOR_ENUM_ITEMS(enum,iter) \
     for(df::enum iter = ENUM_FIRST_ITEM(enum); iter <= ENUM_LAST_ITEM(enum); iter = df::enum(1+int(iter)))
 
diff --git a/library/modules/Items.cpp b/library/modules/Items.cpp
index be83c3c49..7a2f5c71f 100644
--- a/library/modules/Items.cpp
+++ b/library/modules/Items.cpp
@@ -167,16 +167,8 @@ bool ItemTypeInfo::find(const std::string &token)
     if (items[0] == "NONE")
         return true;
 
-    FOR_ENUM_ITEMS(item_type, i)
-    {
-        const char *key = ENUM_ATTR(item_type, key, i);
-        if (key && key == items[0])
-        {
-            type = i;
-            break;
-        }
-    }
-
+    if (!find_enum_item(&type, items[0]))
+        return false;
     if (type == NONE)
         return false;
     if (items.size() == 1)
diff --git a/library/modules/Materials.cpp b/library/modules/Materials.cpp
index 433b0b405..68aadc3d6 100644
--- a/library/modules/Materials.cpp
+++ b/library/modules/Materials.cpp
@@ -505,7 +505,7 @@ bool DFHack::parseJobMaterialCategory(df::job_material_category *cat, const std:
 
     for (size_t i = 0; i < items.size(); i++)
     {
-        int id = findBitfieldField(*cat, items[i]);
+        int id = findBitfieldField<df::job_material_category>(items[i]);
         if (id < 0)
             return false;
 
@@ -524,7 +524,7 @@ bool DFHack::parseJobMaterialCategory(df::dfhack_material_category *cat, const s
 
     for (size_t i = 0; i < items.size(); i++)
     {
-        int id = findBitfieldField(*cat, items[i]);
+        int id = findBitfieldField<df::dfhack_material_category>(items[i]);
         if (id < 0)
             return false;
 
diff --git a/library/xml b/library/xml
index 136181f06..78e998e3d 160000
--- a/library/xml
+++ b/library/xml
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 136181f067a0a5ed19a19c9f98eece41003fe372
+Subproject commit 78e998e3daa4a78b11b50c347beac2a9543b16dc
diff --git a/plugins/prospector.cpp b/plugins/prospector.cpp
index 4d89aaae7..179fe666f 100644
--- a/plugins/prospector.cpp
+++ b/plugins/prospector.cpp
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ static command_result embark_prospector(color_ostream &out, df::viewscreen_choos
             int sums[ENUM_LAST_ITEM(inclusion_type)+1] = { 0 };
 
             for (unsigned j = 0; j < layer->vein_mat.size(); j++)
-                if (inclusion_type::is_valid(layer->vein_type[j]))
+                if (is_valid_enum_item<df::inclusion_type>(layer->vein_type[j]))
                     sums[layer->vein_type[j]] += layer->vein_unk_38[j];
 
             for (unsigned j = 0; j < layer->vein_mat.size(); j++)
diff --git a/plugins/tiletypes.cpp b/plugins/tiletypes.cpp
index 8825d8114..d704f030a 100644
--- a/plugins/tiletypes.cpp
+++ b/plugins/tiletypes.cpp
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ bool processTileType(TileType &paint, const std::string &option, const std::stri
 
     if (option == "shape" || option == "sh" || option == "s")
     {
-        if (tiletype_shape::is_valid((df::tiletype_shape)valInt))
+        if (is_valid_enum_item((df::tiletype_shape)valInt))
         {
             paint.shape = (df::tiletype_shape)valInt;
             found = true;
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@ bool processTileType(TileType &paint, const std::string &option, const std::stri
     }
     else if (option == "material" || option == "mat" || option == "m")
     {
-        if (tiletype_material::is_valid((df::tiletype_material)valInt))
+        if (is_valid_enum_item((df::tiletype_material)valInt))
         {
             paint.material = (df::tiletype_material)valInt;
             found = true;
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ bool processTileType(TileType &paint, const std::string &option, const std::stri
     }
     else if (option == "special" || option == "sp")
     {
-        if (tiletype_special::is_valid((df::tiletype_special)valInt))
+        if (is_valid_enum_item((df::tiletype_special)valInt))
         {
             paint.special = (df::tiletype_special)valInt;
             found = true;
@@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ bool processTileType(TileType &paint, const std::string &option, const std::stri
     }
     else if (option == "variant" || option == "var" || option == "v")
     {
-        if (tiletype_variant::is_valid((df::tiletype_variant)valInt))
+        if (is_valid_enum_item((df::tiletype_variant)valInt))
         {
             paint.variant = (df::tiletype_variant)valInt;
             found = true;