TypeAttributes Enum

Definition

Specifies type attributes.

This enumeration supports a bitwise combination of its member values.

[System.Flags]
public enum TypeAttributes
[System.Flags]
[System.Serializable]
public enum TypeAttributes
[System.Flags]
[System.Serializable]
[System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComVisible(true)]
public enum TypeAttributes
Inheritance
TypeAttributes
Attributes

Fields

Name Value Description
AnsiClass 0

LPTSTR is interpreted as ANSI.

AutoLayout 0

Specifies that class fields are automatically laid out by the common language runtime.

Class 0

Specifies that the type is a class.

NotPublic 0

Specifies that the class is not public.

Public 1

Specifies that the class is public.

NestedPublic 2

Specifies that the class is nested with public visibility.

NestedPrivate 3

Specifies that the class is nested with private visibility.

NestedFamily 4

Specifies that the class is nested with family visibility, and is thus accessible only by methods within its own type and any derived types.

NestedAssembly 5

Specifies that the class is nested with assembly visibility, and is thus accessible only by methods within its assembly.

NestedFamANDAssem 6

Specifies that the class is nested with assembly and family visibility, and is thus accessible only by methods lying in the intersection of its family and assembly.

NestedFamORAssem 7

Specifies that the class is nested with family or assembly visibility, and is thus accessible only by methods lying in the union of its family and assembly.

VisibilityMask 7

Specifies type visibility information.

SequentialLayout 8

Specifies that class fields are laid out sequentially, in the order that the fields were emitted to the metadata.

ExplicitLayout 16

Specifies that class fields are laid out at the specified offsets.

LayoutMask 24

Specifies class layout information.

ClassSemanticsMask 32

Specifies class semantics information; the current class is contextful (else agile).

Interface 32

Specifies that the type is an interface.

Abstract 128

Specifies that the type is abstract.

Sealed 256

Specifies that the class is concrete and cannot be extended.

SpecialName 1024

Specifies that the class is special in a way denoted by the name.

RTSpecialName 2048

Runtime should check name encoding.

Import 4096

Specifies that the class or interface is imported from another module.

Serializable 8192

Specifies that the class can be serialized.

WindowsRuntime 16384

Specifies a Windows Runtime type.

UnicodeClass 65536

LPTSTR is interpreted as UNICODE.

AutoClass 131072

LPTSTR is interpreted automatically.

CustomFormatClass 196608

LPSTR is interpreted by some implementation-specific means, which includes the possibility of throwing a NotSupportedException. Not used in the Microsoft implementation of the .NET Framework.

StringFormatMask 196608

Used to retrieve string information for native interoperability.

HasSecurity 262144

Type has security associate with it.

ReservedMask 264192

Attributes reserved for runtime use.

BeforeFieldInit 1048576

Specifies that calling static methods of the type does not force the system to initialize the type.

CustomFormatMask 12582912

Used to retrieve non-standard encoding information for native interop. The meaning of the values of these 2 bits is unspecified. Not used in the Microsoft implementation of the .NET Framework.

Examples

The following example retrieves the value of the Attributes property for Type objects that represent a number of different types, and then determines whether individual attribute flags have been set.

using System;
using System.Reflection;

internal struct S
{
    public int X;
}

public abstract class Example
{
    protected sealed class NestedClass {}

    public interface INested {}

    public static void Main()
    {
        // Create an array of types.
        Type[] types = { typeof(Example), typeof(NestedClass),
                         typeof(INested), typeof(S) };

        foreach (var t in types) 
        {
           Console.WriteLine("Attributes for type {0}:", t.Name);

           TypeAttributes attr = t.Attributes;

           // To test for visibility attributes, you must use the visibility mask.
           TypeAttributes visibility = attr & TypeAttributes.VisibilityMask;
           switch (visibility)
           {
               case TypeAttributes.NotPublic:
                   Console.WriteLine("   ...is not public");
                   break;
               case TypeAttributes.Public:
                   Console.WriteLine("   ...is public");
                   break;
               case TypeAttributes.NestedPublic:
                   Console.WriteLine("   ...is nested and public");
                   break;
               case TypeAttributes.NestedPrivate:
                   Console.WriteLine("   ...is nested and private");
                   break;
               case TypeAttributes.NestedFamANDAssem:
                   Console.WriteLine("   ...is nested, and inheritable only within the assembly" +
                      "\n         (cannot be declared in C#)");
                   break;
               case TypeAttributes.NestedAssembly:
                   Console.WriteLine("   ...is nested and internal");
                   break;
               case TypeAttributes.NestedFamily:
                   Console.WriteLine("   ...is nested and protected");
                   break;
               case TypeAttributes.NestedFamORAssem:
                   Console.WriteLine("   ...is nested and protected internal");
                   break;
           }

           // Use the layout mask to test for layout attributes.
           TypeAttributes layout = attr & TypeAttributes.LayoutMask;
           switch (layout)
           {
               case TypeAttributes.AutoLayout:
                   Console.WriteLine("   ...is AutoLayout");
                   break;
               case TypeAttributes.SequentialLayout:
                   Console.WriteLine("   ...is SequentialLayout");
                   break;
               case TypeAttributes.ExplicitLayout:
                   Console.WriteLine("   ...is ExplicitLayout");
                   break;
           }

           // Use the class semantics mask to test for class semantics attributes.
           TypeAttributes classSemantics = attr & TypeAttributes.ClassSemanticsMask;
           switch (classSemantics)
           {
               case TypeAttributes.Class:
                   if (t.IsValueType)
                   {
                       Console.WriteLine("   ...is a value type");
                   }
                   else
                   {
                       Console.WriteLine("   ...is a class");
                   }
                   break;
               case TypeAttributes.Interface:
                   Console.WriteLine("   ...is an interface");
                   break;
           }

           if ((attr & TypeAttributes.Abstract) != 0)
           {
               Console.WriteLine("   ...is abstract");
           }

           if ((attr & TypeAttributes.Sealed) != 0)
           {
               Console.WriteLine("   ...is sealed");
           }
           
           Console.WriteLine();
       }
    }
}
// The example displays the following output:
// Attributes for type Example:
//    ...is public
//    ...is AutoLayout
//    ...is a class
//    ...is abstract

// Attributes for type NestedClass:
//    ...is nested and protected
//    ...is AutoLayout
//    ...is a class
//    ...is sealed

// Attributes for type INested:
//    ...is nested and public
//    ...is AutoLayout
//    ...is an interface
//    ...is abstract

// Attributes for type S:
//    ...is not public
//    ...is SequentialLayout
//    ...is a value type
//    ...is sealed

Remarks

Some of the members of the TypeAttributes enumeration are masks that represent a set of mutually exclusive attributes. For example, the VisibilityMask member includes the NotPublic, Public, NestedPublic, NestedPrivate, NestedFamily, NestedAssembly, NestedFamANDAssem, and NestedFamORAssem members. Because each attribute set includes a member whose underlying value is zero, you should first And the value of the mask with the specific System.Reflection.TypeAttributes value retrieved from a property such as Type.Attributes. The following table lists the masks and the individual members that they include:

Mask Includes
VisibilityMask NotPublic
Public
NestedPublic
NestedPrivate
NestedFamily
NestedAssembly
NestedFamANDAssem
NestedFamORAssem
LayoutMask AutoLayout
SequentialLayout
ExplicitLayout
ClassSemanticsMask Class
Interface
StringFormatMask AnsiClass
UnicodeClass
AutoClass
CustomFormatClass
CustomFormatMask No members.

The members of this enumerator class match the CorTypeAttr enumerator as defined in the corhdr.h file.

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Core 1.0, Core 1.1, Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
.NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1
UWP 10.0