Attribute Class

Article
01/16/2013

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Represents the base class for custom attributes.

Inheritance Hierarchy

System. . :: . .Object
System..::..Attribute
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Namespace: System
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
<SerializableAttribute> _
<AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.All, Inherited := True, AllowMultiple := False)> _
Public MustInherit Class Attribute

[SerializableAttribute]
[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.All, Inherited = true, AllowMultiple = false)]
public abstract class Attribute

[SerializableAttribute]
[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets::All, Inherited = true, AllowMultiple = false)]
public ref class Attribute abstract

[<AbstractClass>]
[<SerializableAttribute>]
[<AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.All, Inherited = true, AllowMultiple = false)>]
type Attribute =  class end

public abstract class Attribute

The Attribute type exposes the following members.

Constructors

	Name	Description
	Attribute	Initializes a new instance of the Attribute class.

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Methods

	Name	Description
	Equals(Object)	Determines whether the specified Object is equal to the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
	Finalize	Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before it is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.)
	GetHashCode	Serves as a hash function for a particular type. (Inherited from Object.)
	GetType	Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.)
	MemberwiseClone	Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
	ToString	Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object.)

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Remarks

The Attribute class associates predefined system information or user-defined custom information with a target element. A target element can be an assembly, class, constructor, delegate, enum, event, field, interface, method, portable executable file module, parameter, property, return value, struct, or another attribute.

Information provided by an attribute is also known as metadata. Metadata can be examined at run time by your application to control how your program processes data, or before run time by external tools to control how your application itself is processed or maintained. For example, the .NET Framework predefines and uses attribute types to control run-time behavior, and some programming languages use attribute types to represent language features not directly supported by the .NET Framework common type system.

All attribute types derive directly or indirectly from the Attribute class. Attributes can be applied to any target element; multiple attributes can be applied to the same target element; and attributes can be inherited by an element derived from a target element. Use the AttributeTargets class to specify the target element to which the attribute is applied.

The Attribute class provides convenient methods to retrieve and test custom attributes. For more information about using attributes, see Applying Attributes and Extending Metadata Using Attributes.

Thread Safety

This type is thread safe.

Inheritance Hierarchy

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Attribute Class

Inheritance Hierarchy

Syntax

Constructors

Methods

Remarks

Thread Safety

See Also

Reference

Inheritance Hierarchy

Additional resources