IteratorStateMachineAttribute Class

Definition

Namespace:

System.Runtime.CompilerServices

Assembly:

System.Runtime.dll

Source:

IteratorStateMachineAttribute.cs

Indicates whether a method in Visual Basic is marked with the Iterator modifier.

public ref class IteratorStateMachineAttribute sealed : System::Runtime::CompilerServices::StateMachineAttribute

[System.AttributeUsage(System.AttributeTargets.Method, AllowMultiple=false, Inherited=false)]
public sealed class IteratorStateMachineAttribute : System.Runtime.CompilerServices.StateMachineAttribute

[<System.AttributeUsage(System.AttributeTargets.Method, AllowMultiple=false, Inherited=false)>]
type IteratorStateMachineAttribute = class
    inherit StateMachineAttribute

Public NotInheritable Class IteratorStateMachineAttribute
Inherits StateMachineAttribute

Inheritance

Object

Attribute

StateMachineAttribute

IteratorStateMachineAttribute

Attributes

AttributeUsageAttribute

Examples

The following example shows how to determine whether a method is an iterator method. In the example, IsIteratorMethod performs the following steps:

• Obtains a MethodInfo object for the method name by using Type.GetMethod.

• Obtains a Type object for the attribute by using GetType Operator.

• Obtains an attribute object for the method and attribute type by using MethodInfo.GetCustomAttribute. If GetCustomAttribute returns Nothing (Visual Basic), the method doesn't contain the attribute.

Imports System.Collections.Generic
Imports System.Reflection
Imports System.Threading.Tasks
Imports System.Runtime.CompilerServices


Module Module1

    ' This class is used by the code below to discover method attributes.
    Public Class TheClass
        Public Async Function AsyncMethod() As Task(Of Integer)
            Await Task.Delay(5)
            Return 1
        End Function

        Public Iterator Function IteratorMethod() As IEnumerable(Of Integer)
            Yield 1
            Yield 2
        End Function

        Public Function RegularMethod() As Integer
            Return 0
        End Function
    End Class


    Private Function IsAsyncMethod(classType As Type, methodName As String)
        ' Obtain the method with the specified name.
        Dim method As MethodInfo = classType.GetMethod(methodName)

        Dim attType As Type = GetType(AsyncStateMachineAttribute)

        Dim attrib = CType(method.GetCustomAttribute(attType), AsyncStateMachineAttribute)
        ' The above variable contains the StateMachineType property.

        Return (attrib IsNot Nothing)
    End Function

    Private Function IsIteratorMethod(classType As Type, methodName As String)
        ' Obtain the method with the specified name.
        Dim method As MethodInfo = classType.GetMethod(methodName)

        Dim attType As Type = GetType(IteratorStateMachineAttribute)

        ' Obtain the custom attribute for the method.
        ' The value returned contains the StateMachineType property.
        ' Nothing is returned if the attribute isn't present for the method.
        Dim attrib = CType(method.GetCustomAttribute(attType), IteratorStateMachineAttribute)

        Return (attrib IsNot Nothing)
    End Function

    Private Sub ShowResult(classType As Type, methodName As String)
        Console.Write((methodName & ": ").PadRight(16))

        If IsAsyncMethod(classType, methodName) Then
            Console.WriteLine("Async method")
        ElseIf IsIteratorMethod(classType, methodName) Then
            Console.WriteLine("Iterator method")
        Else
            Console.WriteLine("Regular method")
        End If

        ' Note: The IteratorStateMachineAttribute applies to Visual Basic methods
        ' but not C# methods.
    End Sub

    Sub Main()
        ShowResult(GetType(TheClass), "AsyncMethod")
        ShowResult(GetType(TheClass), "IteratorMethod")
        ShowResult(GetType(TheClass), "RegularMethod")

        Console.ReadKey()
    End Sub

    '   AsyncMethod:    Async method
    '   IteratorMethod: Iterator method
    '   RegularMethod:  Regular method

End Module

Remarks

You shouldn't apply the IteratorStateMachine attribute to methods in your code. For methods in Visual Basic that have the Iterator modifier, the compiler will apply the IteratorStateMachine attribute in the IL that it emits.

When a method (MethodName) in Visual Basic has the Iterator modifier, the compiler emits IL that includes a state machine structure. That structure contains the code in the method. That IL also contains a stub method (MethodName) that calls into the state machine. The compiler adds the IteratorStateMachine attribute to the stub method so that tools can identify the corresponding state machine. Details of the emitted IL might change in future releases of the compilers.

An iterator method performs a custom iteration over a collection by using the Yield (Visual Basic) statement to return each element one at a time. For more information, see Iterators.

Note

You can't use IteratorStateMachineAttribute to test whether a method is an iterator method in C#.

Constructors

IteratorStateMachineAttribute(Type)

Initializes a new instance of the IteratorStateMachineAttribute class.

Properties

StateMachineType	Returns the type object for the underlying state machine type that was generated by the compiler to implement the state machine method. (Inherited from StateMachineAttribute)
TypeId	When implemented in a derived class, gets a unique identifier for this Attribute. (Inherited from Attribute)

Methods

Equals(Object)	Returns a value that indicates whether this instance is equal to a specified object. (Inherited from Attribute)
GetHashCode()	Returns the hash code for this instance. (Inherited from Attribute)
GetType()	Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object)
IsDefaultAttribute()	When overridden in a derived class, indicates whether the value of this instance is the default value for the derived class. (Inherited from Attribute)
Match(Object)	When overridden in a derived class, returns a value that indicates whether this instance equals a specified object. (Inherited from Attribute)
MemberwiseClone()	Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object)
ToString()	Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object)

See also

• AsyncStateMachineAttribute
• StateMachineType