BindingFlags Enumeration
Microsoft Silverlight will reach end of support after October 2021. Learn more.
Specifies flags that control binding and the way in which the search for members and types is conducted by reflection.
This enumeration has a FlagsAttribute attribute that allows a bitwise combination of its member values.
Namespace: System.Reflection
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Syntax
'Declaration
<ComVisibleAttribute(True)> _
<FlagsAttribute> _
Public Enumeration BindingFlags
[ComVisibleAttribute(true)]
[FlagsAttribute]
public enum BindingFlags
Members
Member name | Description | |
---|---|---|
Default | No binding flag. | |
IgnoreCase | The case of the member name should not be considered when binding. | |
DeclaredOnly | Only members declared at the level of the supplied type's hierarchy should be considered. Inherited members are not considered. | |
Instance | Instance members should be included in the search. | |
Static | Static members should be included in the search. | |
Public | Public members should be included in the search. | |
NonPublic | Non-public members should be included in the search. | |
FlattenHierarchy | Public and protected static members up the hierarchy should be returned. Private static members in inherited classes are not returned. Static members include fields, methods, events, and properties. Nested types are not returned. | |
InvokeMethod | A method is to be invoked. This must not be a constructor or a type initializer. | |
CreateInstance | Reflection should create an instance of the specified type. This flag calls the constructor that matches the given arguments. The supplied member name is ignored. If the type of lookup is not specified, (Instance | Public) will apply. It is not possible to call a type initializer. | |
GetField | The value of the specified field should be returned. | |
SetField | The value of the specified field should be set. | |
GetProperty | The value of the specified property should be returned. | |
SetProperty | The value of the specified property should be set. For COM properties, specifying this binding flag is equivalent to specifying PutDispProperty and PutRefDispProperty. | |
PutDispProperty | The PROPPUT member on a COM object should be invoked. PROPPUT specifies a property-setting function that uses a value. Use PutDispProperty if a property has both PROPPUT and PROPPUTREF and you need to distinguish which one is called. | |
PutRefDispProperty | The PROPPUTREF member on a COM object should be invoked. PROPPUTREF specifies a property-setting function that uses a reference instead of a value. Use PutRefDispProperty if a property has both PROPPUT and PROPPUTREF and you need to distinguish which one is called. | |
ExactBinding | Types of the supplied arguments must exactly match the types of the corresponding formal parameters. Reflection throws an exception if the caller supplies a non-null Binder object, because that implies that the caller is supplying BindToXXX implementations that will pick the appropriate method. The default binder ignores this flag, whereas custom binders can implement the semantics of this flag. | |
SuppressChangeType | Not implemented. | |
OptionalParamBinding | The set of members whose parameter count matches the number of supplied arguments should be returned. This binding flag is used for methods with parameters that have default values and methods with variable arguments (varargs). This flag should only be used with the Type.InvokeMember method. Parameters with default values are used only in calls where trailing arguments are omitted. They must be the last arguments. | |
IgnoreReturn | Used in COM interop to specify that the return value of the member can be ignored. |
Remarks
The flags specified by the BindingFlags enumeration control binding for many operations performed by classes in the System and System.Reflection namespaces. Under the general heading of reflection, these operations invoke, create, get, set, and find members and types. For example, binding flags are used in overloads of the following methods of Type, Activator, and MethodBase:
InvokeMember and GetMethod are especially important.
The binding flags can be categorized by how they identify a type member, as listed in the following table.
Identified by accessibility |
Identified by binding argument |
Identified by operation |
---|---|---|
DeclaredOnly FlattenHierarchy IgnoreCase IgnoreReturn Instance NonPublic Public Static |
ExactBinding OptionalParamBinding |
CreateInstance GetField SetField GetProperty SetProperty InvokeMethod PutDispProperty PutRefDispProperty |
Note: |
---|
You must specify Instance or Static along with Public or NonPublic. Otherwise, no members will be returned. |
The following table lists the coercions performed by the default Binder.ChangeType method. This table applies especially to the ExactBinding binding flag.
Source type |
Target type |
---|---|
Any type |
Its base type. |
Any type |
The interface it implements. |
Char |
UInt16, UInt32, Int32, UInt64, Int64, Single, Double |
Byte |
Char, UInt16, Int16, UInt32, Int32, UInt64, Int64, Single, Double |
SByte |
Int16, Int32, Int64, Single, Double |
UInt16 |
UInt32, Int32, UInt64, Int64, Single, Double |
Int16 |
Int32, Int64, Single, Double |
UInt32 |
UInt64, Int64, Single, Double |
Int32 |
Int64, Single, Double |
UInt64 |
Single, Double |
Int64 |
Single, Double |
Single |
Double |
Non-reference |
By-reference. |
Version Information
Silverlight
Supported in: 5, 4, 3
Silverlight for Windows Phone
Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1, Windows Phone OS 7.0
XNA Framework
Supported in: Xbox 360, Windows Phone OS 7.0
Platforms
For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.