Updated: November 2007
This attribute provides a package load key for your package.
<AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Class, Inherited := False, AllowMultiple := False)> _ Public NotInheritable Class ProvideLoadKeyAttribute _ Inherits RegistrationAttribute
Dim instance As ProvideLoadKeyAttribute
[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Class, Inherited = false, AllowMultiple = false)] public sealed class ProvideLoadKeyAttribute : RegistrationAttribute
[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets::Class, Inherited = false, AllowMultiple = false)] public ref class ProvideLoadKeyAttribute sealed : public RegistrationAttribute
public final class ProvideLoadKeyAttribute extends RegistrationAttribute
Visual Studio requires a Package Load Key in order to validate and load VSPackages provided by third parties regardless of whether the hosting version of Visual Studio has a VSIP license.
Developers can load their own VSPackages without PLK's if they have a valid VSIP developer license.
This attribute class is only used to provide data for external registration tools like regpkg.exe. It does not have any effect on the runtime behavior of the VSPackage. For more information, see Registering VSPackages (C#).
Visual C# automatically appends the word, Attribute, to the name of any attribute class. In Visual C# code, refer to this attribute as ProvideLoadKey.
Apply this attribute to your Package-derived class or class that implements IVsPackage to define its package load key. A package load key is used by Visual Studio to validate that a package can be loaded.
You can find implementations of the ProvideLoadKeyAttribute class in the managed samples. The standard location for this and all other attributes used for automatic registration is adjacent to the implementation of the Package class in VsPkg.cs, VsPkg.vb, or VsPkg.cpp, depending on the language used in the sample.