AttributeUsageAttribute Class (System)

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Microsoft Visual Studio 2008/.NET Framework 3.5

Other versions are also available for the following:

.NET Framework Class Library

AttributeUsageAttribute Class

Specifies the usage of another attribute class. This class cannot be inherited.

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

Syntax

Visual Basic (Declaration)

<SerializableAttribute> _
<ComVisibleAttribute(True)> _
<AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Class, Inherited := True)> _
Public NotInheritable Class AttributeUsageAttribute _
    Inherits Attribute

Visual Basic (Usage)

Dim instance As AttributeUsageAttribute

[SerializableAttribute]
[ComVisibleAttribute(true)]
[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Class, Inherited = true)]
public sealed class AttributeUsageAttribute : Attribute

Visual C++

[SerializableAttribute]
[ComVisibleAttribute(true)]
[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets::Class, Inherited = true)]
public ref class AttributeUsageAttribute sealed : public Attribute

JScript

public final class AttributeUsageAttribute extends Attribute

Remarks

When you are defining your own attribute class, you can control the manner in which it is used by placing an AttributeUsageAttribute on your attribute class. The indicated attribute class must derive from Attribute, either directly or indirectly.

Attribute classes have positional and named parameters. Each public constructor for an attribute class defines a valid sequence of positional parameters for that class. Named parameters are defined by the non-static, public, and read-write fields or properties of the attribute class.

The three properties of AttributeUsageAttribute are set by defining the following parameters:

ValidOn

This positional parameter specifies the program elements that the indicated attribute can be placed on. The set of all possible elements that you can place an attribute on is listed in the AttributeTargets enumeration. You can combine several AttributeTargets values using a bitwise OR operation to get the desired combination of valid program elements.

AllowMultiple

This named parameter specifies whether the indicated attribute can be specified more than once for a given program element.

Inherited

This named parameter specifies whether the indicated attribute can be inherited by derived classes and overriding members.

For more information about using attributes, see Attribute and Extending Metadata Using Attributes.

Inheritance Hierarchy

System..::.Object
System..::.Attribute
System..::.AttributeUsageAttribute

Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360, Zune

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

.NET Compact Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 2.0, 1.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: 3.0, 2.0, 1.0

Reference

AttributeUsageAttribute Members

System Namespace

Attribute

AttributeTargets

Other Resources

Extending Metadata Using Attributes