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DesignerAttribute Class

.NET Framework 4

Specifies the class used to implement design-time services for a component.

System.Object
  System.Attribute
    System.ComponentModel.DesignerAttribute

Namespace:  System.ComponentModel
Assembly:  System (in System.dll)
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[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Class|AttributeTargets.Interface, AllowMultiple = true, 
	Inherited = true)]
public sealed class DesignerAttribute : Attribute

The DesignerAttribute type exposes the following members.

  Name Description
Public method DesignerAttribute(String) Initializes a new instance of the DesignerAttribute class using the name of the type that provides design-time services.
Public method DesignerAttribute(Type) Initializes a new instance of the DesignerAttribute class using the type that provides design-time services.
Public method DesignerAttribute(String, String) Initializes a new instance of the DesignerAttribute class using the designer type and the base class for the designer.
Public method DesignerAttribute(String, Type) Initializes a new instance of the DesignerAttribute class, using the name of the designer class and the base class for the designer.
Public method DesignerAttribute(Type, Type) Initializes a new instance of the DesignerAttribute class using the types of the designer and designer base class.
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  Name Description
Public property DesignerBaseTypeName Gets the name of the base type of this designer.
Public property DesignerTypeName Gets the name of the designer type associated with this designer attribute.
Public property TypeId Gets a unique ID for this attribute type. (Overrides Attribute.TypeId.)
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  Name Description
Public method Equals Returns whether the value of the given object is equal to the current DesignerAttribute. (Overrides Attribute.Equals(Object).)
Protected method Finalize Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before it is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.)
Public method GetHashCode Returns the hash code for this instance. (Overrides Attribute.GetHashCode().)
Public method GetType Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.)
Public method 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.)
Public method Match When overridden in a derived class, returns a value that indicates whether this instance equals a specified object. (Inherited from Attribute.)
Protected method MemberwiseClone Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
Public method ToString Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object.)
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  Name Description
Explicit interface implemetation Private method _Attribute.GetIDsOfNames Maps a set of names to a corresponding set of dispatch identifiers. (Inherited from Attribute.)
Explicit interface implemetation Private method _Attribute.GetTypeInfo Retrieves the type information for an object, which can be used to get the type information for an interface. (Inherited from Attribute.)
Explicit interface implemetation Private method _Attribute.GetTypeInfoCount Retrieves the number of type information interfaces that an object provides (either 0 or 1). (Inherited from Attribute.)
Explicit interface implemetation Private method _Attribute.Invoke Provides access to properties and methods exposed by an object. (Inherited from Attribute.)
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The class you use for the design-time services must implement the IDesigner interface.

Use the DesignerBaseTypeName property to find the designer's base type. Use the DesignerTypeName property to get the name of the type of designer associated with this member.

For more information, see Extending Metadata Using Attributes.

The following example creates a class called MyForm. MyForm has two attributes, a DesignerAttribute that specifies this class uses the DocumentDesigner, and a DesignerCategoryAttribute that specifies the Form category.

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[Designer("System.Windows.Forms.Design.DocumentDesigner, System.Windows.Forms.Design.DLL", 
    typeof(IRootDesigner)),
    DesignerCategory("Form")]
public class MyForm : ContainerControl {
    // Insert code here.
}

The next example creates an instance of MyForm. Then it gets the attributes for the class, extracts the DesignerAttribute, and prints the name of the designer.

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public static int Main() {
    // Creates a new form.
    MyForm myNewForm = new MyForm();

    // Gets the attributes for the collection.
    AttributeCollection attributes = TypeDescriptor.GetAttributes(myNewForm);

    /* Prints the name of the designer by retrieving the DesignerAttribute
     * from the AttributeCollection. */
    DesignerAttribute myAttribute = 
       (DesignerAttribute)attributes[typeof(DesignerAttribute)];
    Console.WriteLine("The designer for this class is: " + myAttribute.DesignerTypeName);

    return 0;
}

.NET Framework

Supported in: 4, 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

.NET Framework Client Profile

Supported in: 4, 3.5 SP1

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.
Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.
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Annotations FAQ
Use the constructor which takes a string
If you use the constructor which takes the type parameter, the CLR will try to load the type specified, this can cause problems during runtime (esp. when in medium trust). When you use the constructor which takes a string parameter, the type loading is postponed until you actually need the type (which is usually in a designer like VS, running in Full trust.)
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