BrowsableAttribute Class
.NET Framework Class Library
BrowsableAttribute Class

Specifies whether a property or event should be displayed in a Properties window.

Namespace:  System.ComponentModel
Assembly:  System (in System.dll)
Visual Basic (Declaration)
<AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.All)> _
Public NotInheritable Class BrowsableAttribute _
    Inherits Attribute
Visual Basic (Usage)
Dim instance As BrowsableAttribute
C#
[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.All)]
public sealed class BrowsableAttribute : Attribute
Visual C++
[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets::All)]
public ref class BrowsableAttribute sealed : public Attribute
JScript
public final class BrowsableAttribute extends Attribute

A visual designer typically displays in the Properties window those members that either have no browsable attribute or are marked with the BrowsableAttribute constructor's browsable parameter set to true. These members can be modified at design time. Members marked with the BrowsableAttribute constructor's browsable parameter set to false are not appropriate for design-time editing and therefore are not displayed in a visual designer. The default is true.

NoteNote:

When you mark a property with Browsable(true), the value of this attribute is set to the constant member Yes. For a property marked with Browsable(false), the value is No. Therefore, when you check the value of this attribute in your code, you must specify the attribute as BrowsableAttribute..::.Yes or BrowsableAttribute..::.No.

For more information, see Attributes Overview and Extending Metadata Using Attributes.

The following example marks a property as browsable.

Visual Basic
<Browsable(True)> _
Public Property MyProperty() As Integer
    Get
        ' Insert code here.
        Return 0
    End Get
    Set
        ' Insert code here.
    End Set 
End Property
C#
[Browsable(true)]
 public int MyProperty {
    get {
       // Insert code here.
       return 0;
    }
    set {
       // Insert code here.
    }
 }
Visual C++
public:
   [Browsable(true)]
   property int MyProperty 
   {
      int get()
      {
         // Insert code here.
         return 0;
      }
      void set( int value )
      {
         // Insert code here.
      }
   }
JScript
Browsable(true)
public function get MyProperty() : int {
       // Insert code here.
      return 0;
}

public function set MyProperty(value : int) {
}

The next example shows how to check the value of the BrowsableAttribute for MyProperty. First, the code gets a PropertyDescriptorCollection with all the properties for the object. Next, the code indexes into the PropertyDescriptorCollection to get MyProperty. Then it returns the attributes for this property and saves them in the attributes variable.

The example presents two different ways of checking the value of the BrowsableAttribute. In the second code fragment, the example calls the Equals method. In the last code fragment, the example uses the Browsable property to check the value.

Visual Basic
' Gets the attributes for the property.
Dim attributes As AttributeCollection = _
    TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(Me)("MyProperty").Attributes

' Checks to see if the value of the BrowsableAttribute is Yes.
If attributes(GetType(BrowsableAttribute)).Equals(BrowsableAttribute.Yes) Then
    ' Insert code here.
End If 

' This is another way to see whether the property is browsable.
Dim myAttribute As BrowsableAttribute = _
    CType(attributes(GetType(BrowsableAttribute)), BrowsableAttribute)
If myAttribute.Browsable Then
    ' Insert code here.
End If 
C#
// Gets the attributes for the property.
 AttributeCollection attributes = 
    TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(this)["MyProperty"].Attributes;

 // Checks to see if the value of the BrowsableAttribute is Yes.
 if(attributes[typeof(BrowsableAttribute)].Equals(BrowsableAttribute.Yes)) {
    // Insert code here.
 }

 // This is another way to see whether the property is browsable.
 BrowsableAttribute myAttribute = 
    (BrowsableAttribute)attributes[typeof(BrowsableAttribute)];
 if(myAttribute.Browsable) {
    // Insert code here.
 }
Visual C++
// Gets the attributes for the property.
AttributeCollection^ attributes = TypeDescriptor::GetProperties( this )[ "MyProperty" ]->Attributes;

// Checks to see if the value of the BrowsableAttribute is Yes.
if ( attributes[ BrowsableAttribute::typeid ]->Equals( BrowsableAttribute::Yes ) )
{

   // Insert code here.
}

// This is another way to see whether the property is browsable.
BrowsableAttribute^ myAttribute = dynamic_cast<BrowsableAttribute^>(attributes[ BrowsableAttribute::typeid ]);
if ( myAttribute->Browsable )
{
   // Insert code here.
}
JScript
// Gets the attributes for the property.
 var attributes : AttributeCollection  = 
    TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(this)["MyProperty"].Attributes;

 // Checks to see if the value of the BrowsableAttribute is Yes.
 if(attributes[BrowsableAttribute].Equals(BrowsableAttribute.Yes)) {
    Console.WriteLine("MyProperty is browsable.");
 }

 // This is another way to see whether the property is browsable.
 var myAttribute : BrowsableAttribute = 
    BrowsableAttribute(attributes[BrowsableAttribute]);
 if(myAttribute.Browsable) {
    Console.WriteLine("MyProperty is browsable.");
 }

If you marked a class with the BrowsableAttribute, use the following code to check the value.

Visual Basic
Dim attributes As AttributeCollection = TypeDescriptor.GetAttributes(MyProperty)
If attributes(GetType(BrowsableAttribute)).Equals(BrowsableAttribute.Yes) Then
    ' Insert code here.
End If 
C#
AttributeCollection attributes = 
    TypeDescriptor.GetAttributes(MyProperty);
 if(attributes[typeof(BrowsableAttribute)].Equals(BrowsableAttribute.Yes)) {
    // Insert code here.
 }
Visual C++
AttributeCollection^ attributes = TypeDescriptor::GetAttributes( MyProperty );
if ( attributes[ BrowsableAttribute::typeid ]->Equals( BrowsableAttribute::Yes ) )
{
   // Insert code here.
}
JScript
var attributes : AttributeCollection = 
    TypeDescriptor.GetAttributes(MyProperty);
 if(attributes[BrowsableAttribute].Equals(BrowsableAttribute.Yes)) {
    Console.WriteLine("MyProperty is browsable.");
 }
System..::.Object
  System..::.Attribute
    System.ComponentModel..::.BrowsableAttribute
Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

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

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.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0
Tags What's this?: Add a tag
Community Content   What is Community Content?
Add new content RSS  Annotations
Processing
Page view tracker