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CategoryAttribute Class

.NET Framework (current version)
 

Specifies the name of the category in which to group the property or event when displayed in a PropertyGrid control set to Categorized mode.

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

System::Object
  System::Attribute
    System.ComponentModel::CategoryAttribute

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[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets::All)]
public ref class CategoryAttribute : Attribute

NameDescription
System_CAPS_pubmethodCategoryAttribute()

Initializes a new instance of the CategoryAttribute class using the category name Default.

System_CAPS_pubmethodCategoryAttribute(String^)

Initializes a new instance of the CategoryAttribute class using the specified category name.

NameDescription
System_CAPS_pubpropertySystem_CAPS_staticAction

Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Action category.

System_CAPS_pubpropertySystem_CAPS_staticAppearance

Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Appearance category.

System_CAPS_pubpropertySystem_CAPS_staticAsynchronous

Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Asynchronous category.

System_CAPS_pubpropertySystem_CAPS_staticBehavior

Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Behavior category.

System_CAPS_pubpropertyCategory

Gets the name of the category for the property or event that this attribute is applied to.

System_CAPS_pubpropertySystem_CAPS_staticData

Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Data category.

System_CAPS_pubpropertySystem_CAPS_staticDefault

Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Default category.

System_CAPS_pubpropertySystem_CAPS_staticDesign

Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Design category.

System_CAPS_pubpropertySystem_CAPS_staticDragDrop

Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the DragDrop category.

System_CAPS_pubpropertySystem_CAPS_staticFocus

Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Focus category.

System_CAPS_pubpropertySystem_CAPS_staticFormat

Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Format category.

System_CAPS_pubpropertySystem_CAPS_staticKey

Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Key category.

System_CAPS_pubpropertySystem_CAPS_staticLayout

Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Layout category.

System_CAPS_pubpropertySystem_CAPS_staticMouse

Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Mouse category.

System_CAPS_pubpropertyTypeId

When implemented in a derived class, gets a unique identifier for this Attribute.(Inherited from Attribute.)

System_CAPS_pubpropertySystem_CAPS_staticWindowStyle

Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the WindowStyle category.

NameDescription
System_CAPS_pubmethodEquals(Object^)

Returns whether the value of the given object is equal to the current CategoryAttribute..(Overrides Attribute::Equals(Object^).)

System_CAPS_protmethodFinalize()

Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before it is reclaimed by garbage collection.(Inherited from Object.)

System_CAPS_pubmethodGetHashCode()

Returns the hash code for this attribute.(Overrides Attribute::GetHashCode().)

System_CAPS_protmethodGetLocalizedString(String^)

Looks up the localized name of the specified category.

System_CAPS_pubmethodGetType()

Gets the Type of the current instance.(Inherited from Object.)

System_CAPS_pubmethodIsDefaultAttribute()

Determines if this attribute is the default.(Overrides Attribute::IsDefaultAttribute().)

System_CAPS_pubmethodMatch(Object^)

When overridden in a derived class, returns a value that indicates whether this instance equals a specified object.(Inherited from Attribute.)

System_CAPS_protmethodMemberwiseClone()

Creates a shallow copy of the current Object.(Inherited from Object.)

System_CAPS_pubmethodToString()

Returns a string that represents the current object.(Inherited from Object.)

NameDescription
System_CAPS_pubinterfaceSystem_CAPS_privmethod_Attribute::GetIDsOfNames(Guid%, IntPtr, UInt32, UInt32, IntPtr)

Maps a set of names to a corresponding set of dispatch identifiers.(Inherited from Attribute.)

System_CAPS_pubinterfaceSystem_CAPS_privmethod_Attribute::GetTypeInfo(UInt32, UInt32, IntPtr)

Retrieves the type information for an object, which can be used to get the type information for an interface.(Inherited from Attribute.)

System_CAPS_pubinterfaceSystem_CAPS_privmethod_Attribute::GetTypeInfoCount(UInt32%)

Retrieves the number of type information interfaces that an object provides (either 0 or 1).(Inherited from Attribute.)

System_CAPS_pubinterfaceSystem_CAPS_privmethod_Attribute::Invoke(UInt32, Guid%, UInt32, Int16, IntPtr, IntPtr, IntPtr, IntPtr)

Provides access to properties and methods exposed by an object.(Inherited from Attribute.)

A CategoryAttribute indicates the category to associate the associated property or event with, when listing properties or events in a PropertyGrid control set to Categorized mode. If a CategoryAttribute has not been applied to a property or event, the PropertyGrid associates it with the Misc category. A new category can be created for any name by specifying the name of the category in the constructor for the CategoryAttribute.

The Category property indicates the name of the category that the attribute represents. The Category property also provides transparent localization of category names.

Notes to Inheritors:

If you use category names other than the predefined names, and you want to localize your category names, you must override the GetLocalizedString method.

The CategoryAttribute class defines the following common categories:

Category

Description

Action

Properties related to available actions.

Appearance

Properties related to how an entity appears.

Behavior

Properties related to how an entity acts.

Data

Properties related to data and data source management.

Default

Properties that are grouped in a default category.

Design

Properties that are available only at design time.

DragDrop

Properties related to drag-and-drop operations.

Focus

Properties related to focus.

Format

Properties related to formatting.

Key

Properties related to the keyboard.

Layout

Properties related to layout.

Mouse

Properties related to the mouse.

WindowStyle

Properties related to the window style of top-level forms.

For more information, see Extending Metadata Using Attributes.

The following example creates the MyImage property. The property has two attributes: a DescriptionAttribute and a CategoryAttribute.

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   [Description("The image associated with the control"),Category("Appearance")]
   System::Drawing::Image^ get()
   {
      // Insert code here.
      return m_Image1;
   }

   void set( System::Drawing::Image^ )
   {
      // Insert code here.
   }
}

The next example gets the category for MyImage. First, the code gets a PropertyDescriptorCollection with all the properties for the object. Next, the code indexes into the PropertyDescriptorCollection to get MyImage. Then it returns the attributes for this property and saves them in the variable attributes.

The example then prints the category by retrieving CategoryAttribute from the AttributeCollection, and writing it to the console screen.

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// Gets the attributes for the property.
AttributeCollection^ attributes = TypeDescriptor::GetProperties( this )[ "MyImage" ]->Attributes;

// Prints the description by retrieving the CategoryAttribute.
// from the AttributeCollection.
CategoryAttribute^ myAttribute = static_cast<CategoryAttribute^>(attributes[ CategoryAttribute::typeid ]);
Console::WriteLine( myAttribute->Category );

.NET Framework
Available since 1.1
Silverlight
Available since 2.0
Windows Phone Silverlight
Available since 7.0

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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