BrowsableAttribute Class
Specifies whether a property or event should be displayed in a Properties window.
For a list of all members of this type, see BrowsableAttribute Members.
System.Object
System.Attribute
System.ComponentModel.BrowsableAttribute
[Visual Basic] <AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.All)> NotInheritable Public Class BrowsableAttribute Inherits Attribute [C#] [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.All)] public sealed class BrowsableAttribute : Attribute [C++] [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets::All)] public __gc __sealed class BrowsableAttribute : public Attribute [JScript] public AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.All) class BrowsableAttribute extends Attribute
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.
Remarks
A visual designer typically displays in the Properties window those members that either have no browsable attribute or are marked with the BrowsableAttribute constructor of the value true. These members can be modified at design time. Members marked with the BrowsableAttribute constructor of the value false are not appropriate for design-time editing and therefore are not displayed in a visual designer. The default is true.
Note When you mark a property with the BrowsableAttribute constructor of the value true, the value of this attribute is set to the constant member Yes. For a property marked with the BrowsableAttribute constructor of the value 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.
Example
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. } } [C++] public: [Browsable(true)] __property int get_MyProperty() { // Insert code here. return 0; } __property void set_MyProperty( 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. } [C++] // Gets the attributes for the property. AttributeCollection* attributes = TypeDescriptor::GetProperties(this)->Item[S"MyProperty"]->Attributes; // Checks to see if the value of the BrowsableAttribute is Yes. if(attributes->Item[__typeof(BrowsableAttribute)]->Equals(BrowsableAttribute::Yes)) { // Insert code here. } // This is another way to see whether the property is browsable. BrowsableAttribute* myAttribute = dynamic_cast<BrowsableAttribute*>(attributes->Item[__typeof(BrowsableAttribute)]); 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. } [C++] AttributeCollection* attributes = TypeDescriptor::GetAttributes( __box(MyProperty)); if(attributes->Item[__typeof(BrowsableAttribute)]->Equals(BrowsableAttribute::Yes)) { // Insert code here. } [JScript] var attributes : AttributeCollection = TypeDescriptor.GetAttributes(MyProperty); if(attributes[BrowsableAttribute].Equals(BrowsableAttribute.Yes)) { Console.WriteLine("MyProperty is browsable."); }
Requirements
Namespace: System.ComponentModel
Platforms: Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 2000, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 family
Assembly: System (in System.dll)
See Also
BrowsableAttribute Members | System.ComponentModel Namespace | Attribute | PropertyDescriptor | EventDescriptor | AttributeCollection | PropertyDescriptorCollection