ComVisibleAttribute Class
Controls accessibility of an individual managed type or member, or of all types within an assembly, to COM.
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
'Declaration <AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Assembly Or AttributeTargets.Class Or AttributeTargets.Struct Or AttributeTargets.Enum Or AttributeTargets.Method Or AttributeTargets.Property Or AttributeTargets.Field Or AttributeTargets.Interface Or AttributeTargets.Delegate, Inherited := False)> _ <ComVisibleAttribute(True)> _ Public NotInheritable Class ComVisibleAttribute _ Inherits Attribute 'Usage Dim instance As ComVisibleAttribute
You can apply this attribute to assemblies, interfaces, classes, structures, delegates, enumerations, fields, methods, or properties.
The default is true, which indicates that the managed type is visible to COM. This attribute is not needed to make public managed assemblies and types visible; they are visible to COM by default. Only public types can be made visible. The attribute cannot be used to make an otherwise internal or protected type visible to COM or to make members of a nonvisible type visible.
Setting the attribute to false on the assembly hides all public types within the assembly. You can selectively make types within the assembly visible by setting the individual types to true. Setting the attribute to false on a specific type hides that type and its members. However, you cannot make members of a type visible if the type is invisible. Setting the attribute to false on a type prevents that type from being exported to a type library; classes are not registered; interfaces are never responsive to unmanaged QueryInterface calls.
Unless you explicitly set a class and its members to false, inherited classes can expose to COM base class members that are invisible in the original class. For example, if you set ClassA to false and do not apply the attribute to its members, the class and its members are invisible to COM. However, if you derive ClassB from ClassA and export ClassB to COM, ClassA members become visible base class members of ClassB.
For a detailed description of the export process, see Assembly to Type Library Conversion Summary.
The following example shows how you can control the visibility to COM of a class so that its members are invisible. By setting ComVisibleAttribute to false on MyClass, and false on MyMethod and MyProperty, you can avoid inadvertently exposing the members to COM through inheritance.
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices <ComVisible(False)> _ Class SampleClass Public Sub New() 'Insert code here. End Sub <ComVisible(False)> _ Public Function MyMethod(param As String) As Integer Return 0 End Function Public Function MyOtherMethod() As Boolean Return True End Function <ComVisible(False)> _ Public ReadOnly Property MyProperty() As Integer Get Return MyProperty End Get End Property End Class
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.