Guid Structure
Represents a globally unique identifier (GUID).
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
The following example uses the System.Runtime.InteropServices.GuidAttribute class to assign a GUID to a user-defined class and an interface. It retrieves the value of the GUID by calling the GetCustomAttribute method and compares it with two other GUIDs to determine whether they are equal.
using System; using System.Runtime.InteropServices; // Guid for the interface IMyInterface. [Guid("F9168C5E-CEB2-4faa-B6BF-329BF39FA1E4")] interface IMyInterface { void MyMethod(); } // Guid for the coclass MyTestClass. [Guid("936DA01F-9ABD-4d9d-80C7-02AF85C822A8")] public class MyTestClass : IMyInterface { public void MyMethod() {} public static void Main( string []args ) { GuidAttribute IMyInterfaceAttribute = (GuidAttribute) Attribute.GetCustomAttribute(typeof(IMyInterface), typeof(GuidAttribute)); // The Value property of GuidAttribute returns a string. System.Console.WriteLine("IMyInterface Attribute: " + IMyInterfaceAttribute.Value ); // Using the string to create a guid. Guid myGuid1 = new Guid(IMyInterfaceAttribute.Value ); // Using a byte array to create a guid. Guid myGuid2 = new Guid(myGuid1.ToByteArray()); // Equals is overridden to perform a value comparison. if (myGuid1.Equals(myGuid2)) System.Console.WriteLine("myGuid1 equals myGuid2"); else System.Console.WriteLine("myGuid1 does not equal myGuid2" ); // Equality operator can also be used to determine if two guids have same value. if ( myGuid1 == myGuid2 ) System.Console.WriteLine( "myGuid1 == myGuid2" ); else System.Console.WriteLine( "myGuid1 != myGuid2" ); } } // The example displays the following output: // IMyInterface Attribute: F9168C5E-CEB2-4faa-B6BF-329BF39FA1E4 // myGuid1 equals myGuid2 // myGuid1 == myGuid2
Note that the GuidAttribute is typically used in an application to expose a type to COM. If you compile this example, you can run Regasm.exe on the generated assembly to create .reg file and .tlb files. The .reg file can be used to register the coclass in the registry, and the .tlb file can provide metadata for COM interop.
using System; using System.Runtime.InteropServices; // Guid for the interface IMyInterface. [Guid("F9168C5E-CEB2-4faa-B6BF-329BF39FA1E4")] interface IMyInterface { void MyMethod(); } // Guid for the coclass MyTestClass. [Guid("936DA01F-9ABD-4d9d-80C7-02AF85C822A8")] public class MyTestClass : IMyInterface { public void MyMethod() {} public static void Main( string []args ) { GuidAttribute IMyInterfaceAttribute = (GuidAttribute) Attribute.GetCustomAttribute(typeof(IMyInterface), typeof(GuidAttribute)); // The Value property of GuidAttribute returns a string. System.Console.WriteLine("IMyInterface Attribute: " + IMyInterfaceAttribute.Value ); // Using the string to create a guid. Guid myGuid1 = new Guid(IMyInterfaceAttribute.Value ); // Using a byte array to create a guid. Guid myGuid2 = new Guid(myGuid1.ToByteArray()); // Equals is overridden to perform a value comparison. if (myGuid1.Equals(myGuid2)) System.Console.WriteLine("myGuid1 equals myGuid2"); else System.Console.WriteLine("myGuid1 does not equal myGuid2" ); // Equality operator can also be used to determine if two guids have same value. if ( myGuid1 == myGuid2 ) System.Console.WriteLine( "myGuid1 == myGuid2" ); else System.Console.WriteLine( "myGuid1 != myGuid2" ); } } // The example displays the following output: // IMyInterface Attribute: F9168C5E-CEB2-4faa-B6BF-329BF39FA1E4 // myGuid1 equals myGuid2 // myGuid1 == myGuid2
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.