Edit

Attributes in Windows Forms Controls

  • Article

The .NET Framework provides a variety of attributes you can apply to the members of your custom controls and components. Some of these attributes affect the run-time behavior of a class, and others affect the design-time behavior.

Caution

This content was written for .NET Framework. If you're using .NET 6 or a later version, use this content with caution. The designer system has changed for Windows Forms and it's important that you review the Designer changes since .NET Framework article.

Attributes for Control and Component Properties

The following table shows the attributes you can apply to properties or other members of your custom controls and components. For an example that uses many of these attributes, see How to: Apply Attributes in Windows Forms Controls.

Attribute Description
AmbientValueAttribute Specifies the value to pass to a property to cause the property to get its value from another source. This is known as ambience.
BrowsableAttribute Specifies whether a property or event should be displayed in a Properties window.
CategoryAttribute Specifies the name of the category in which to group the property or event when displayed in a PropertyGrid control set to Categorized mode.
DefaultValueAttribute Specifies the default value for a property.
DescriptionAttribute Specifies a description for a property or event.
DisplayNameAttribute Specifies the display name for a property, event, or public void method that takes no arguments.
EditorAttribute Specifies the editor to use to change a property.
EditorBrowsableAttribute Specifies that a property or method is viewable in an editor.
HelpKeywordAttribute Specifies the context keyword for a class or member.
LocalizableAttribute Specifies whether a property should be localized.
PasswordPropertyTextAttribute Indicates that an object's text representation is obscured by characters such as asterisks.
ReadOnlyAttribute Specifies whether the property this attribute is bound to is read-only or read/write at design time.
RefreshPropertiesAttribute Indicates that the property grid should refresh when the associated property value changes.
TypeConverterAttribute Specifies what type to use as a converter for the object this attribute is bound to.

Attributes for Data Binding Properties

The following table shows the attributes you can apply to specify how your custom controls and components interact with data binding.

Attribute Description
BindableAttribute Specifies whether a property is typically used for binding.
ComplexBindingPropertiesAttribute Specifies the data source and data member properties for a component.
DefaultBindingPropertyAttribute Specifies the default binding property for a component.
LookupBindingPropertiesAttribute Specifies the data source and data member properties for a component.
AttributeProviderAttribute Enables attribute redirection.

Attributes for Classes

The following table shows the attributes you can apply to specify the behavior of your custom controls and components at design time.

Attribute Description
DefaultEventAttribute Specifies the default event for a component.
DefaultPropertyAttribute Specifies the default property for a component.
DesignerAttribute Specifies the class used to implement design-time services for a component.
DesignerCategoryAttribute Specifies that the designer for a class belongs to a certain category.
ToolboxItemAttribute Represents an attribute of a toolbox item.
ToolboxItemFilterAttribute Specifies the filter string and filter type to use for a Toolbox item.

See also