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How to: Use Qualification Data

You can assign qualification data to a pipeline segment for any purpose, by applying one or more QualificationDataAttribute attributes to the segment. Each attribute specifies a simple name/value pair of string data. For example, you might indicate that an add-in should be activated with full trust by specifying the name/value pair "Security" and "FullTrust". Similarly, you might indicate that a pipeline segment should be isolated in its own process by specifying the name/value pair "Isolation" and "NewProcess".

To apply qualification data to a pipeline segment

  • Use the QualificationDataAttribute attribute.

    ' This pipeline segment has
    ' two attributes:
    ' 1 - An AddInAttribute to identify
    '     this segment as an add-in.
    '
    ' 2 - A QualificationDataAttribute to
    '     indicate that the add-in should
    '     be loaded into a new application domain.
    
    <AddIn("Calculator Add-in", Version:="2.0.0.0")> _
    <QualificationData("Isolation", "NewAppDomain")> _
        Public Class SampleV2AddIn
    
    // This pipeline segment has
    // two attributes:
    // 1 - An AddInAttribute to identify
    //     this segment as an add-in.
    //
    // 2 - A QualificationDataAttribute to
    //     indicate that the add-in should
    //     be loaded into a new application domain.
    
        [AddIn("Calculator Add-in",Version="2.0.0.0")]
        [QualificationData("Isolation", "NewAppDomain")]
        public class SampleV2AddIn : Calculator2
        {
    

To determine the qualification data for a particular pipeline segment

  • Use the QualificationData property on an AddInToken object to get a dictionary of segments and their qualification data associated with the token, and then use the appropriate AddInSegmentType value to get a dictionary that contains the name/value pairs that comprise the qualification data for the desired segment.

    ' Use qualification data to control
    ' how an add-in should be activated.
    
    If selectedToken.QualificationData(AddInSegmentType.AddIn)("Isolation").Equals("NewProcess") Then
        ' Create an external process.
        Dim external As AddInProcess = New AddInProcess
    
        ' Activate an add-in in an automatically generated
        ' application domain with a full trust security level.
        Dim CalcAddin5 As Calculator = _
            selectedToken.Activate(Of Calculator)(external, _
                AddInSecurityLevel.FullTrust)
        Console.WriteLine("Add-in activated per qualification data.")
    Else
        Console.WriteLine("This add-in is not designated to be activated in a new process.")
    End If
    
    // Use qualification data to control 
    // how an add-in should be activated.
    
    if (selectedToken.QualificationData[AddInSegmentType.AddIn]["Isolation"].Equals("NewProcess"))
    {
        // Create an external process.
        AddInProcess external = new AddInProcess();
    
        // Activate an add-in in the new process
        // with the full trust security level.
        Calculator CalcAddIn5 =
            selectedToken.Activate<Calculator>(external,
            AddInSecurityLevel.FullTrust);
        Console.WriteLine("Add-in activated per qualification data.");
    }
    else
        Console.WriteLine("This add-in is not designated to be activated in a new process.");
    

    If there is no qualification data for a segment, its dictionary of name/value pairs is empty.

    Note

    The add-in model does not use qualification data that is applied to the host view of the add-in. As a result, the dictionary for AddInSegmentType.HostViewOfAddIn is always empty.

To list the qualification data for all pipeline segments

  • Enumerate the AddInToken object as if it were a collection of QualificationDataItem structures.

    ' Show the qualification data for each
    ' token in an AddInToken collection.
    For Each token As AddInToken In tokens
        For Each qdi As QualificationDataItem In token
            Console.WriteLine("{0} {1}\n\t QD Name: {2}, QD Value: {3}", _
                token.Name, qdi.Segment, qdi.Name, qdi.Value)
        Next
    Next
    
    // Show the qualification data for each
    // token in an AddInToken collection.
    foreach (AddInToken token in tokens)
    {
        foreach (QualificationDataItem qdi in token)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("{0} {1}\n\t QD Name: {2}, QD Value: {3}",
                token.Name,
                qdi.Segment, 
                qdi.Name, 
                qdi.Value);
        }
    }
    
    

    Note

    The add-in model does not use qualification data that is applied to the host view of the add-in. As a result, when you enumerate qualification data you will not find any items whose Segment property is AddInSegmentType.HostViewOfAddIn.

See Also

Other Resources

Add-ins and Extensibility