Built-In Attributes

You saw in previous sections that the .NET Framework includes a number of attributes, such as DebuggableAttribute and AssemblyTitleAttribute. This section discusses some of the more common attributes defined in the .NET Framework, and when you might want to use them.

The attributes covered in this section are:

• System.Diagnostics.ConditionalAttribute
• System.ObsoleteAttribute
• System.SerializableAttribute
• System.Reflection.AssemblyDelaySignAttribute

There is more information about the other attributes that ship with the .NET Framework in the .NET Framework SDK documentation.

Another extremely useful tool when working with .NET is a program called Reflector and is downloadable from www.aisto.com/roeder/dotnet. This tool uses reflection to inspect assemblies. You can use it to find, with a few mouse clicks, all classes that derive from System.Attribute. It's one tool you shouldn't be without.