Article
11/18/2011

ServiceKnownTypeAttribute Class

Microsoft Silverlight will reach end of support after October 2021. Learn more.

Specifies known types to be used by a service when serializing or deserializing.

Inheritance Hierarchy

System.Object
System.Attribute
System.ServiceModel.ServiceKnownTypeAttribute

Namespace: System.ServiceModel
Assembly: System.ServiceModel (in System.ServiceModel.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
<AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Class Or AttributeTargets.Method Or AttributeTargets.Interface, Inherited := True,  _
    AllowMultiple := True)> _
Public NotInheritable Class ServiceKnownTypeAttribute _
    Inherits Attribute

[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Class|AttributeTargets.Method|AttributeTargets.Interface, Inherited = true, 
    AllowMultiple = true)]
public sealed class ServiceKnownTypeAttribute : Attribute

The ServiceKnownTypeAttribute type exposes the following members.

Constructors

	Name	Description
	ServiceKnownTypeAttribute(String)	Initializes a new instance of the ServiceKnownTypeAttribute class and specifies the name of a method that returns the known types.
	ServiceKnownTypeAttribute(Type)	Initializes a new instance of the ServiceKnownTypeAttribute class with the specified known type.
	ServiceKnownTypeAttribute(String, Type)	Initializes a new instance of the ServiceKnownTypeAttribute class with the name of a method that returns the known types and the type that contains the method (or methods) that returns the known types.

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Properties

	Name	Description
	DeclaringType	Gets the type that contains the methods that return the known types.
	MethodName	Gets the name of a method that returns the collection of known types.
	Type	The known type that can be included in an object graph.

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Methods

	Name	Description
	Equals	Infrastructure. Returns a value that indicates whether this instance is equal to a specified object. (Inherited from Attribute.)
	Finalize	Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before the Object is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.)
	GetHashCode	Returns the hash code for this instance. (Inherited from Attribute.)
	GetType	Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.)
	Match	When overridden in a derived class, returns a value that indicates whether this instance equals a specified object. (Inherited from Attribute.)
	MemberwiseClone	Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
	ToString	Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object.)

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Remarks

The ServiceKnownTypeAttribute is intended for use when creating Silverlight service contracts (interfaces that define the service and its methods). The known types are types that may be present in an object graph when serialization or deserialization occurs.

To use the MethodName property, create a class that contains a method (or methods) that returns an array of types (each being a known type). When applying the attribute, set the methodName to the name of a method that returns the list of types and set the declaringType to the type that contains the method. The method must return a type that implements the IEnumerable<T> interface. The method must also include a parameter of type ICustomAttributeProvider.

You can also apply the attribute several times to an interface, class, or method, each time specifying a new known type.

Note:
You can use the word ServiceKnownType in your Microsoft Visual Basic or C# code instead of the longer ServiceKnownTypeAttribute.

Version Information

Silverlight

Supported in: 5, 4, 3

Silverlight for Windows Phone

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1, Windows Phone OS 7.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.0

Platforms

For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.

Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

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