Article
11/17/2011

CategoryAttribute Class

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

Specifies the name of the category in which to group the property or event when displayed in a property grid control set to Categorized mode.

Inheritance Hierarchy

System.Object
System.Attribute
System.ComponentModel.CategoryAttribute

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

Syntax

'Declaration
<AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.All)> _
Public Class CategoryAttribute _
    Inherits Attribute

[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.All)]
public class CategoryAttribute : Attribute

The CategoryAttribute type exposes the following members.

Constructors

	Name	Description
	CategoryAttribute()	Initializes a new instance of the CategoryAttribute class using the category name Default.
	CategoryAttribute(String)	Initializes a new instance of the CategoryAttribute class using the specified category name.

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Properties

	Name	Description
	Action	Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Action category.
	Appearance	Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Appearance category.
	Asynchronous	Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Asynchronous category.
	Behavior	Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Behavior category.
	Category	Gets the name of the category for the property or event that this attribute is applied to.
	Data	Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Data category.
	Default	Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Default category.
	Design	Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Design category.
	DragDrop	Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the DragDrop category.
	Focus	Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Focus category.
	Format	Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Format category.
	Key	Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Key category.
	Layout	Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Layout category.
	Mouse	Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the Mouse category.
	WindowStyle	Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the WindowStyle category.

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Methods

	Name	Description
	Equals	Returns whether the value of the specified object is equal to the current CategoryAttribute. (Overrides Attribute.Equals(Object).)
	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 attribute. (Overrides Attribute.GetHashCode().)
	GetLocalizedString	Looks up the localized name of the specified category.
	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

A CategoryAttribute indicates the category to associate the associated property or event with, when listing properties or events in a property grid control set to Categorized mode. If a CategoryAttribute has not been applied to a property or event, the property grid associates it with the Misc category. A new category can be created for any name by specifying the name of the category in the constructor for the CategoryAttribute.

The Category property indicates the name of the category that the attribute represents. The Category property also provides transparent localization of category names.

Notes to Inheritors

If you use category names other than the predefined names, and you want to localize your category names, you must override the GetLocalizedString method. Additionally, you can override the Category property to provide your own logic for localization.

The CategoryAttribute class defines the following common categories:

Category	Description
Action	Properties related to available actions.
Appearance	Properties related to how an entity appears.
Behavior	Properties related to how an entity acts.
Data	Properties related to data and data source management.
Default	Properties that are grouped in a default category.
Design	Properties that are available only at design time.
DragDrop	Properties related to drag-and-drop operations.
Focus	Properties related to focus.
Format	Properties related to formatting.
Key	Properties related to the keyboard.
Layout	Properties related to layout.
Mouse	Properties related to the mouse.
WindowStyle	Properties related to the window style of top-level forms.

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Walkthrough: Creating a Custom Data-Bound ASP.NET Web Control for ASP.NET 1.1	Authoring ASP.NET Controls
Developing Custom Data-Bound Web Server Controls for ASP.NET 1.1	Authoring ASP.NET Controls
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Developing Custom Data-Bound Web Server Controls for ASP.NET 2.0	Authoring ASP.NET Controls
Walkthrough: Creating a Custom Data-Bound ASP.NET Web Control for ASP.NET 2.0	Authoring ASP.NET Controls
Walkthrough: Creating a Custom Data-Bound ASP.NET Web Control for ASP.NET 1.1	Authoring ASP.NET Controls
Walkthrough: Developing and Using a Custom Server Control	Authoring ASP.NET Controls
Walkthrough: Developing and Using a Custom Server Control	Authoring ASP.NET Controls
Developing Custom Data-Bound Web Server Controls for ASP.NET 1.1	Authoring ASP.NET Controls
Developing Custom Data-Bound Web Server Controls for ASP.NET 2.0	Authoring ASP.NET Controls
Walkthrough: Creating a Custom Data-Bound ASP.NET Web Control for ASP.NET 2.0	Authoring ASP.NET Controls
Walkthrough: Creating a Custom Data-Bound ASP.NET Web Control for ASP.NET 1.1	Authoring ASP.NET Controls

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: Xbox 360, 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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