CategoryAttribute Class

Definition

Namespace:

System.ComponentModel

Assembly:

System.ComponentModel.Primitives.dll

Source:

CategoryAttribute.cs

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

public ref class CategoryAttribute : Attribute

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

[<System.AttributeUsage(System.AttributeTargets.All)>]
type CategoryAttribute = class
    inherit Attribute

Public Class CategoryAttribute
Inherits Attribute

Inheritance

Object

Attribute

CategoryAttribute

Attributes

AttributeUsageAttribute

Examples

The following example creates the MyImage property. The property has two attributes: a DescriptionAttribute and a CategoryAttribute.

   [Description("The image associated with the control"),Category("Appearance")]
   System::Drawing::Image^ get()
   {
      // Insert code here.
      return m_Image1;
   }

   void set( System::Drawing::Image^ )
   {
      // Insert code here.
   }
}

[Description("The image associated with the control"),Category("Appearance")] 
 public Image MyImage {
    get {
       // Insert code here.
       return image1;
    }
    set {
       // Insert code here.
    }
 }

<Description("The image associated with the control"), _
    Category("Appearance")> _
Public Property MyImage() As Image
    
    Get
        ' Insert code here.
        Return image1
    End Get
    Set
        ' Insert code here.
    End Set 
End Property

The next example gets the category for MyImage. First, the code gets a PropertyDescriptorCollection with all the properties for the object. Next, the code indexes into the PropertyDescriptorCollection to get MyImage. Then it returns the attributes for this property and saves them in the variable attributes.

The example then prints the category by retrieving CategoryAttribute from the AttributeCollection, and writing it to the console screen.

// Gets the attributes for the property.
AttributeCollection^ attributes = TypeDescriptor::GetProperties( this )[ "MyImage" ]->Attributes;

// Prints the description by retrieving the CategoryAttribute.
// from the AttributeCollection.
CategoryAttribute^ myAttribute = static_cast<CategoryAttribute^>(attributes[ CategoryAttribute::typeid ]);
Console::WriteLine( myAttribute->Category );

// Gets the attributes for the property.
 AttributeCollection attributes = 
    TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(this)["MyImage"].Attributes;
 
 // Prints the description by retrieving the CategoryAttribute.
 // from the AttributeCollection.
 CategoryAttribute myAttribute = 
    (CategoryAttribute)attributes[typeof(CategoryAttribute)];
 Console.WriteLine(myAttribute.Category);

' Gets the attributes for the property.
Dim attributes As AttributeCollection = _
    TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(Me)("MyImage").Attributes

' Prints the description by retrieving the CategoryAttribute. 
' from the AttributeCollection.
Dim myAttribute As CategoryAttribute = _
    CType(attributes(GetType(CategoryAttribute)), CategoryAttribute)
    Console.WriteLine(myAttribute.Category)

Remarks

A CategoryAttribute indicates the category to associate the associated property or event with, when listing properties or events in a PropertyGrid control set to Categorized mode. If a CategoryAttribute has not been applied to a property or event, the PropertyGrid 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(String) method.

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.

For more information, see Attributes.

Constructors

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.

Properties

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.
TypeId	When implemented in a derived class, gets a unique identifier for this Attribute. (Inherited from Attribute)
WindowStyle	Gets a CategoryAttribute representing the WindowStyle category.

Methods

Equals(Object)	Returns whether the value of the given object is equal to the current CategoryAttribute.
GetHashCode()	Returns the hash code for this attribute.
GetLocalizedString(String)	Looks up the localized name of the specified category.
GetType()	Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object)
IsDefaultAttribute()	Determines if this attribute is the default.
Match(Object)	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)

See also

• Attribute
• PropertyDescriptor
• EventDescriptor