attributes

C# – How to read the Description attribute

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You can use the Description attribute to describe types and type members (properties, methods). One of the most common use cases is providing a user-friendly string for enum values. Here’s an example of using the Description attribute with an enum: To read the Description attribute, use reflection and do the following steps: This can be … Read more

C# – Get all classes with a custom attribute

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To get all classes with a custom attribute, first get all types in the assembly, then use IsDefined(customAttributeType) to filter the types: This is looking for classes in the current assembly that have the [ApiController] attribute, such as this controller class: This is useful in several scenarios, such as when you want to log information … Read more

C# – Get all loaded assemblies

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You can get all of the loaded assemblies with AppDomain.CurrentDomain.GetAssemblies(). Here’s an example of looping over all loaded assemblies and outputting their metadata: Note: This is outputting an interpolated string to the console. This outputs the following information: I’ll show more examples of how you can use the assembly information. Get custom assembly attributes Assembly … Read more

C# – Parsing commands and arguments in a console app

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In a console app there are two ways to get commands: After getting a command, you have to parse it to figure out what code to execute. Typically commands have the following format: commandName -argumentName argumentValue. For example, take a look at this familiar git command: This is passing the command line arguments into the … Read more

C# – Can’t pass decimal parameter in DataTestMethod

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I have a parameterized unit test with decimal parameters. When I run the test, I get the following exception: System.ArgumentException: Object of type ‘System.Double’ cannot be converted to type ‘System.Decimal’. Solution Change the parameters to doubles and convert them to decimals inside the test method. Why is it throwing an exception? You have to pass … Read more

C# – Using custom attributes

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Attributes are used to store additional info about a class/method/property. The attributes are read at runtime and used to change the program’s behavior. Here are a few examples of commonly used built-in attributes: In general, you should try to use built-in attributes when possible. When it makes sense, you can create your own custom attribute. … Read more

Error: Attribute constructor has an invalid parameter type

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Problem When you try to pass in an attribute constructor parameter to a custom attribute, you get one of the following compiler errors: Error CS0181 Attribute constructor parameter has type ‘Color’ which is not a valid attribute parameter type Error CS0655 ‘Color’ is not a valid named attribute argument because it is not a valid … Read more