(the following example uses .NET 3.5)
1. Create a class based on the Attribute class
//define this attribue as applicable only to classes
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Class)]
public class ExtraDataAttribute : Attribute
{
public ExtraDataAttribute(string data)
{
Data = data;
}
public string Data { get; set; }
}
2. Decorate your class with the attribute
[ExtraData("My Data String")]
public class MyClass
{
...
}
3. Return the attribute value at the runtime
MyClass x = new MyClass();
...
ExtraDataAttribute[] attrs = (ExtraDataAttribute[])x.GetType().GetCustomAttributes(typeof(ExtraDataAttribute), true);
//and, if we decorated the class with only one attribute of this type
string myData = attrs[0].Data;
