Search code examples
c#attributespostsharp

C# attributes \ avoid hard code values

Just to confirm there isn't a way to avoid hard-coded values in c# attributes right?

[SomeAttribute(3+1)]
public void Foo(string s)

or access class members or do anything not precompiled?

I now explore the great example of retry mechanism in postsharp - and would like to see if I can configure the number of retries from outside the system

Solution

  • Attribute constructor arguments and property values are baked into the compiled code. They can't be determined at execution time.

    Of course, if you have attribute which is willing to play ball, you could give it (say) a type and the name of a property, and ask it to fetch that property value at execution time. (That's what NUnit does for [TestCaseSource], for example.) But you can't do this with an attribute which doesn't know to do so.