This is an abstract base class derived from MemberDescriptor for objects that encapsulate information about a property.

In addition to the base attribute utilities, you can determine whether the property IsLocalizable or IsReadOnly. You can also check the SerializationVisibility. ShouldSerializeValue() can be used to determine whether the property of a particular component should be serialized. The default implementation of this method uses DefaultValueAttribute or a ShouldSerialize[PropertyName] method to determine whether it is necessary to serialize the property. See DefaultValueAttribute for more information on this.

You can also use ComponentType to determine the type of the component to which this property belongs. Converter retrieves a TypeConverter and GetEditor() gets a custom editor of the specified base type (in case several types of editor are defined for the property).

AddValueChanged() and RemoveValueChanged() allow you to bind an event handler, to be notified when the property changes. You can use GetValue(), SetValue(), and ResetValue() to access and modify that value. PropertyType indicates the type of that value.

If this is a parent property, you can retrieve the PropertyDescriptor objects for the children with the GetChildProperties() member.

public abstract class PropertyDescriptor : MemberDescriptor {
// Protected Constructors
   protected PropertyDescriptor(MemberDescriptor descr);
   protected PropertyDescriptor(MemberDescriptor descr, Attribute[] attrs);
   protected PropertyDescriptor(string name, Attribute[] attrs);
// Public Instance Properties
   public abstract Type ComponentType{get; }
   public virtual TypeConverter Converter{get; }
   public virtual bool IsLocalizable{get; }
   public abstract bool IsReadOnly{get; }
   public abstract Type PropertyType{get; }
   public DesignerSerializationVisibility SerializationVisibility{get; }
// Public Instance Methods
   public virtual void AddValueChanged(object component, EventHandler handler);
   public abstract bool CanResetValue(object component);
   public override bool Equals(object obj);  // overrides MemberDescriptor
   public PropertyDescriptorCollection GetChildProperties();
   public PropertyDescriptorCollection GetChildProperties(Attribute[] filter);
   public PropertyDescriptorCollection GetChildProperties(object instance);
   public virtual PropertyDescriptorCollection GetChildProperties(object instance, Attribute[] filter);
   public virtual object GetEditor(Type editorBaseType);
   public override int GetHashCode();  // overrides MemberDescriptor
   public abstract object GetValue(object component);
   public virtual void RemoveValueChanged(object component, EventHandler handler);
   public abstract void ResetValue(object component);
   public abstract void SetValue(object component, object value);
   public abstract bool ShouldSerializeValue(object component);
// Protected Instance Methods
   protected object CreateInstance(Type type);
   protected Type GetTypeFromName(string typeName);
   protected virtual void OnValueChanged(object component, EventArgs e);
}

Hierarchy

System.Object MemberDescriptor PropertyDescriptor

Returned By

ExtenderProvidedPropertyAttribute.ExtenderProperty, IBindingList.SortProperty, IComNativeDescriptorHandler.GetDefaultProperty(), ICustomTypeDescriptor.GetDefaultProperty(), ITypeDescriptorContext.PropertyDescriptor,PropertyDescriptorCollection.{Find( ), this}, TypeDescriptor.{CreateProperty(), GetDefaultProperty()}, System.Windows.Forms.DataGridColumnStyle.PropertyDescriptor, System.Windows.Forms.Design.PropertyTab.GetDefaultProperty( ), System.Windows.Forms.GridItem.PropertyDescriptor

Passed To

Multiple types