Microsoft® Visual Basic® 2010 Developer’s Handbook

Chapter 21. Attributes and Reflection

In this chapter:
Introduction to Attributes
Introduction to Reflection
Creating Custom Attributes and Recognizing Them at Runtime

If you are developing larger applications, you’re likely to use attributes. Attributes are special classes that don’t perform any function themselves; instead, they advise other code that an element in your application must be handled in a specific way.

You can use both attributes that the Microsoft .NET Framework provides along with those that you design on your own. If you build your own, you must understand the techniques that make attribute recognition at runtime possible—that’s where reflection comes into play.

Reflection techniques in the .NET Framework basically represent ...