.NET Windows Forms in a Nutshell

Name

TypeDescriptor

Synopsis

This class encapsulates the information about a component. It provides a set of static utility methods to get details of the attributes, properties, and events. You can also get the default property or event.

While this appears to provide exactly the same information as System.Type, it adds an extra level of indirection, allowing you to provide virtual types that would not be represented by the standard type infrastructure.

GetClassName() gets the name of the class, while GetComponentName() gets the name of the component. You can retrieve the TypeConverter for the class with the GetConverter() method, and you can create the designer associated with the type with the CreateDesigner() method.

There are two versions of each method: one takes a Type that can be used if you do not have an actual instance of the type and the other takes an object if you do have a suitable instance.

public sealed class TypeDescriptor {

// Public Static Properties

   public static IComNativeDescriptorHandler ComNativeDescriptorHandler{set; get; }

// Public Static Methods

   public static void AddEditorTable(Type editorBaseType, System.Collections.Hashtable table);

   public static IDesigner CreateDesigner(IComponent component, Type designerBaseType);

   public static EventDescriptor CreateEvent(Type componentType, EventDescriptor oldEventDescriptor, 

        params Attribute[] attributes);

   public static EventDescriptor CreateEvent(Type componentType, string name, Type type, params Attribute[] attributes ...