Can a C# class inherit attributes from its interface?

Question

This would appear to imply "no". Which is unfortunate.

[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Interface | AttributeTargets.Class,
 AllowMultiple = true, Inherited = true)]
public class CustomDescriptionAttribute : Attribute
{
    public string Description { get; private set; }

    public CustomDescriptionAttribute(string description)
    {
        Description = description;
    }
}

[CustomDescription("IProjectController")]
public interface IProjectController
{
    void Create(string projectName);
}

internal class ProjectController : IProjectController
{
    public void Create(string projectName)
    {
    }
}

[TestFixture]
public class CustomDescriptionAttributeTests
{
    [Test]
    public void ProjectController_ShouldHaveCustomDescriptionAttribute()
    {
        Type type = typeof(ProjectController);
        object[] attributes = type.GetCustomAttributes(
            typeof(CustomDescriptionAttribute),
            true);

        // NUnit.Framework.AssertionException:   Expected: 1   But was:  0
        Assert.AreEqual(1, attributes.Length);
    }
}

Can a class inherit attributes? Or am I barking up the wrong tree here?

Answer 1

No. Whenever implementing an interface or overriding members in a derived class, you need to re-declare the attributes.

If you only care about ComponentModel (not direct reflection), there is a way ([AttributeProvider]) of suggesting attributes from an existing type (to avoid duplication), but it is only valid for property and indexer usage.

As an example:

using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
class Foo {
    [AttributeProvider(typeof(IListSource))]
    public object Bar { get; set; }

    static void Main() {
        var bar = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(typeof(Foo))["Bar"];
        foreach (Attribute attrib in bar.Attributes) {
            Console.WriteLine(attrib);
        }
    }
}

outputs:

System.SerializableAttribute
System.ComponentModel.AttributeProviderAttribute
System.ComponentModel.EditorAttribute
System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComVisibleAttribute
System.Runtime.InteropServices.ClassInterfaceAttribute
System.ComponentModel.TypeConverterAttribute
System.ComponentModel.MergablePropertyAttribute

Answer 2

You can define a useful extension method ...

Type type = typeof(ProjectController);
var attributes = type.GetCustomAttributes<CustomDescriptionAttribute>( true );

Here is the extension method:

/// <summary>Searches and returns attributes. The inheritance chain is not used to find the attributes.</summary>
/// <typeparam name="T">The type of attribute to search for.</typeparam>
/// <param name="type">The type which is searched for the attributes.</param>
/// <returns>Returns all attributes.</returns>
public static T[] GetCustomAttributes<T>( this Type type ) where T : Attribute
{
  return GetCustomAttributes( type, typeof( T ), false ).Select( arg => (T)arg ).ToArray();
}

/// <summary>Searches and returns attributes.</summary>
/// <typeparam name="T">The type of attribute to search for.</typeparam>
/// <param name="type">The type which is searched for the attributes.</param>
/// <param name="inherit">Specifies whether to search this member's inheritance chain to find the attributes. Interfaces will be searched, too.</param>
/// <returns>Returns all attributes.</returns>
public static T[] GetCustomAttributes<T>( this Type type, bool inherit ) where T : Attribute
{
  return GetCustomAttributes( type, typeof( T ), inherit ).Select( arg => (T)arg ).ToArray();
}

/// <summary>Private helper for searching attributes.</summary>
/// <param name="type">The type which is searched for the attribute.</param>
/// <param name="attributeType">The type of attribute to search for.</param>
/// <param name="inherit">Specifies whether to search this member's inheritance chain to find the attribute. Interfaces will be searched, too.</param>
/// <returns>An array that contains all the custom attributes, or an array with zero elements if no attributes are defined.</returns>
private static object[] GetCustomAttributes( Type type, Type attributeType, bool inherit )
{
  if( !inherit )
  {
    return type.GetCustomAttributes( attributeType, false );
  }

  var attributeCollection = new Collection<object>();
  var baseType = type;

  do
  {
    baseType.GetCustomAttributes( attributeType, true ).Apply( attributeCollection.Add );
    baseType = baseType.BaseType;
  }
  while( baseType != null );

  foreach( var interfaceType in type.GetInterfaces() )
  {
    GetCustomAttributes( interfaceType, attributeType, true ).Apply( attributeCollection.Add );
  }

  var attributeArray = new object[attributeCollection.Count];
  attributeCollection.CopyTo( attributeArray, 0 );
  return attributeArray;
}

/// <summary>Applies a function to every element of the list.</summary>
private static void Apply<T>( this IEnumerable<T> enumerable, Action<T> function )
{
  foreach( var item in enumerable )
  {
    function.Invoke( item );
  }
}