Why does my .NET Attribute not perform an action?

Question

I\'ve created a simple Attribute:

[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Method)]
public class InitAttribute : System.Attribute
{
    public InitAttribute()
    {
         


        

Answer 1

The attribute is never actually instantiated and so its constructor is never called. The attribute remains as meta-data until you use reflection to retrieve it. As has been mentioned previously what you are after is an Aspect Oriented Programming tool. PostSharp works by altering the assembly as a post-build step. If you are using the Castle Windsor or Unity Inversion of Control Containers they both offer AOP capabilities as well.