Attribute Extensions

Extract values from Roslyn AttributeData with clean, type-safe APIs

Extension methods for extracting constructor arguments and named arguments from AttributeData.

The Problem

Extracting attribute values requires verbose loops and null checks:

// BAD: Verbose and error-prone
string? displayName = null;
foreach (var attr in symbol.GetAttributes())
{
    if (attr.AttributeClass?.ToDisplayString() == "System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.DisplayAttribute")
    {
        foreach (var namedArg in attr.NamedArguments)
        {
            if (namedArg.Key == "Name" && namedArg.Value.Value is string name)
            {
                displayName = name;
                break;
            }
        }
    }
}

The Solution

// GOOD: Clean and type-safe
var displayName = symbol.GetAttributeNamedArgument<string>(
    "System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.DisplayAttribute", "Name");

Constructor Arguments

Extract positional arguments from attribute constructors:

// [JsonDerivedType(typeof(DerivedClass), "discriminator")]
var derivedType = attribute.GetConstructorArgument<INamedTypeSymbol>(0);
var discriminator = attribute.GetConstructorArgument<string>(1);

// Try-pattern for conditional extraction
if (attribute.TryGetConstructorArgument<int>(0, out var index))
{
    // Use index
}

// Get argument count
int count = attribute.GetConstructorArgumentCount();

Named Arguments

Extract named property/field arguments:

// [Display(Name = "User Name", Order = 1)]
var displayName = attribute.GetNamedArgument<string>("Name");
var order = attribute.GetNamedArgument<int>("Order");

// Try-pattern
if (attribute.TryGetNamedArgument<bool>("IsRequired", out var isRequired) && isRequired)
{
    // Handle required field
}

// Check existence
if (attribute.HasNamedArgument("Name"))
{
    // Name was explicitly set
}

// Get all argument names
foreach (var name in attribute.GetNamedArgumentNames())
{
    Console.WriteLine(name);
}

Symbol Convenience Methods

Get attribute values directly from symbols:

// Constructor argument from symbol
var derivedType = type.GetAttributeConstructorArgument<INamedTypeSymbol>(
    "System.Text.Json.Serialization.JsonDerivedTypeAttribute", 0);

// Named argument from symbol
var displayName = property.GetAttributeNamedArgument<string>(
    "System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.DisplayAttribute", "Name") ?? property.Name;

// Using type symbol instead of string
var attrType = compilation.GetTypeByMetadataName("MyNamespace.MyAttribute");
var value = symbol.GetAttributeNamedArgument<string>(attrType, "PropertyName");

// Try-pattern from symbol
if (symbol.TryGetAttributeConstructorArgument<int>("MyAttribute", 0, out var priority))
{
    // Use priority
}

Array Arguments

Extract array-typed arguments:

// [MyAttribute(new[] { "a", "b", "c" })]
ImmutableArray<string> values = attribute.GetConstructorArgumentArray<string>(0);

// [MyAttribute(Roles = new[] { Role.Admin, Role.User })]
ImmutableArray<int> roles = attribute.GetNamedArgumentArray<int>("Roles");

Common Patterns

Get Display Name

// Returns DisplayAttribute.Name or falls back to symbol name
var displayName = property.GetDisplayName();

// With pre-resolved type symbol (better performance in loops)
var displayAttr = compilation.GetTypeByMetadataName(
    "System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.DisplayAttribute");
var displayName = property.GetDisplayName(displayAttr);

Get JSON Derived Types

// Extract all types from [JsonDerivedType] attributes
var jsonDerivedType = compilation.GetTypeByMetadataName(
    "System.Text.Json.Serialization.JsonDerivedTypeAttribute");

ImmutableArray<INamedTypeSymbol>? derivedTypes = baseType.GetJsonDerivedTypes(jsonDerivedType);

if (derivedTypes.HasValue)
{
    foreach (var derivedType in derivedTypes.Value)
    {
        // Process each derived type
    }
}

API Reference

Method	Description
GetConstructorArgument<T>(index)	Gets constructor argument at index
TryGetConstructorArgument<T>(index, out value)	Try-pattern for constructor argument
GetConstructorArgumentCount()	Returns number of constructor arguments
GetNamedArgument<T>(name)	Gets named argument by name
TryGetNamedArgument<T>(name, out value)	Try-pattern for named argument
HasNamedArgument(name)	Checks if named argument exists
GetNamedArgumentNames()	Enumerates all named argument names
GetConstructorArgumentArray<T>(index)	Gets array constructor argument
GetNamedArgumentArray<T>(name)	Gets array named argument
GetAttributeConstructorArgument<T>(symbol, attrName, index)	Gets constructor arg from symbol’s attribute
GetAttributeNamedArgument<T>(symbol, attrName, argName)	Gets named arg from symbol’s attribute
GetDisplayName(symbol)	Gets DisplayAttribute.Name or symbol name
GetJsonDerivedTypes(type, attrType)	Gets all JsonDerivedType type arguments