How to: Use Qualification Data

You can assign qualification data to a pipeline segment for any purpose, by applying one or more QualificationDataAttribute attributes to the segment. Each attribute specifies a simple name/value pair of string data. For example, you might indicate that an add-in should be activated with full trust by specifying the name/value pair "Security" and "FullTrust". Similarly, you might indicate that a pipeline segment should be isolated in its own process by specifying the name/value pair "Isolation" and "NewProcess".

To apply qualification data to a pipeline segment

• Use the QualificationDataAttribute attribute.

  ' This pipeline segment has
  ' two attributes:
  ' 1 - An AddInAttribute to identify
  ' this segment as an add-in.
  '
  ' 2 - A QualificationDataAttribute to
  ' indicate that the add-in should
  ' be loaded into a new application domain.
  <AddIn("Calculator Add-in", Version:="2.0.0.0")> _
  <QualificationData("Isolation", "NewAppDomain")> _
   Public Class SampleV2AddIn
  

  // This pipeline segment has
  // two attributes:
  // 1 - An AddInAttribute to identify
  // this segment as an add-in.
  //
  // 2 - A QualificationDataAttribute to
  // indicate that the add-in should
  // be loaded into a new application domain.
   [AddIn("Calculator Add-in",Version="2.0.0.0")]
   [QualificationData("Isolation", "NewAppDomain")]
   public class SampleV2AddIn : Calculator2
   {
  

To determine the qualification data for a particular pipeline segment

• Use the QualificationData property on an AddInToken object to get a dictionary of segments and their qualification data associated with the token, and then use the appropriate AddInSegmentType value to get a dictionary that contains the name/value pairs that comprise the qualification data for the desired segment.

  ' Use qualification data to control
  ' how an add-in should be activated.
  If selectedToken.QualificationData(AddInSegmentType.AddIn)("Isolation").Equals("NewProcess") Then
   ' Create an external process.
   Dim external As AddInProcess = New AddInProcess
   ' Activate an add-in in an automatically generated
   ' application domain with a full trust security level.
   Dim CalcAddin5 As Calculator = _
   selectedToken.Activate(Of Calculator)(external, _
   AddInSecurityLevel.FullTrust)
   Console.WriteLine("Add-in activated per qualification data.")
  Else
   Console.WriteLine("This add-in is not designated to be activated in a new process.")
  End If
  

  // Use qualification data to control 
  // how an add-in should be activated.
  if (selectedToken.QualificationData[AddInSegmentType.AddIn]["Isolation"].Equals("NewProcess"))
  {
   // Create an external process.
   AddInProcess external = new AddInProcess();
   // Activate an add-in in the new process
   // with the full trust security level.
   Calculator CalcAddIn5 =
   selectedToken.Activate<Calculator>(external,
   AddInSecurityLevel.FullTrust);
   Console.WriteLine("Add-in activated per qualification data.");
  }
  else
   Console.WriteLine("This add-in is not designated to be activated in a new process.");
  

  If there is no qualification data for a segment, its dictionary of name/value pairs is empty.

  Note

  The add-in model does not use qualification data that is applied to the host view of the add-in. As a result, the dictionary for AddInSegmentType.HostViewOfAddIn is always empty.

To list the qualification data for all pipeline segments

• Enumerate the AddInToken object as if it were a collection of QualificationDataItem structures.

  ' Show the qualification data for each
  ' token in an AddInToken collection.
  For Each token As AddInToken In tokens
   For Each qdi As QualificationDataItem In token
   Console.WriteLine("{0} {1}\n\t QD Name: {2}, QD Value: {3}", _
   token.Name, qdi.Segment, qdi.Name, qdi.Value)
   Next
  Next
  

  // Show the qualification data for each
  // token in an AddInToken collection.
  foreach (AddInToken token in tokens)
  {
   foreach (QualificationDataItem qdi in token)
   {
   Console.WriteLine("{0} {1}\n\t QD Name: {2}, QD Value: {3}",
   token.Name,
   qdi.Segment, 
   qdi.Name, 
   qdi.Value);
   }
  }
  

  Note

  The add-in model does not use qualification data that is applied to the host view of the add-in. As a result, when you enumerate qualification data you will not find any items whose Segment property is AddInSegmentType.HostViewOfAddIn.

See Also

Other Resources

Add-ins and Extensibility