How to mark a method as obsolete or deprecated?

Viewed 353709

How do I mark a method as obsolete or deprecated using C#?

5 Answers

To mark as obsolete with a warning:

[Obsolete]
private static void SomeMethod()

You get a warning when you use it:

Obsolete warning is shown

And with IntelliSense:

Obsolete warning with IntelliSense

If you want a message:

[Obsolete("My message")]
private static void SomeMethod()

Here's the IntelliSense tool tip:

IntelliSense shows the obsolete message

Finally if you want the usage to be flagged as an error:

[Obsolete("My message", true)]
private static void SomeMethod()

When used this is what you get:

Method usage is displayed as an error

Note: Use the message to tell people what they should use instead, not why it is obsolete.

With ObsoleteAttribute you can mark a method as deprecated. It has three constructors:

  1. [Obsolete]: is a no parameter constructor and is a default using this attribute.
  2. [Obsolete(string message)]: in this format you can get message of why this method is deprecated.
  3. [Obsolete(string message, bool error)]: in this format message is very explicit but error means, in compilation time, compiler must be showing error and cause to fail compiling or not.

enter image description here

For dependency injected methods, Apply the [Obsolete("description")] attribute to the declaration rather than implementation (:doh: moment for me)

Related