DataTypeNameAttribute and AcceptedDataTypeNameAttribute

DevToys’ Smart Detection system automatically routes clipboard or file data to appropriate tools. Two attributes drive this mechanism: DataTypeNameAttribute declares what kind of data an IDataTypeDetector can recognise, and AcceptedDataTypeNameAttribute declares what named data types an IGuiTool is willing to receive. When a detector produces a match, DevToys highlights every tool whose accepted types include that detector’s declared name.

DataTypeNameAttribute

Namespace: DevToys.Api
Target: AttributeTargets.Class
AllowMultiple: false

[MetadataAttribute]
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Class, AllowMultiple = false)]
public sealed class DataTypeNameAttribute : Attribute

Apply this attribute to every IDataTypeDetector implementation to declare the name of the data type it detects.

Constructor

public DataTypeNameAttribute(string name, string? baseName = null)

name

string

required

The unique name for the data type this detector produces. All tools that want to receive this data type must reference this exact string in their [AcceptedDataTypeName] attributes. Must be non-empty.

baseName

string?

An optional parent data type name. When set, this detector’s type is considered a specialisation of baseName. DevToys uses this to chain detection: if baseName’s detector already confirmed the data, this detector only needs to check the specialisation. For example, a "jsonArray" detector could set baseName = "json" to indicate it only runs after JSON detection succeeds.

Properties

Property	Type	Description
`DataTypeName`	`string`	The declared data type name (from constructor `name`).
`DataTypeBaseName`	`string?`	The optional parent type name (from constructor `baseName`).

AcceptedDataTypeNameAttribute

Namespace: DevToys.Api
Target: AttributeTargets.Class
AllowMultiple: true

[MetadataAttribute]
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Class, AllowMultiple = true)]
public sealed class AcceptedDataTypeNameAttribute : Attribute

Apply one or more of these attributes to an IGuiTool class to declare which detected data types the tool can accept. DevToys will recommend the tool and call IGuiTool.OnDataReceived when Smart Detection finds a matching type.

Constructor

public AcceptedDataTypeNameAttribute(string name)

name

string

required

The name of the data type this tool accepts. Must match the DataTypeName declared by an IDataTypeDetector (or one of the predefined names in PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames). Must be non-empty.

Properties

Property	Type	Description
`DataTypeName`	`string`	The accepted data type name (from constructor `name`).

Predefined Data Type Names

PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames (namespace DevToys.Api) provides constants for the data types built into DevToys:

Constant	Value	Description
`PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Text`	`"text"`	Plain text
`PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Json`	`"json"`	JSON document
`PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.JsonArray`	`"jsonArray"`	JSON array (child of `"json"`)
`PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Xml`	`"xml"`	XML document
`PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Xsd`	`"xsd"`	XSD schema
`PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Base64Text`	`"base64Text"`	Base64-encoded text
`PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Base64Image`	`"base64Image"`	Base64-encoded image
`PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Image`	`"image"`	In-memory image
`PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.ImageFile`	`"imageFile"`	Image file path
`PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.File`	`"file"`	Single file
`PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Files`	`"files"`	Multiple files
`PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.GZip`	`"gzip"`	GZip-compressed data
`PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Date`	`"date"`	Date/time string

Example: Detector and Tool Wired Together

The following example defines a detector that recognises CSV content, then a tool that accepts CSV and receives it via Smart Detection.

using DevToys.Api;
using System.ComponentModel.Composition;

// ── Detector ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

[Export(typeof(IDataTypeDetector))]
[DataTypeName("csv", baseName: PredefinedCommonDataTypeNames.Text)]
public sealed class CsvDataTypeDetector : IDataTypeDetector
{
    public ValueTask<DataDetectionResult> TryDetectDataAsync(
        object data,
        DataDetectionResult? resultFromBaseDetector,
        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        // Only run if the base ("text") detector already confirmed plain text.
        if (resultFromBaseDetector?.Data is string text
            && text.Contains(',')
            && text.Contains('\n'))
        {
            return ValueTask.FromResult(
                new DataDetectionResult(true, text));
        }

        return ValueTask.FromResult(DataDetectionResult.Unsuccessful);
    }
}

// ── Tool ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

[Export(typeof(IGuiTool))]
[Name("CsvViewerTool")]
[ToolDisplayInformation(
    GroupName                         = PredefinedCommonToolGroupNames.Text,
    ResourceManagerAssemblyIdentifier = "MyExtension",
    ResourceManagerBaseName           = "MyExtension.Strings.CsvStrings",
    ShortDisplayTitleResourceName     = nameof(CsvStrings.ShortTitle),
    IconGlyph                         = '\uE8A4',
    IconFontName                      = "FluentSystemIcons")]
[AcceptedDataTypeName("csv")]  // matches the detector above
public sealed class CsvViewerTool : IGuiTool
{
    private readonly IUIMultiLineTextInput _output
        = GUI.MultiLineTextInput("csv-output").ReadOnly();

    public UIToolView View
        => new UIToolView(_output);

    public void OnDataReceived(string dataTypeName, object? parsedData)
    {
        // parsedData is the object returned by DataDetectionResult
        if (parsedData is string csv)
        {
            _output.Text(csv);
        }
    }
}

AllowMultiple = true on AcceptedDataTypeNameAttribute means a single tool can declare multiple accepted types. Add one [AcceptedDataTypeName(...)] attribute per type.

Set DataTypeBaseName on your detector when it refines an existing type. This lets DevToys skip your detector entirely if the parent detector did not match, improving performance.

Core Interfaces

Attributes

UI Components

DataTypeNameAttribute and AcceptedDataTypeNameAttribute