MetaPropertyType Object

This topic applies to Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional only.

A MetaPropertyType object defines a property. A MetaPropertyType object contains a unique identifier, a name for the property, and a minimum and maximum value for the property.

A MetaPropertyType object can be used to create a new MetaProperty object that contains the MetaPropertyType object plus a value and a language identifier.

Individual MetaPropertyType objects are usually associated with one or more MetaProperty objects. The MetaProperty object assigns the value for the name attribute contained in the type.

Every MetaPropertyType object must be uniquely identified. However, MetaPropertyType objects tend to align themselves into separate groups, or collections, of related types. These groups or collections are the MetaPropertyTypes objects. Using a GUID for each MetaPropertyType object would obscure these groupings. Instead, the GUIDs are assigned to MetaPropertySet objects, each of which contains a collection of MetaPropertyTypes objects. The MetaPropertySet is the one identified by a GUID.

To locate an individual MetaPropertyType object, first enumerate the MetaPropertySets object using an index to find the GUID of the desired MetaPropertySet object. Use the GUID to retrieve the corresponding MetaPropertyTypes object. Then access the MetaPropertyTypes object to retrieve the desired MetaPropertyType object.

Use the MetaPropertyTypes.AddNew property to create new MetaPropertyType objects. The new object becomes part of that collection.

Applications can add, but never remove, MetaPropertyType objects. A MetaPropertyType object is regarded as a contract that will last forever. If an error is made in a MetaPropertyType object, the solution is to create a new MetaPropertyType object and be certain that a MetaProperty object never references the erroneous MetaPropertyType object.

The MetaPropertyType object exposes the following properties.