---
title: "The [Conditional] Attribute"
url: "https://osherove.com/blog/2003/9/1/the-conditional-attribute.md"
canonical: "https://osherove.com/blog/2003/9/1/the-conditional-attribute.html"
published: "2003-09-01T03:35:00"
updated: "2003-09-01T03:35:00"
tags: [".Net Original"]
author: "Roy Osherove"
description: "If you want to write methods that are only available with conditional compiler arguments you can use an attribute just for that purpose: < Conditional(\"DEBUG\")> _ Private Sub MyMethod() End Sub [Conditional(\"DEBUG\")]…"
usage: "Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page)."
license: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
---

# The \[Conditional\] Attribute

By Roy Osherove September 1, 2003 In [.Net Original](https://osherove.com/blog/category/net-original)

**Historical article** · Originally published September 1, 2003; technical details may be outdated.

If you want to write methods that are only available with conditional compiler arguments you can use an attribute just for that purpose:

<

Conditional("DEBUG")> \_ Private Sub MyMethod() End Sub \[Conditional("DEBUG")\] Private void MyMethod()

{}

## More in .Net Original

[All posts in .Net Original](https://osherove.com/blog/category/net-original)

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- Sep 1, 2003

    ### [Hosting the CLR - the native approach](https://osherove.com/blog/2003/9/1/hosting-the-clr-the-native-approach.html)

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- Aug 25, 2003

    ### [Loading Winform UI controls from a different AppDomain is problematic](https://osherove.com/blog/2003/8/25/loading-winform-ui-controls-from-a-different-appdomain-is-pr.html)


---

## About the author

**Roy Osherove**: Senior Solutions Architect at AWS working on AI for production and AI-driven development; author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership, with about 20 years of consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery.

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### License

Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page). License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/