Difference between <Flags> and <FlagsAttribute()>

Question

On the MSDN Enum Class page, there are a couple examples of using Enums with the Flags Attribute. One is written:

<Flags> Public Enum Pets As Integer

and another is written:

<FlagsAttribute()> Enum Colors

The text treats these examples as equivalent. Is there a difference between these forms? Are the parentheses required?

Answer 1

They are completely equivalent. The conventions are as follows

1. You don't need the Attribute suffix (ergo the Flags vs FlagsAttribute)
2. You don't need the parenthesis as it's implied if you aren't passing arguments to the attribute.

Full rules can be found in the documentation. Guidelines for attribute usage.