Attributes provide additional information about programming elements. They can be associated with classes, fields or methods. For example, you can define a custom security attribute that specifies that a given type will be encrypted or digitally signed. You may also define an attribute that specifies that a given class' field corresponds to a particular database column.

In WSO2 SOA Enablement Server, attributes can be defined persistently in a deployment descriptor or at runtime. You can define attributes per service endpoint, service instance or service client. They can be associated with class, field, method or parameter of method.

For more information, please see Custom Attributes and Deployment Descriptor Reference.