Is it possible to use attributes in unmanaged code?-Collection of common programming errors

I have an unmanaged C++ application (unmanaged meaning: not using anything of the the fancy .Net stuff). I want to extend it with some meta information, and it looks like I could use the concept of attributes.

What I actually try to achieve is the following. Starting from something a simple class like this:

class Book
   {
   public:
      ...
   private:
      string m_name;
      string m_author;
      int    m_year;
   };

I want to build functionality that can access the ‘meta information’ of the class and use it to dynamically build logic on it, e.g.

• a dialog containing 3 edit fields (name, author, year)
• a data grid with 3 columns
• serialization logic
• logic that maps this class to a database table with 3 columns
• …

I my wildest dreams I imagine modifying this class like this:

[id="Book"]
class Book
   {
   public:
      ...
   private:
      [id="Name", defaultValue="", maximumLength=100]
      string m_name;

      [id="Author", defaultValue="", maximumLength=100]
      string m_author;

      [id="Year", defaultValue=2000, minimum=1900]
      int    m_year;
   };

And then being able to get this ‘meta’ information to build up dialogs, filling data grids, serializing and deserializing instances, …

But, is the concept of attributes limited to .Net/managed code?

And if I could use attributes in unmanaged code, would it be possible to do something like this? And what is a good place to start? (examples, …)

Also, can the same (or similar) concepts be found in other compilers, on other platforms?

I am using Visual Studio 2010 and, as said before, unmanaged/native C++.