Create custom display attribute using or inherits DisplayAttribute in ASP.NET MVC

In order to set a specific display name for your property, you need to set the metadata property DisplayName. If you need to write custom attributes, you need to make sure that you create a custom metadata provider. Inside you need to set the DisplayName of your property, based on the values provided.

public class CustomModelMetadataProvider : DataAnnotationsModelMetadataProvider
{
    protected override ModelMetadata CreateMetadata(IEnumerable<Attribute> attributes,
          Type containerType, Func<object> modelAccessor, 
          Type modelType, string propertyName)
    { 
         var modelMetadata = base.CreateMetadata(attributes, containerType, 
                 modelAccessor, modelType, propertyName);

         if (attributes.OfType<MyDisplay>().ToList().Count > 0)
         {
              modelMetadata.DisplayName = GetValueFromLocalizationAttribute(attributes.OfType<MyDisplay>().ToList()[0]);
         }

         return modelMetadata;
    }

    private string GetValueFromLocalizationAttribute(MyDisplay attribute)
    {
          return computedValueBasedOnCodeAndLanguage;
    }
}

You are doing it wrong. The DisplayAttribute already supports 'translations' using the built-in .net internationalization

 [Display(Name = "property_name", ResourceType = typeof(MyResources))]

Only if that's not enough you should create your own attribute, but not deriving from Display.

Edit:

The DisplayAttribute is a sealed class, so there is no way to inherit from it.