How To Update Assembly Version Number Automatically

I have been seriously remiss in rating your excellent article and the accompanying tool, which has, at long last, become the sole tool that I employ for maintaining AssemblyInfo.cs files in my many C# projects.

Not only have I completely replaced the homegrown program that I used until I discovered yours, but I have significantly improved it to support updating the AssemblyCopyright attribute and to refrain from updating AssemblyInfo.cs when the associated project is unchanged since the last update. The objectives of the latter change are twofold.

1. Reduce build churn that causes assemblies that have many dependents from being unnecessarily rebuilt, causing all of those dependencies to be marked as outdated and rebuilt.

2. Prevent unwarranted and easily avoidable merge conflicts that may arise when two or more people attempt to check code into the same Git repository.

It is past time that I give this code back to the community. To that end, the update is published on GitHub at GitHub - txwizard/AssemblyInfoUtil: This repository incorporates a vastly improved implementation of AssemblyInfoUtil.exe, originally published in 2009 by Sergiy Korzh.[^], with much gratitude to you, @Sergiy Korzh.

Works as advertised. I created a cakebuild extension based on this: https://github.com/mishrsud/CakeBuildExtensions

Hi,
Thanks a lot for your programming experience and the automatic versioning, but i also need to modify the install shield LE setup.

I the other hand, i need to update the version number, but always in automatic, despite the index.

In main() function i added:

C#

if (Path.GetExtension(fileName).ToLower() == ".isl")
    isInstallShield = true;

In the ProcessLine() fucntion i added:

XML

else if (isInstallShield)
{
    line = ProcessInstallShieldLinePart(line, "<row><td>ProductVersion</td><td>");
    line = ProcessInstallShieldLinePart(line, "}</td><td></td><td>");
    line = ProcessInstallShieldLineProductCode(line, "ProductCode</td><td>{");
}

At your ProcessLinePart() function i added some code of the following function to avoid using -inc or the update index.

C#

private static string ProcessInstallShieldLinePart(string line, string part)
{
    int spos = line.IndexOf(part);

    if (spos >= 0)
    {
        spos += part.Length;
        int epos = line.IndexOf('<', spos);
        string oldVersion = line.Substring(spos, epos - spos);
        string newVersion = "";
        bool performChange = false;

        if (incParamNum > 0)
        {
            string[] nums = oldVersion.Split('.');
            if (nums.Length >= incParamNum && nums[incParamNum - 1] != "*")
            {
                Int64 val = Int64.Parse(nums[incParamNum - 1]);
                val++;
                nums[incParamNum - 1] = val.ToString();
                newVersion = nums[0];
                for (int i = 1; i < nums.Length; i++)
                {
                    newVersion += "." + nums[i];
                }
                performChange = true;
            }

        }
        else if (versionStr != null)
        {
            newVersion = versionStr;
            performChange = true;
        }
        else
        {
            //If the command line parameters do not specify the index, lets begin to update all the version number, starting with the revision(0.0.0.x) until the mayor version(x.0.0.0)
            //  the max number is 65534 for each.
            // When the revision reach the 65534, then start again in 0, and the Build Number add one and so on.

            //      Major Version
            //      Minor Version
            //      Build Number
            //      Revision

            string[] nums = oldVersion.Split('.');
            bool bolUpdateNext = true; //Always true at the begining to change the revision first.

            if (nums.Length >= 3 && nums[2] != "*") //Avoid changing the example of Visual Studio.
            {
                Int64 val = -1;

                for (int i = nums.Length; i > 0; i--)
                {
                    Int64.TryParse(nums[i - 1], out val);

                    if (bolUpdateNext)
                    {
                        val++;
                        bolUpdateNext = false;
                    }

                    if (val >= 65534)
                    {
                        val = 0;
                        bolUpdateNext = true;
                    }

                    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(newVersion))
                    {
                        newVersion = val.ToString();
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        newVersion = val + "." + newVersion;
                    }


                }

                performChange = true;
            }

        }

        if (performChange)
        {
            StringBuilder str = new StringBuilder(line);
            str.Remove(spos, epos - spos);
            str.Insert(spos, newVersion);
            line = str.ToString();
        }
    }
    return line;
}

And now the InstallShield LE producto code to allow the installation to update the previous instalations.

C#

private static string ProcessInstallShieldLinePart(string line, string part)
{
    int spos = line.IndexOf(part);

    if (spos >= 0)
    {
        spos += part.Length;
        int epos = line.IndexOf('<', spos);
        string oldVersion = line.Substring(spos, epos - spos);
        string newVersion = "";
        bool performChange = false;

        if (incParamNum > 0)
        {
            string[] nums = oldVersion.Split('.');
            if (nums.Length >= incParamNum && nums[incParamNum - 1] != "*")
            {
                Int64 val = Int64.Parse(nums[incParamNum - 1]);
                val++;
                nums[incParamNum - 1] = val.ToString();
                newVersion = nums[0];
                for (int i = 1; i < nums.Length; i++)
                {
                    newVersion += "." + nums[i];
                }
                performChange = true;
            }

        }
        else if (versionStr != null)
        {
            newVersion = versionStr;
            performChange = true;
        }
        else
        {
            //If the command line parameters do not specify the index, lets begin to update all the version number, starting with the revision(0.0.0.x) until the mayor version(x.0.0.0)
            //  the max number is 65534 for each.
            // When the revision reach the 65534, then start again in 0, and the Build Number add one and so on.

            //      Major Version
            //      Minor Version
            //      Build Number
            //      Revision

            string[] nums = oldVersion.Split('.');
            bool bolUpdateNext = true; //Always true at the begining to change the revision first.

            if (nums.Length >= 3 && nums[2] != "*") //Avoid changing the example of Visual Studio.
            {
                Int64 val = -1;

                for (int i = nums.Length; i > 0; i--)
                {
                    Int64.TryParse(nums[i - 1], out val);

                    if (bolUpdateNext)
                    {
                        val++;
                        bolUpdateNext = false;
                    }

                    if (val >= 65534)
                    {
                        val = 0;
                        bolUpdateNext = true;
                    }

                    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(newVersion))
                    {
                        newVersion = val.ToString();
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        newVersion = val + "." + newVersion;
                    }


                }

                performChange = true;
            }

        }

        if (performChange)
        {
            StringBuilder str = new StringBuilder(line);
            str.Remove(spos, epos - spos);
            str.Insert(spos, newVersion);
            line = str.ToString();
        }
    }
    return line;
}

When you need to update all the stuff, lets use the Pre/Post-Build events.

For AssemblyInfo.cs

SQL

Adding this lines to the BuildEvents/Pre-build event command line, the system will automatically change the revision numbers only in Release build.
if $(ConfigurationName) == Release (
"D:\Desarrollo\Personales\!ProyectosGlobales\AssemblyInfoUtilSource\bin\Release\AssemblyInfoUtil.exe" "D:\Desarrollo\Personales\FILE_MAINTENANCE\WIA_FILE_MAINTENANCE\Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs"
)

For InstallShield<setup>.isl

SQL

Adding this lines to the BuildEvents/Post-build event command line, the system will automatically change the revision numbers only in Release build for the InstallShield LE.
if $(ConfigurationName) == Release (
"D:\Desarrollo\Personales\!ProyectosGlobales\AssemblyInfoUtilSource\bin\Release\AssemblyInfoUtil.exe" "D:\Desarrollo\Personales\FILE_MAINTENANCE\InstallShieldFileMaintenance\InstallShieldFileMaintenance.isl"
)

This implementation helped me a lot... I did some modification in this,rather setting version number I implemented as it will read from file. Thank you!!

If you want to limit your version number to a range and increase the higher value you can simply add this to your Main.cs:

C#

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Text;
using System.Linq;

namespace AssemblyInfoUtil
{
	/// <summary>
    /// Summary description for AssemblyInfoUtil.
	/// </summary>
    class AssemblyInfoUtil
    {
        private static int incParamNum = 0;
        private static int incMaxVal = 0;
        private static string fileName = "";
        private static string versionStr = null;
        private static bool isVB = false;


        /// <summary>
        /// The main entry point for the application.
        /// </summary>
        [STAThread]
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < args.Length; i++)
            {
                if (args[i].StartsWith("-inc:"))
                {
                    string s = args[i].Substring("-inc:".Length);
                    incParamNum = int.Parse(s);
                }
                else if (args[i].StartsWith("-set:"))
                {
                    versionStr = args[i].Substring("-set:".Length);
                }
                else if (args[i].StartsWith("-max:") && args.Any(str => str.IndexOf("-inc:", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) > -1))
                {
                    string s = args[i].Substring("-max:".Length);
                    incMaxVal = int.Parse(s);
                }
                else
                    fileName = args[i];
            }

            if (Path.GetExtension(fileName).ToLower() == ".vb")
                isVB = true;

            if (fileName == "")
            {
                System.Console.WriteLine("Usage: AssemblyInfoUtil <path to AssemblyInfo.cs or AssemblyInfo.vb file> [options]");
                System.Console.WriteLine("Options: ");
                System.Console.WriteLine("  -set:<new version number> - set new version number (in NN.NN.NN.NN format)");
                System.Console.WriteLine("  -inc:<parameter index>  - increases the parameter with specified index (can be from 1 to 4)");
                return;
            }

            if (!File.Exists(fileName))
            {
                System.Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Error: Can not find file \"{0}\"", fileName));
                return;
            }

            System.Console.Write(String.Format("Processing \"{0}\"...", fileName));
            using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(fileName))
            {
                using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(fileName + ".out"))
                {
                    String line;

                    while ((line = reader.ReadLine()) != null)
                    {
                        line = ProcessLine(line);
                        writer.WriteLine(line);
                    }
                }
            }

            File.Delete(fileName);
            File.Move(fileName + ".out", fileName);
            System.Console.WriteLine("Done!");
        }


        private static string ProcessLine(string line)
        {
            if (isVB)
            {
                line = ProcessLinePart(line, "<Assembly: AssemblyVersion(\"");
                line = ProcessLinePart(line, "<Assembly: AssemblyFileVersion(\"");
            }
            else
            {
                line = ProcessLinePart(line, "[assembly: AssemblyVersion(\"");
                line = ProcessLinePart(line, "[assembly: AssemblyFileVersion(\"");
            }
            return line;
        }

        private static string ProcessLinePart(string line, string part)
        {
            int spos = line.IndexOf(part);
            if (spos >= 0)
            {
                spos += part.Length;
                int epos = line.IndexOf('"', spos);
                string oldVersion = line.Substring(spos, epos - spos);
                string newVersion = "";
                bool performChange = false;

                if (incMaxVal > 0 && incParamNum != 1)
                {
                    int[] _oldVersion = oldVersion.Split('.').Select(i => Int32.Parse(i)).ToArray();
                    if (_oldVersion[incParamNum - 1] >= incMaxVal)
                    {
                        _oldVersion[incParamNum - 1] = 0;
                        incParamNum--;
                        oldVersion = String.Join(".", _oldVersion.Select(i => i.ToString()).ToArray());
                    }
                }

                if (incParamNum > 0)
                {
                    string[] nums = oldVersion.Split('.');
                    if (nums.Length >= incParamNum && nums[incParamNum - 1] != "*")
                    {
                        Int64 val = Int64.Parse(nums[incParamNum - 1]);
                        val++;
                        nums[incParamNum - 1] = val.ToString();
                        newVersion = nums[0];
                        for (int i = 1; i < nums.Length; i++)
                        {
                            newVersion += "." + nums[i];
                        }
                        performChange = true;
                    }

                }
                else if (versionStr != null)
                {
                    newVersion = versionStr;
                    performChange = true;
                }

                if (performChange)
                {
                    StringBuilder str = new StringBuilder(line);
                    str.Remove(spos, epos - spos);
                    str.Insert(spos, newVersion);
                    line = str.ToString();
                }
            }
            return line;
        }
    }
}

With this you can use the "-max:X" parameter to define the maximum of the version number targeted at "-inc:X".

Ex:

[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.2.0.0")]

"AssemblyInfoUtil.exe -inc:4 AssemblyInfo.cs" and
"AssemblyInfoUtil.exe -inc:4 -max:10 AssemblyInfo.cs" will return:
[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.2.0.1")]

where

[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.2.0.10")]

"AssemblyInfoUtil.exe -inc:4 -max:10 AssemblyInfo.cs" will return:
[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.2.1.0")]

C#

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Text;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

namespace AssemblyInfoUtil
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Summary description for AssemblyInfoUtil.
    /// </summary>
    class AssemblyInfoUtil
    {
        private static int incParamNumIN = 0;
        private static int incMaxVal = 0;
        private static string fileName = "";
        private static string versionStr = null;
        private static bool isVB = false;


        /// <summary>
        /// The main entry point for the application.
        /// </summary>
        [STAThread]
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < args.Length; i++)
            {
                if (args[i].StartsWith("-inc:"))
                {
                    string s = args[i].Substring("-inc:".Length);
                    incParamNumIN = int.Parse(s);
                }
                else if (args[i].StartsWith("-set:"))
                {
                    versionStr = args[i].Substring("-set:".Length);
                }
                else if (args[i].StartsWith("-max:") && args.Any(str => str.IndexOf("-inc:", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) > -1))
                {
                    string s = args[i].Substring("-max:".Length);
                    incMaxVal = int.Parse(s);
                }
                else
                    fileName = args[i];
            }

            if (Path.GetExtension(fileName).ToLower() == ".vb")
                isVB = true;

            if (fileName == "")
            {
                System.Console.WriteLine("Usage: AssemblyInfoUtil <path to AssemblyInfo.cs or AssemblyInfo.vb file> [options]");
                System.Console.WriteLine("Options: ");
                System.Console.WriteLine("  -set:<new version number> - set new version number (in NN.NN.NN.NN format)");
                System.Console.WriteLine("  -inc:<parameter index>  - increases the parameter with specified index (can be from 1 to 4)");
                return;
            }

            if (!File.Exists(fileName))
            {
                System.Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Error: Can not find file \"{0}\"", fileName));
                return;
            }

            System.Console.Write(String.Format("Processing \"{0}\"...", fileName));
            using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(fileName))
            {
                using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(fileName + ".out"))
                {
                    String line;

                    while ((line = reader.ReadLine()) != null)
                    {
                        line = ProcessLine(line);
                        writer.WriteLine(line);
                    }
                }
            }

            File.Delete(fileName);
            File.Move(fileName + ".out", fileName);
            System.Console.WriteLine("Done!");
        }


        private static string ProcessLine(string line)
        {
            if (isVB)
            {
                line = ProcessLinePart(line, "<Assembly: AssemblyVersion(\"");
                line = ProcessLinePart(line, "<Assembly: AssemblyFileVersion(\"");
            }
            else
            {
                line = ProcessLinePart(line, "[assembly: AssemblyVersion(\"");
                line = ProcessLinePart(line, "[assembly: AssemblyFileVersion(\"");
            }
            return line;
        }

        private static string ProcessLinePart(string line, string part)
        {
           
            int incParamNum = incParamNumIN;
            int spos = line.IndexOf(part);
            if (spos >= 0)
            {
                spos += part.Length;
                int epos = line.IndexOf('"', spos);
                string oldVersion = line.Substring(spos, epos - spos);
                string newVersion = "";
                bool performChange = false;

                if (incMaxVal > 0 && incParamNum != 1)
                {
                    int[] _oldVersion = oldVersion.Split('.').Select(i => Int32.Parse(i)).ToArray();
                    if (_oldVersion[incParamNum - 1] >= incMaxVal)
                    {
                        _oldVersion[incParamNum - 1] = 0;
                        incParamNum--;
                        oldVersion = String.Join(".", _oldVersion.Select(i => i.ToString()).ToArray());
                    }
                }

                if (incParamNum > 0)
                {
                    string[] nums = oldVersion.Split('.');
                    if (nums.Length >= incParamNum && nums[incParamNum - 1] != "*")
                    {
                        Int64 val = Int64.Parse(nums[incParamNum - 1]);
                        val++;
                        nums[incParamNum - 1] = val.ToString();
                        newVersion = nums[0];
                        for (int i = 1; i < nums.Length; i++)
                        {
                            newVersion += "." + nums[i];
                        }
                        performChange = true;
                    }

                }
                else if (versionStr != null)
                {
                    newVersion = versionStr;
                    performChange = true;
                }

                if (performChange)
                {
                    StringBuilder str = new StringBuilder(line);
                    str.Remove(spos, epos - spos);
                    str.Insert(spos, newVersion);
                    line = str.ToString();
                }
            }
            return line;
        }
    }
}

Just a quick bug fix decrementing incParamNum at line 120 caused the AssemblyFileVersion target to decrement and miss the max check.

Thank you.

EasyQuery - user friendly ad-hoc query builder for your application or web-site.

The simplest method to update the build number I have found so far! Thank you very much, this is an excellent solution.

Thanks, works great.

Works just fine

it works as described and is easy to implement.

Select your project and go to Menu -> Project -> Properties -> Build Events.

At pre-build event command line type something like this:

A -inc:4 "B"

where A is path to AssemblyInfoUtil.exe and B is path to the AssemblyInfo.cs of your main project.

I have included source to my solution and use my own builds so it comes out like this:

$(SolutionDir)\AssemblyInfoUtil\bin\Release\AssemblyInfoUtil.exe -inc:4 "$(SolutionDir)\YourProjectName\Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs"

Note: If you use Pre-build event, version number will be incremented BEFORE each build. If you use Post-build event, the updated version will only be used on the next build (before being incremented again), but you can set it to increment ONLY on successfull builds and thus avoid unnecessary version increments.

EDIT: Noticing this is from 2008 I confirm this still works in 2012 with VS2010.

modified 22-Jun-12 7:46am.

thanks for sharing this setting!

diligent hands rule....

Thank you for sharing, I think this is very good and also validates my approach which is similar to yours. I was looking for a way to do this in power shell, so if you find something please post it.

"There are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't"
More articles on my blog

This must be a common problem and I think it's incredible that Visual Studio has no support for this out of the box. I have for many years used another tool published here on The Code Project, Versioning Controlled Build[^], to solve this problem.

Thanks a lot for your tool. This has saved quite a lot of time for me!!

Works like a gem! Thumbs Up | :thumbsup:

Thx, worked very well for me
Cheers

simple to read, understand, and most importantly it does what it stated easily. Thanks, I was just going to write such a utilty and I can gain from your work...

works well and simple

Try using Regex to parse the lines, might be a bit easier to read.

Something like this...

string versionRegexString = @"(((?<Major>\d+)\.(?<Minor>\d+)\.(?<Build>(\d+|\*))\.(?<Revision>(\d+|\*)))|((?<Major>\d+)\.(?<Minor>\d+)\.(?<Build>\*)))";

string assemblyAttributeRegexString = "((<Assembly: Assembly(File|Informational)?Version\\(\"" + versionRegexString + "\"\\)>)|(\\[assembly: Assembly(File|Informational)?Version\\(\"" + versionRegexString + "\"\\)\\]))";
			
Regex versionInfo = new Regex(assemblyAttributeRegexString);
Match m = versionInfo.Match("[assembly: AssemblyVersion(\"1.1.*\")]");
String major = m.Groups["Major"].Value;
String minor = m.Groups["Minor"].Value;
String build = m.Groups["Build"].Value;
String revision = m.Groups["Revision"].Value;

Hi Sergiy,

The solution I use to synchronize version numbers across dozens of assemblies is this:

* store your version number in a separate file, e.g. "VersionInfo.cs"
* keep your master "VersionInfo.cs" in your "core" assembly
* add the "VersionInfo.cs" as *a link* to all other assemblies (Visual Studio: Add Existing Item > pick VersionInfo.cs, and click on the dropdown arrow on the "Add" button and use "Add as link"

That way your VersionInfo.cs will be linked into all other assemblies, and just updating that one master VersionInfo.cs updates the version number across all assemblies! Laugh | :laugh:

Cheers, Marc

=============================
Marc Scheuner, Berne, Switzerland
mscheuner - at - gmail.com
May The Source Be With You!

I've been using the same method for several years now and it works great!

Very simple tool that does its job well, however it only seems to work on .cs files and not .vb (which use different delimiters for attributes) will you provide a fix for this at any point? I can do it myself but others may want the functionality in the future

Hi,

We just have updated the utility (and the corresponding article). Now it allows to process AssemblyInfo.vb files.
Additionally new version have more flexible "-inc" operation: now it allows to increase any part of the version number, not only the last one as in previous version of utility.

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How To Update Assembly Version Number Automatically

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