VS.net set version for multiple projects in one solution

Question

I am trying to update a lot of different projects in a solution to have a new version number. Is there a simple way to synchronize the version number across all projects fileversion and clickonce options?

Answer

Finally solved the problem by writing a little tool:

    Sub Main()
    Try
        Console.WriteLine("Updating version numbers")

        Dim strPath As String = System.AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory()
        Dim strAppName As String = ""
        Console.WriteLine(strPath)
        If My.Application.CommandLineArgs.Count > 0 Then
            Console.WriteLine(My.Application.CommandLineArgs(0))
            strPath = My.Application.CommandLineArgs(0)
            strAppName = My.Application.CommandLineArgs(1)
        Else
            strPath = "C:\Projects\APP\"
            Console.WriteLine("Error loading settings")
        End If


        Dim strAssemblyInfoFile As String = strPath + "Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs"
        If Not File.Exists(strAssemblyInfoFile) Then
            strAssemblyInfoFile = strPath + "My Project\AssemblyInfo.vb"
        End If
        Console.WriteLine("Loading " + strAssemblyInfoFile)

        Dim strFileContent As String
        strFileContent = ReadFileText(strAssemblyInfoFile)

        Dim AssemblyVersionRegex As New Regex("AssemblyVersion(?:Attribute)?\(\s*?""(?<version>(?<major>[0-9]+)\.(?<minor>[0-9]+)\.(?<build>[0-9]+)\.(?<revision>[0-9]+))""\s*?\)")

        Dim strOldVersion As String = AssemblyVersionRegex.Match(strFileContent).Groups("version").Value
        Dim oldVersion As New Version(strOldVersion)

        Dim newVersion As New Version(oldVersion.Major.ToString + "." + oldVersion.Minor.ToString + "." + oldVersion.MajorRevision.ToString + "." + (oldVersion.MinorRevision + 1).ToString)
        Dim strNewVersion As String = newVersion.ToString()

        Console.WriteLine("Newversion " + strNewVersion)

        'Replace oldversion to newversion
        strFileContent = strFileContent.Replace(strOldVersion, strNewVersion)

        File.WriteAllText(strAssemblyInfoFile, strFileContent)

        Dim strProjectFile As String = strPath + strAppName + ".csproj"
        If Not File.Exists(strProjectFile) Then
            strProjectFile = strPath + strAppName + ".vbproj"
        End If

        Console.WriteLine("Loading " + strProjectFile)

        strFileContent = File.ReadAllText(strProjectFile)

        strFileContent = strFileContent.Replace(strOldVersion, strNewVersion)

        Dim strOld As String = "<ApplicationRevision>" + oldVersion.MinorRevision.ToString() + "</ApplicationRevision>"
        Dim strNew As String = "<ApplicationRevision>" + (oldVersion.MinorRevision + 1).ToString() + "</ApplicationRevision>"

        strFileContent = strFileContent.Replace(strOld, strNew)

        SaveFile(strProjectFile, strFileContent)

        Console.WriteLine("Done")

    Catch ex As Exception
        Console.WriteLine(ex.Message)
    End Try
End Sub

Function ReadFileText(ByVal strFilePath As String) As String
    Return File.ReadAllText(strFilePath)
End Function

Sub SaveFile(ByVal strFilePath As String, ByVal strData As String)
    File.WriteAllText(strFilePath, strData)
End Sub

Answer 1

I typically store the assembly version attributes in a separate AssemblyVersion.cs file and place it at the root folder of my solution.

Then I link the file to each project:

1. Context-menu on Project and choose "Add Existing Item"
2. Select the file from the root folder
3. Click on the Drop-down menu next to the "Add" button" and select "Add as Link"

Unfortunately, I haven't found a clean way in MSBuild to auto-generate the version number before the solution compiles. (I believe MSBuild only has events per project, not per solution -- maybe someone else out there knows update: see here for solution-wide pre-build events through msbuild)

Instead, I use nant to compile the solution and use the asminfo task to generate the AssemblyVersion.cs file.