pre-build event to change setup project's ProductVersion doesn't take effect until after the build

Question

I've followed the steps described here to modify the ProductCode and ProductVersion on my setup project on each build, using a prebuild event.
(meaning- I created a console application that uses the above-mentioned code to modify the .vdproj file, and I trigger it from the pre-build event).

The operation is successful, and after the build is done I can see that the 'Version' property of the setup project has changed.

However, the 'ProductVersion' property of the compiled msi does not change.
Only if I build the setup project again, I can see that the 'ProductVersion' has changed.

Is it possible that the prebuild event occurs after the msi is compiled?

Answer 1

I seem to recall having problems with the prebuild action on VDPROJ back around 2005 and we had to create fake C++ projects with build dependencies so we could use the postbuild of the C++ to do things before the VDPROJ build.

For the record, anything is possible (to fail) with VDPROJ. The tool is deprecated in the next release of Visual Studio because of it's shortcomings.

A postbuild SQL update of the Property table in the built MSI might be a better option. Switching to a different tool would certainly be a better option.