How to change Assembly Version Number using AssemblyInfoTask?

Question

I am trying to automate the process for setting the Version for all DLL's, after spending some time I came to know the AssemblyInfo Task with which it can most likely be achieved.

So I went ahead and installed it, specifically version 1.0.51130.0.

After Installing, I manually added the Import Tag (by unloading the each project) of AssemblyInfoTask in .cspoj files (the solution has more than 35 proj files).

<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\Microsoft\AssemblyInfoTask\Microsoft.VersionNumber.Targets"/>

Next I modified the Microsoft.VersionNUmber.Target file which will be installed in path: C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\AssemblyInfoTask, and I modified the following section:

<!-- Properties for controlling the Assembly Version -->
<PropertyGroup>
    <AssemblyMajorVersion>4</AssemblyMajorVersion>
    <AssemblyMinorVersion>0</AssemblyMinorVersion>
    <AssemblyBuildNumber></AssemblyBuildNumber>
    <AssemblyRevision></AssemblyRevision>
    <AssemblyBuildNumberType>DateString</AssemblyBuildNumberType>
    <AssemblyBuildNumberFormat>01MMdd</AssemblyBuildNumberFormat>
    <AssemblyRevisionType>AutoIncrement</AssemblyRevisionType>
    <AssemblyRevisionFormat>00</AssemblyRevisionFormat>
</PropertyGroup>

<!-- Properties for controlling the Assembly File Version -->  
<PropertyGroup>
    <AssemblyFileMajorVersion>4</AssemblyFileMajorVersion>
    <AssemblyFileMinorVersion>0</AssemblyFileMinorVersion>
    <AssemblyFileBuildNumber></AssemblyFileBuildNumber>
    <AssemblyFileRevision></AssemblyFileRevision>
    <AssemblyFileBuildNumberType>DateString</AssemblyFileBuildNumberType>
    <AssemblyFileBuildNumberFormat>01MMdd</AssemblyFileBuildNumberFormat>
    <AssemblyFileRevisionType>AutoIncrement</AssemblyFileRevisionType>
    <AssemblyFileRevisionFormat>00</AssemblyFileRevisionFormat>
</PropertyGroup>

Next I set the assemblyInfo.cs file's version to 1.0.0.0 in every project. Finally I saved and close it, reopened solution, and built. It works like a champ!

Now what want is to customize the Version to 4.0.1053.1 where 10 is the part of year indicator which is 2010 and 53 denotes the week number, at last 1 denotes revision number.

How to achieve this using the AssemblyInfo Task? I came across several posts that a new version of AssemblyInfo Task is available in Build Extension Pack.

I have installed the MSBuild Extension Pack December 2010 and its version is MSBuild Extension Pack 4.0.2.0 Installer

score 17 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 03 '13 at 14:53

I do this in Jenkins by having a package build that is parameterised using the List Subversion Tags parameter type. The Subversion tag must follow the version number format (major.minor.revision.build), e.g. tags/2.0.0.1. The tag name is then assigned to a Jenkins parameter, e.g. $VERSION becomes 2.0.0.1

I use the WriteLinesToFile msbuild task to write out the assembly attribute to a second file alongside the PropertyInfo.cs called VersionInfo.cs. As checked in to source control, this just contains a default version number:

// Do not change this. The version is set on package builds only by setting the AsmVersion MSBuild property
[assembly: System.Reflection.AssemblyVersion("0.0.0.0")]

The package build on the build server passes in the version via the AsmVersion parameter:

/p:AsmVersion=$VERSION

The .csproj file is modified to have a BeforeBuild target (Visual Studio creates a commented out one for you):

<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
    <WriteLinesToFile 
        Condition=" '$(AsmVersion)' != '' " File="Properties\VersionInfo.cs" 
        Overwrite="True"
        Lines="[assembly: System.Reflection.AssemblyVersion(&quot;$(AsmVersion)&quot;)] // Generated by build" />   
</Target>

When building in Visual Studio, or without passing in the AsmVersion, your assembly will have a default version of 0.0.0.0. When building in the package build, you will get your desired build number.

I like this way, a bit fiddly but does not require Community Tasks, I don't get why Versioning of an assembly is so non-obvious — ManyRootsofAllEvil, May 20 '14 at 18:54
I never got the Target BeforeBuild to fire... at least no evidence of it because VersionInfo.cs never came into existence. I found this blog article that has a simpler application of VersionInfo.cs. That worked for me. http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/328977/The-Right-Way-to-Version-Your-Assemblies — user922020, Mar 26 '15 at 22:01
Don't use `BeforeBuild` as a name of the task, because it can be overridden by MSBuild built-in task with the same name. To avoid that you can define the task as: ``. You can look at [my answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/64228153/7585517) — PolarBear, Oct 06 '20 at 14:46

score 16 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 15 '12 at 16:51

16

First.. use a globalassemblyinfo.cs that is linked from each project. Add its as linked file to each project. This means you update one file, not 30+ assemblyinfo files...then:

use MSBuild.Community.Tasks....

Then call

<AssemblyInfo CodeLanguage="CS"
         OutputFile="$(VersionFile)"
         AssemblyCompany="Company"
         AssemblyProduct="Product"
         AssemblyCopyright="Copyright © Company 2011"
         ComVisible="false"
         AssemblyVersion="$(BUILD_NUMBER)"
         AssemblyFileVersion="$(BUILD_NUMBER)" />

Assuming you have something like:

<Import Project=".\tasks\MSBuild.Community.Tasks.Targets"/>

edited Oct 15 '12 at 16:51

CoderDennis

13,642
9
69
105

answered Feb 11 '11 at 14:49

James Woolfenden

6,498
33
53

Could you provide a link to where one could find `MSBuild.Community.Tasks`? – CoderDennis Oct 15 '12 at 15:13
Is there some documentation? – Guillaume86 Apr 18 '13 at 14:44
Used to to have a .chm with it. – James Woolfenden Apr 18 '13 at 15:19

PolarBear · Answer 3 · 2020-10-06T14:53:06.613

As @bruceboughton proposed, you can easily generate a version assembly file during compilation without using MSBuild.Community.Tasks library:

<PropertyGroup>
    <Version>0.0.0</Version>
    <InformationalVersion>0.0.0-dev~commithash</InformationalVersion>
    <VersionFileName>$(BaseIntermediateOutputPath)Version.cs</VersionFileName>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="GenerateVersionFile" BeforeTargets="BeforeBuild">
    <WriteLinesToFile
        File="$(VersionFileName)"
        Overwrite="True"
        Lines="
            [assembly: System.Reflection.AssemblyVersion(&quot;$(Version)&quot;)]
            [assembly: System.Reflection.AssemblyFileVersion(&quot;$(Version)&quot;)]
            [assembly: System.Reflection.AssemblyInformationalVersion(&quot;$(InformationalVersion)&quot;)]" />
    <ItemGroup>
        <Compile Include="$(VersionFileName)" />
    </ItemGroup>
</Target>

Remove definitions of the parameters you specify in the generated file from Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs file.

After that you can specify version by adding a parameter to the msbuild:

msbuild /property:Version=1.2.3 /property:InformationalVersion=1.2.3-dev~commithash .\SolutionFile.sln

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 20 '17 at 21:39

3

Update for .NET Core style .csproj files: If you've come upon this question after having transitioned to the new .csproj format used by .NET Core, you can just set the Version property (no need to to bother with MSBuild tasks).

answered Dec 20 '17 at 21:39

Edward Brey

40,302
20
199
253

score 2 · Answer 5 · edited Sep 05 '17 at 12:57

How I finally got this to work MSBuild version 12 (VS 2013).

Used Nuget to get MSBuildTasks Community package
Edited my .csproj file and added a path to the import the package:

<Import Project="..\packages\MSBuildTasks.1.5.0.235\build\MSBuildTasks.targets" Condition="Exists('..\packages\MSBuildTasks.1.5.0.235\build\MSBuildTasks.target')"/>

Figured out the Regex to change just the Revision number in the AssemblyInfo.cs file:

(?<=AssemblyFileVersion\("[0-9]\.[0-9]\.[0-9]\.)(\*)

which is not XML compatible, so has to be changed to:

(?&#60;=AssemblyFileVersion\(&#34;&#91;0-9]\.&#91;0-9]\.&#91;0-9]\.)(\*)

Uncommented the <Target Name="BeforeBuild"> section and added the following:

<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
    <FileUpdate Files="properties\AssemblyInfo.cs"
                Regex="(?&#60;=AssemblyFileVersion\(&#34;&#91;0-9]\.&#91;0-9]\.&#91;0-9]\.)(\*)"
                ReplacementText="$(Revision)" />
</Target>

When running MSBuild added the "Revision" property to the command line e.g.

msbuild.exe myProject.csproj /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release;Revision=12345

How to change Assembly Version Number using AssemblyInfoTask?

5 Answers5

Linked