Can I automatically increment the file build version when using Visual Studio?

Question

I was just wondering how I could automatically increment the build (and version?) of my files using Visual Studio (2005).

If I look up the properties of sa

Answer 1

How to get the version {major}.{year}.1{date}.1{time}

This one is kind of experimental, but I like it. Inspired by Jeff Atwood @ CodingHorror (link).

The resulting version number becomes 1.2016.10709.11641 (meaning 2016-07-09 16:41), which allows for

• poor mans zero padding (with the stupid leading 1s)
• nearly-human readable local DateTime embedded into the version number
• leaving Major version alone for really major breaking changes.

Add a new item to your project, select General -> Text Template, name it something like CustomVersionNumber and (where applicable) comment out the AssemblyVersion and AssemblyFileVersion in Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs.

Then, when saving this file, or building the project, this will regenerate a .cs file located as a sub-item under the created .tt file.

<#@ template language="C#" #>
<#@ assembly name="System.Core" #>
<#@ import namespace="System.Linq" #>

//
// This code was generated by a tool. Any changes made manually will be lost
// the next time this code is regenerated.
//

using System.Reflection;

<#
    var date = DateTime.Now;
    int major = 1;
    int minor = date.Year;
    int build = 10000 + int.Parse(date.ToString("MMdd"));
    int revision = 10000 + int.Parse(date.ToString("HHmm"));
#>

[assembly: AssemblyVersion("<#= $"{major}.{minor}.{build}.{revision}" #>")]
[assembly: AssemblyFileVersion("<#= $"{major}.{minor}.{build}.{revision}" #>")]