Programmatically change the AssemblyVersion and AssemblyFileVersion attributes

Question

During a setup creation process, I am planning to do the following (within a C# Script):

1. Read the AssemblyVersion and AssemblyFileVersion

Answer 1

In my case, I created a T4 template for changing the AssemblyVersion and AssemblyFileVersion. I called the template Assembly.tt, and made it a linked file (when you add it choose Add Link, instead of Add). All my assemblies pull in the linked Assembly.tt file.

You can then run the T4 template from one location and it will update all the AssemblyVersion and AssemblyFileVersions. You don't have to call the file AssemblyInfo.cs for the information to be pulled into your dlls.

The code for the Assembly.tt file is:

<#@ template language="C#" hostspecific="true" #>
// 
// This code was generated by a tool. Any changes made manually will be lost
// the next time this code is regenerated.
// 

using System.Reflection;

[assembly: AssemblyVersion("4.<#= this.RevisionYear #>.<#= this.RevisionNumber #>.<#= this.RevisionTime #>")]
[assembly: AssemblyFileVersion("4.<#= this.RevisionYear #>.<#= this.RevisionNumber #>.<#= this.RevisionTime #>")]
<#+
    int RevisionYear = DateTime.UtcNow.Year;
    int RevisionNumber = (int)(DateTime.UtcNow - new DateTime(DateTime.UtcNow.Year,1,1)).TotalDays;
    int RevisionTime = (int)(DateTime.UtcNow - new DateTime(DateTime.UtcNow.Year, DateTime.UtcNow.Month, DateTime.UtcNow.Day)).TotalMinutes;
#>

The output of the T4 template above will be:

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

using System.Reflection;

[assembly: AssemblyVersion("4.2016.284.1066")]
[assembly: AssemblyFileVersion("4.2016.284.1066")]