VersionChanger

Small console application to change the version of a C# application

Content

What is the purpose?
Configuration
Usage / Installation (Pre-Build Event)
- Conditions
.NET Core version

What is the purpose?

If you want to update the assembly version of a C# program you can do it manually by setting the values in the AssemblyInfo.cs. But when you have to do it manually the danger is great that you forget it. It's happened to me a lot. I've build my application and shipped it to the customers and then I noticed that I forgot to update the version number. So I had to go back to Visual Studio, update the version number and so on. Because of that I've created this small console application which will update the version number automatically. I've installed the VersionChanger as a pre-build event to my project and now I don't have to worry about the version number anymore.

Configuration

The program offers you the possibility to specify some settings to customize the version number a little bit.

The following settings can currently be made

The type of the version number (default: Days of the year, see Version type)
The format of the version number (default: four places, see Version format)
The version which should used
The path of the assembly file

There are two ways how to set the settings:

Command line parameters
Configuration file

Note: You can combine the config. If a value is not specified in the command line arguments, it is taken from the config file.

Important: The command line arguments overwrite the config values! For example, when you specified the format with the value 2 in the config file but add the command line argument for the format with the value 1, the value from the command line (in this case 1) will be taken.

Command line parameters

The tool can start with command line parameters. The following parameters are supported:

v1.3.0.0 and newer

Nr.	Switch	Description	Example
1.	-p --path	Path of the desired assembly files	`-p "C:\Repos\Application\Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs" "C:\Repos\TestApp\Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs"`
2.	-v	Version number	`-v 1.2.4.12`
3.	-f --format	Version format (see: Version format)	`-f 2`
4.	-t --type	Version type (see: Version type)	`-t 1`

v1.2.1.0 and older

Nr.	Switch	Description	Example
1.	-major	Major number	`-major 1`
2.	-minor	Minor number	`-minor 2`
3.	-build	Build number	`-build 4`
4.	-revision	Revision number	`-revision 12`
5.	-file	Assembly file path	`-file "C:\Repos\Application\Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs`
6.	-version	Version number	`-version 1.2.4.12`
7.	-format	Version format (see: Version format)	`-format 2`
8.	-type	Version type (see: Version type)	`-type 1`

Note All parameters are optional and case intensitive.

Example

Assembly file and complete version

VersionChanger.exe -p "C:\Repos\Application\Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs" -v 1.2.4.12

Multiple files with format and type

VersionChanger.exe -p "C:\Repos\App\AssemblyInfo.cs" "C:\Repos\TestApp\AssemblyInfo.cs" -f 2 -t 1

Configuration file

The settings can also be made in a configuration file. The file has the following format:

{
    "Version": {
        "Major": 1,
        "Minor": 2,
        "Build": 3,
        "Revision": 4
    },
    "AssemblyInfoFile": [
        "D:\\Repositories\\MyApplication\\Properties\\AssemblyInfo.cs"
    ],
    "Format": 2,
    "VersionType": 1
}

Note: The name of the configuration file must be VersionChangerConfig.json and must be in the same folder as the application.

Version type

The following types are supported:

Id	Description	Example
1	Days of the year (default)	261
2	Calendar week	38

Version format

The following formats are supported:

Id	Description	Example
1	Long format with four places (default)	`1.2.3.4`
2	Middle format with three places.	`1.2.3`
3	Short format with only two places.	`1.2`

Note: If you provide the version number with the switch version it will be parsed automatically by the Version.Parse-Method (for more information click here).

Version creation

If you don't specifie the version by yourself a new version number will be automatically generated. The format of the generated version is:

Major: The last two numbers of the year (2019 > 19)
Minor (see Version type)
Build
Revision: Minutes since midnight (e.G. 1146 > ~7pm) (only set when format 1 is selected. See Version format)

The Build number is calculated automatically. When the major and minor numbers are equal with the generated version the build number is increased by 1. When the numbers not equal the build number starts at 0.

Example (numbers equal)

Current version: 19.261.0.1146
Generated version: 19.261.0.1147

The major and the minor numbers are equal. New version: 19.261.1.1147

Example (numbers not equal)

Current version: 19.260.4.1146
Generated version: 19.261.0.1147

The major and the minor numbers are not equal. New version: 19.261.0.1147

Usage / Installation (Pre-Build Event)

If you want to install the VersionChanger as a pre-build event you have to do the following:

Copy the executable of the VersionChanger to your desired project (I've copied it into the folder where the solution file is located).
Right click on the project > Properties
Select the tab Build Events
Add the following: $(ProjectDir)VersionChanger.exe

As soon as you compile the project now, the version number will change.

Build output

1>------ Rebuild All started: Project: Clock, Configuration: Release Any CPU ------
1>  No version number was specified. Number is generated
1>  Version numbers:
1>  	- Current version: 19.37.3.1250
1>  	- New version....: 19.37.4.1252
1>  Version updated.
1>  Clock -> D:\Repo\Clock\bin\Release\Clock.exe
========== Rebuild All: 1 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 skipped ==========

Conditions

If you don't want the the version number is changed with every build, you can add some conditions to the pre-build event. For example, the number should only be changed when you compile the project as release:

if $(ConfigurationName) == Release (
    $(ProjectDir)VersionChanger.exe
)

Note The command will be interpreted line-by-line the same way as a DOS batch file, so it's important to place the opening "(" in the same line as the if statement!

Special thanks to Laszlo Pinter for his article about pre-/post-build events

But sometimes you want to build your project as release without changing the version number. For this case I have created the configuration PublishRelease for me.

A new configuration can be created under Build > Configuration Manager...:

Create a new configuration
Enter the desired name and select Release at Copy settings from
Click OK

Now you can add your configuration name to the pre-build event.