visual-studio-2008 versioninfo for all files updated from one place

The version information, displayed when the mouse cursor hovers over the file in windows explorer, is set for a file built by visual studio in the VERSION resource. I would like to set the version in one place for all the files built by a solution, preferably when I change the version in the install properties. Is there a way to do this?

The motivation for this is that if the version is not updated for a file, then the installer will leave previous versions of files instead of replacing them with new files. This happens even when the 'RemovePreviousVersions' property is set.开发者_如何学JAVA In order to save the tedious and error prone task of updating the version in every file built and installed, I remove the version resource from all files - which is not elegant.

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The second answer in Stack Overflow topic How to programatically change a project's product version? features a solution for setting the version number from a common header file in C++. Just place the header file containing the hard-coded version numbers in a folder where each project can find it.

The above answer also describes a means of incrementing the version number. An alternate approach for C++ version incrementing is available from Microsoft's article How to increment version information after each build in Visual C++.

Alternately, you can use your source control repository revision number as part of the version number. The Stack Overflow article Creating a file with build number and branch name in SVN gives some insight into this for TortoiseSVN users. The following two articles explore this in more depth:

Integrating the Subversion Revision into the Version Automatically with .NET (C# or VB)

Integrating the Subversion Revision into the Version Automatically with Native C/C++

(the above two web pages feature links to similar procedures for TortoiseHg users)

In theory, you could have a single text file holding the new version number, then run a pre-build script that would:

1. Increment the version number in the text file (optionally incorporating a repository revision number)
2. Write out or modify common version files for:
   • C++ (version.h)
   • C# (GlobalAssemblyInfo.cs)
   • Java (by way of an Ant properties file, e.g. version.properties)
   • etc.

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To centralize versioning for a solution:

1. Take the version info out of AssemblyInfo.cs;
2. Create a new file (GlobalAssemblyInfo.cs) and put your version info in it (using * to get VS to create a new version number for each build);
3. Reference GlobalAssemblyInfo.cs as a link: Add | Existing Item then drop down the Add button in file selection to choose Add as Link instead;
4. Repeat for each project in the solution;

I use a block like this for the version:

#if DEBUG

[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.8.0.0")]

#else

[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.8.*")]

#endif

This keeps VS from rebuilding every assembly during development, but gives every assembly a new version number when I build a release.