Share "source" files between projects.

By default, each project in your solution has an AssemblyInfo.??. Amongst other things, it contains an AssemblyInfo attribute that will end up stamping the dll or exe with it's version number. This is the version number used by the CLR to make sure that when you reference a dll - it finds the correct version.

In a solution comprised of many projects, you may want them all to share the same build number. By default, VS.NET sets this version to 1.0.* -- * meaning that it will increment the number. Sometimes you build just one project, sometimes all of the projects in a solution. Some developers may even have their own solution files to just work on a subset of the projects in the master solution.

What I'm saying here is that you really ought to take better care (and control) of this version number. It would be nice to have all of your dll's in the solution share the same assembly version. Sure you can hard code it, but manually incrementing it then becomes tedious. The secret to this tip is that the AssemblyVersion attribute doesn't have to be in the AssemblyInfo.?? file. It can be in it's own file. In fact, that file doesn't have to even physically exist in the same subdirectory as the project thanks to “Linked“ files.

So follow these steps.

1. Remove the “AssemblyVersion“ attributes from the AssemblyInfo in each of your projects.
2. Create a “VersionInfo.cs“ (or .vb) in the root of your solution - probably one level up from your projects. It should include an AssemblyVersion attribute like the one you took out of each of your AssemblyInfo files. It should also include a using System.Reflection since that is the required namespace.
3. In each of your projects make a shortcut or link reference to this new file. To do this, right click on each project and select “Add Existing Item“. Browse to the VersionInfo.cs (or .vb) file and instead of clicking “Open“ select “Link“ from the drop down on the open button in the File Open Dialog.

Now you have only one place to increment the version for your entire solution. If you are using NAnt, you can have it do this for you with this simple task:

<asminfo output="VersionInfo.cs" language="CSharp">

<imports>

<import name="System" />

<import name="System.Reflection"/>

</imports>

<attributes>

<attribute type="AssemblyVersionAttribute" value="${assembly.version}" />

</attributes>

</asminfo>

The first version task increments the build number and stores it in both the assembly.version variable and also the VersionInfo.txt file. The second task recreates a new AssemblyInfo file and uses the assembly.version variable.