We are going to Heroes Happen Here Los Angeles

February 27, 2008

keithrull

Yup! Me and my wife are coming to the VS 2008 Kickoff event in Los Angeles today. Wohoo! This is the first time we’ll see Bill Gates live in person and we are excited about it. Wohoo! I’ll post some pictures here tommorow to show you guys what transpired at the Nokia Theatre and Los […]

I’ve gotten this question 3 times in different flavors since last week and I’ve decided that it’s time to post the solution in my blog. I’ve added comments on the code to explain what every line is doing. The code below will demonstrate how you can read the assembly information in both C# and VB.NET. [—————— C# ——————]

<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent"><PRE><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">using</SPAN> System;
<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">using</SPAN> System.Collections.Generic;
<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">using</SPAN> System.Text;
<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">using</SPAN> System.Reflection;
<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">using</SPAN> System.IO;

<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">namespace</SPAN> KeithRull.ReadingAssemblyInformation
{
    <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">/// &lt;summary&gt;</SPAN>
    <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">/// A sample program that demonstrates how to get the</SPAN>
    <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">/// Assembly information. This is useful when you want</SPAN>
    <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">/// to see the version of your class library.</SPAN>
    <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">/// &lt;/summary&gt;</SPAN>
    <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">class</SPAN> Program
    {
        <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">static</SPAN> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">void</SPAN> Main(<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">string</SPAN>[] args)
        {
            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">//create a new assembly object that would signify</SPAN>
            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">//the current running assembly</SPAN>
            Assembly currentAssembly <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">=</SPAN> Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();

            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">//create the dictionary object that would contain</SPAN>
            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">//all the information about our assembly</SPAN>
            Dictionary&lt;<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">string</SPAN>, <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">string</SPAN>&gt; dictionaryOfProperties 
                        <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">=</SPAN> GetAssemblyInfoDictionary(currentAssembly);

            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">//iterate thru each key in the dictionary</SPAN>
            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">foreach</SPAN> (<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">string</SPAN> key <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">in</SPAN> dictionaryOfProperties.Keys)
            {
                <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">//print the key and its value</SPAN>
                Console.WriteLine(<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e4e4e4">"{0}: {1}"</SPAN>, key, dictionaryOfProperties[key]);
            }

            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">//pause</SPAN>
            Console.ReadLine();

        }

        <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">/// &lt;summary&gt;</SPAN>
        <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">/// A method that returns a Dictionary of Assembly properties</SPAN>
        <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">/// &lt;/summary&gt;</SPAN>
        <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">/// &lt;param name="selectedAssembly"&gt;The assembly to inspect&lt;/param&gt;</SPAN>
        <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">/// &lt;returns&gt;The dictrionary containing the assembly information&lt;/returns&gt;</SPAN>
        <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">public</SPAN> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">static</SPAN> Dictionary&lt;<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">string</SPAN>, <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">string</SPAN>&gt; GetAssemblyInfoDictionary(Assembly selectedAssembly)
        {
            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">//Create the dictionary</SPAN>
            Dictionary&lt;<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">string</SPAN>, <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">string</SPAN>&gt; dictionaryOfProperties 
                                    <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">=</SPAN> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">new</SPAN> Dictionary&lt;<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">string</SPAN>, <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">string</SPAN>&gt;();

            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">//get the location of the assembly</SPAN>
            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">string</SPAN> assemblyPath <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">=</SPAN> selectedAssembly.Location;
            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">//add the assembly location to out dictionary</SPAN>
            dictionaryOfProperties.Add(<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e4e4e4">"AssemblyLocation"</SPAN>, assemblyPath);

            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">//create the AssemblyName object based on our Assembly</SPAN>
            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">//this will enable us to get the version information</SPAN>
            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">//and other properties related to our assembly</SPAN>
            AssemblyName assemblyName <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">=</SPAN> selectedAssembly.GetName();

            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">//add the FullName of out assembly</SPAN>
            dictionaryOfProperties.Add(<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e4e4e4">"AssemblyFullName"</SPAN>, assemblyName.FullName);
            dictionaryOfProperties.Add(<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e4e4e4">"AssemblyName"</SPAN>, assemblyName.FullName);

            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">//add the assembly version information</SPAN>
            dictionaryOfProperties.Add(<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e4e4e4">"Version"</SPAN>, assemblyName.Version.ToString());
            dictionaryOfProperties.Add(<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e4e4e4">"Version.Major"</SPAN>, assemblyName.Version.Major.ToString());
            dictionaryOfProperties.Add(<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e4e4e4">"Version.Minor"</SPAN>, assemblyName.Version.Minor.ToString());
            dictionaryOfProperties.Add(<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e4e4e4">"Version.Build"</SPAN>, assemblyName.Version.Build.ToString());
            dictionaryOfProperties.Add(<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e4e4e4">"Version.Revision"</SPAN>, assemblyName.Version.Revision.ToString());
            
            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">//add the creation time</SPAN>
            DateTime creationTime <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">=</SPAN> File.GetCreationTime(assemblyPath);
            dictionaryOfProperties.Add(<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e4e4e4">"CreationTime"</SPAN>, creationTime.ToString());

            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">//add the last write time</SPAN>
            DateTime lastWriteTime <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">=</SPAN> File.GetLastWriteTime(assemblyPath);
            dictionaryOfProperties.Add(<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e4e4e4">"LastWriteTime"</SPAN>, creationTime.ToString());

            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">//return our dictionary obeject</SPAN>
            <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Courier New; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">return</SPAN> dictionaryOfProperties;
        }
    }
}
</SPAN>

<PRE>using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Text;

using System.Reflection;

using System.IO;

namespace KeithRull.ReadingAssemblyInformation

{

/// <summary>

/// A sample program that demonstrates how to get the

/// Assembly information. This is useful when you want

/// to see the version of your class library.

/// </summary>

class Program

{

static void Main(string[] args)

{

//create a new assembly object that would signify

//the current running assembly

Assembly currentAssembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();

//create the dictionary object that would contain

//all the information about our assembly

Dictionary<string, string> dictionaryOfProperties

= GetAssemblyInfoDictionary(currentAssembly);

//iterate thru each key in the dictionary

foreach (string key in dictionaryOfProperties.Keys)

{

//print the key and its value

Console.WriteLine("{0}: {1}", key, dictionaryOfProperties[key]);

}

//pause

Console.ReadLine();

}

/// <summary>

/// A method that returns a Dictionary of Assembly properties

/// </summary>

/// <param name="selectedAssembly">The assembly to inspect</param>

/// <returns>The dictrionary containing the assembly information</returns>

public static Dictionary<string, string> GetAssemblyInfoDictionary(Assembly selectedAssembly)

{

//Create the dictionary

= new Dictionary<string, string>();

//get the location of the assembly

string assemblyPath = selectedAssembly.Location;

//add the assembly location to out dictionary

dictionaryOfProperties.Add("AssemblyLocation", assemblyPath);

//create the AssemblyName object based on our Assembly

//this will enable us to get the version information

//and other properties related to our assembly

AssemblyName assemblyName = selectedAssembly.GetName();

//add the FullName of out assembly

dictionaryOfProperties.Add("AssemblyFullName", assemblyName.FullName);

dictionaryOfProperties.Add("AssemblyName", assemblyName.FullName);

//add the assembly version information

dictionaryOfProperties.Add("Version", assemblyName.Version.ToString());

dictionaryOfProperties.Add("Version.Major", assemblyName.Version.Major.ToString());

dictionaryOfProperties.Add("Version.Minor", assemblyName.Version.Minor.ToString());

dictionaryOfProperties.Add("Version.Build", assemblyName.Version.Build.ToString());

dictionaryOfProperties.Add("Version.Revision", assemblyName.Version.Revision.ToString());

//add the creation time

DateTime creationTime = File.GetCreationTime(assemblyPath);

dictionaryOfProperties.Add("CreationTime", creationTime.ToString());

//add the last write time

DateTime lastWriteTime = File.GetLastWriteTime(assemblyPath);

dictionaryOfProperties.Add("LastWriteTime", creationTime.ToString());

//return our dictionary obeject

return dictionaryOfProperties;

}

[—————— […]

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Month: February 2008

We are going to Heroes Happen Here Los Angeles

February 27, 2008

keithrull

How To: Reading the Assembly Information In .NET

February 26, 2008

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