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AssemblyInformationalVersionAttribute Class

.NET Framework 4

Defines additional version information for an assembly manifest.

System.Object
  System.Attribute
    System.Reflection.AssemblyInformationalVersionAttribute

Namespace:  System.Reflection
Assembly:  mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
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[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Assembly, Inherited = false)]
[ComVisibleAttribute(true)]
public sealed class AssemblyInformationalVersionAttribute : Attribute

The AssemblyInformationalVersionAttribute type exposes the following members.

  Name Description
Public method Supported by the XNA Framework Supported by Portable Class Library AssemblyInformationalVersionAttribute Initializes a new instance of the AssemblyInformationalVersionAttribute class.
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  Name Description
Public property Supported by the XNA Framework Supported by Portable Class Library InformationalVersion Gets version information.
Public property TypeId When implemented in a derived class, gets a unique identifier for this Attribute. (Inherited from Attribute.)
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  Name Description
Public method Supported by the XNA Framework Supported by Portable Class Library Equals Infrastructure. Returns a value that indicates whether this instance is equal to a specified object. (Inherited from Attribute.)
Protected method Supported by the XNA Framework Supported by Portable Class Library Finalize Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before it is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.)
Public method Supported by the XNA Framework Supported by Portable Class Library GetHashCode Returns the hash code for this instance. (Inherited from Attribute.)
Public method Supported by the XNA Framework Supported by Portable Class Library GetType Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.)
Public method IsDefaultAttribute When overridden in a derived class, indicates whether the value of this instance is the default value for the derived class. (Inherited from Attribute.)
Public method Supported by the XNA Framework Match When overridden in a derived class, returns a value that indicates whether this instance equals a specified object. (Inherited from Attribute.)
Protected method Supported by the XNA Framework Supported by Portable Class Library MemberwiseClone Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
Public method Supported by the XNA Framework Supported by Portable Class Library ToString Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object.)
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  Name Description
Explicit interface implemetation Private method _Attribute.GetIDsOfNames Maps a set of names to a corresponding set of dispatch identifiers. (Inherited from Attribute.)
Explicit interface implemetation Private method _Attribute.GetTypeInfo Retrieves the type information for an object, which can be used to get the type information for an interface. (Inherited from Attribute.)
Explicit interface implemetation Private method _Attribute.GetTypeInfoCount Retrieves the number of type information interfaces that an object provides (either 0 or 1). (Inherited from Attribute.)
Explicit interface implemetation Private method _Attribute.Invoke Provides access to properties and methods exposed by an object. (Inherited from Attribute.)
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The attribute defined by this class attaches additional version information to an assembly. If this attribute is applied to an assembly, the string it specifies can be obtained at run time by using the Application.ProductVersion property. The string is also used in the path and registry key provided by the Application.UserAppDataPath property and the Application.UserAppDataRegistry property. If the AssemblyInformationalVersionAttribute is not applied to an assembly, the version number specified by the AssemblyVersionAttribute attribute is used instead.

Although you can specify any text, a warning message appears on compilation if the string is not in the format used by the assembly version number, or if it is in that format but contains wildcard characters. This warning is harmless.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 4, 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

.NET Framework Client Profile

Supported in: 4, 3.5 SP1

Portable Class Library

Supported in: Portable Class Library

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.
Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.
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Annotations FAQ
How the Three Version Attributes Relate
The documentation is incomplete and therefore misleading. According to my testing, here's how these three version numbers work (as of Visual Studio 2010, version 10.0.40219.1 SP1Rel, with .NET Framework, version 4.0.30319 SP1Rel):

Assembly Version
The actual assembly version used in the assembly's strong name always derives from the [AssemblyVersion] attribute if present, else defaults to 0.0.0.0.

File Version
The file version (which Windows Explorer displays in the file properies) derives (in this order) from [AssemblyFileVersion] else [AssemblyVersion] else 0.0.0.0.

Product Version
The product version (which Windows Explorer displays in the file properies) derives (in this order) from [AssemblyInformationalVersion] else [AssemblyFileVersion] else [AssemblyVersion] else 0.0.0.0.
History
Incorrect AssemblyInformationalVersionAttribute behaviour (AssemblyInfo)
The documentation says: " If the AssemblyInformationalVersionAttribute is not applied to an assembly, the version number specified by the AssemblyVersionAttribute attribute is used instead."
It appears that if this property is left blank, then the AssemblyInformationalVersionAttribute defaults to the AssemblyFileVersionAttribute. The documentation reads as I would like it to work.
Does anyone agree that this should change in the next release or am I misunderstanding the issue?
E.g.
If I have
 
[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.0.1")]
[assembly: AssemblyFileVersion("1.0.0.2")]
 
Then the “Product version” should default to the Assembly Version, but it does not. It defaults to the AssemblyFileVersion of 1.0.0.2
History
Not obvious how to suppress warning
How can the 'harmless' warning when the string is not a canonical version number be suppressed?.
History