Article
11/18/2011

AssemblyVersionAttribute Class

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Specifies the version of the assembly being attributed.

Inheritance Hierarchy

System.Object
System.Attribute
System.Reflection.AssemblyVersionAttribute

Namespace: System.Reflection
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
<ComVisibleAttribute(True)> _
<AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Assembly, Inherited := False)> _
Public NotInheritable Class AssemblyVersionAttribute _
    Inherits Attribute

[ComVisibleAttribute(true)]
[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Assembly, Inherited = false)]
public sealed class AssemblyVersionAttribute : Attribute

The AssemblyVersionAttribute type exposes the following members.

Constructors

	Name	Description
	AssemblyVersionAttribute	Initializes a new instance of the AssemblyVersionAttribute class with the version number of the assembly being attributed.

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Properties

	Name	Description
	Version	Gets the version number of the attributed assembly.

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Methods

	Name	Description
	Equals	Infrastructure. Returns a value that indicates whether this instance is equal to a specified object. (Inherited from Attribute.)
	Finalize	Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before the Object is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.)
	GetHashCode	Returns the hash code for this instance. (Inherited from Attribute.)
	GetType	Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.)
	Match	When overridden in a derived class, returns a value that indicates whether this instance equals a specified object. (Inherited from Attribute.)
	MemberwiseClone	Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
	ToString	Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object.)

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Remarks

The assembly version number is part of an assembly's identity and plays a key part in binding to the assembly and in version policy. The default version policy for the runtime is that applications run only with the versions they were built and tested with, unless overridden by explicit version policy in configuration files (the application configuration file, the publisher policy file, and the computer's administrator configuration file).

Note:
Version checking only occurs with strong-named assemblies.

The version number has four parts, as follows:

Important Note:
All components of the version must be integers greater than or equal to 0. Metadata restricts the major, minor, build, and revision components for an assembly to a maximum value of UInt16.MaxValue - 1. If a component exceeds this value, a compilation error occurs.

You can specify all the values or you can accept the default build number, revision number, or both by using an asterisk (*). For example, [assembly:AssemblyVersion("2.3.25.1")] indicates 2 as the major version, 3 as the minor version, 25 as the build number, and 1 as the revision number. A version number such as [assembly:AssemblyVersion("1.2.*")] specifies 1 as the major version, 2 as the minor version, and accepts the default build and revision numbers. A version number such as [assembly:AssemblyVersion("1.2.15.*")] specifies 1 as the major version, 2 as the minor version, 15 as the build number, and accepts the default revision number. The default build number increments daily. The default revision number is random.

Note:
If you specify an asterisk for the build number, you cannot specify a revision number.

The assembly major and minor versions are used as the type library version number when the assembly is exported. Some COM hosts do not accept type libraries with the version number 0.0. Therefore, if you want to expose an assembly to COM clients, set the assembly version explicitly to 1.0 in the AssemblyVersionAttribute page for projects created outside Visual Studio 2005 and with no AssemblyVersionAttribute specified. Do this even when the assembly version is 0.0. All projects created in Visual Studio 2005 have a default assembly version of 1.0*.

To get the name of an assembly you have loaded, call GetName on the assembly to get an AssemblyName, and then get the Version property.

For more information, see Assembly Versioning and Setting Assembly Attributes in the full .NET Framework documentation.

Version Information

Silverlight

Supported in: 5, 4, 3

Silverlight for Windows Phone

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1, Windows Phone OS 7.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: Xbox 360, Windows Phone OS 7.0

Platforms

For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.

Thread Safety

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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