OK so this is actually a little more than a version script. I was asked to create a PowerShell step in a vNext build definition that would set the version, company, copyright and product information in all of the AssemblyInfo.cs files in a solution.

I started with looking for existing solutions which led me to an excellent article from InCycle here. This in turn led me to Microsoft’s example here. So this was doing essentially what I wanted and could be expanded upon, here is what I did and the code I used.

The main challenge that I had to handle with this solution is that it is fairly old and well over a hundred projects of varying versions. This means that there has been multiple management methods and as such I had to account for missing or modified from default assembly information.

Example: 

[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.0.0")]
[assembly: AssemblyFileVersion("1.0.0.0")]
//[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.0.0")]
//[assembly: AssemblyFileVersion("1.0.0.0")]
[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.*")]

//or simply missing completely..

So my solution was to use the following:

##-----------------------------------------------------------------------
## Based on: https://msdn.microsoft.com/Library/vs/alm/Build/scripts/index
##-----------------------------------------------------------------------
# Replace values in AssemblyInfo.cs with Company default ones and apply version number based on build.
$copy = [char]0x00A9
# Start Configuration
$DefaultAssemblyDescription = "My Product Description"
$DefaultAssemblyCompany = "My Company"
$DefaultAssemblyProduct = "Product Name"
$DefaultAssemblyCopyright = "Copyright " + $copy + " My Company 2016"
# End Configuration

function FindOrReplaceAttribute($filecontent, $assemblyValue, $newValue)
{
	$regex = "\[assembly: Assembly" + $assemblyValue + "\((.+)\)\]"
	$replacement = '[assembly: Assembly' + $assemblyValue + '("' + $newValue + '")]'
	
    $propertyExists = [regex]::matches($filecontent, $regex)
    
    if ($propertyExists.Count -eq 1)
    {
        return $filecontent -replace $regex, $replacement
    }
    
    return $filecontent + $replacement
}

# Enable -Verbose option
[CmdletBinding()]

# Set a flag to force verbose as a default
$VerbosePreference ='Continue' # equiv to -verbose

# If this script is not running on a build server, remind user to 
# set environment variables so that this script can be debugged
if(-not ($Env:BUILD_SOURCESDIRECTORY -and $Env:BUILD_BUILDNUMBER))
{
    Write-Error "You must set the following environment variables"
    Write-Error "to test this script interactively."
    Write-Host '$Env:BUILD_SOURCESDIRECTORY - For example, enter something like:'
    Write-Host '$Env:BUILD_SOURCESDIRECTORY = "C:\code\FabrikamTFVC\HelloWorld"'
    Write-Host '$Env:BUILD_BUILDNUMBER - For example, enter something like:'
    Write-Host '$Env:BUILD_BUILDNUMBER = "Build HelloWorld_0000.00.00.0"'
    exit 1
}

# Make sure path to source code directory is available
if (-not $Env:BUILD_SOURCESDIRECTORY)
{
    Write-Error ("BUILD_SOURCESDIRECTORY environment variable is missing.")
    exit 1
}
elseif (-not (Test-Path $Env:BUILD_SOURCESDIRECTORY))
{
    Write-Error "BUILD_SOURCESDIRECTORY does not exist: $Env:BUILD_SOURCESDIRECTORY"
    exit 1
}
Write-Verbose "BUILD_SOURCESDIRECTORY: $Env:BUILD_SOURCESDIRECTORY"

# Make sure there is a build number
if (-not $Env:BUILD_BUILDNUMBER)
{
    Write-Error ("BUILD_BUILDNUMBER environment variable is missing.")
    exit 1
}
Write-Verbose "BUILD_BUILDNUMBER: $Env:BUILD_BUILDNUMBER"

# Get and validate the version data
$VersionData = [regex]::matches($Env:BUILD_BUILDNUMBER, "\d+\.\d+\.\d+\.\d+")
switch($VersionData.Count)
{
   0        
      { 
         Write-Error "Could not find version number data in BUILD_BUILDNUMBER."
         exit 1
      }
   1 {}
   default 
      { 
         Write-Warning "Found more than instance of version data in BUILD_BUILDNUMBER." 
         Write-Warning "Will assume first instance is version."
      }
}
$NewVersion = $VersionData[0]
Write-Verbose "Version: $NewVersion"

# Apply the version to the assembly property files
$files = gci $Env:BUILD_SOURCESDIRECTORY -recurse -include "*Properties*","My Project" | 
    ?{ $_.PSIsContainer } | 
    foreach { gci -Path $_.FullName -Recurse -include AssemblyInfo.* }
if($files)
{
    Write-Verbose "Will apply $NewVersion to $($files.count) files."

    foreach ($file in $files) {
        $filecontent = Get-Content($file)
        attrib $file -r
        $filecontent = FindOrReplaceAttribute $filecontent "Company" $DefaultAssemblyCompany
		$filecontent = FindOrReplaceAttribute $filecontent "Copyright" $DefaultAssemblyCopyright
		$filecontent = FindOrReplaceAttribute $filecontent "Description" $DefaultAssemblyDescription
		$filecontent = FindOrReplaceAttribute $filecontent "Product" $DefaultAssemblyProduct
		$filecontent = FindOrReplaceAttribute $filecontent "Version" $NewVersion
		$filecontent = FindOrReplaceAttribute $filecontent "FileVersion" $NewVersion

        $filecontent | Out-File $file
        Write-Verbose "$file - Assembly Changes Applied"
    }
}
else
{
    Write-Warning "Found no files."
}

Simple enough and only modified from the Microsoft version a little to account for the additional fields. This was the first time I have written PowerShell so was certainly a new experience for me.

I then included this file in the source control of the solution in a folder called BuildScripts. And although covered in the InCycle article these are the complete steps I used to incorporate the script in my build process.

  1. Include the file in source control (/BuildScripts/ApplyVersionAndDefaultsToAssemblies.ps1)
  2. Create a PowerShell step in the vNext definition and point it at the script.
  3. On the ‘Variables’ settings create a ProjectVersion variable and set the version in the format x.x
  4. On the ‘General’ settings set the build number format to:
    $(BuildDefinitionName)_$(ProjectVersion).$(date:yy)$(DayOfYear)$(rev:.r)
  5. Then save everything and queue a new build. It will apply your company information and all assemblies will have the same version. I am now using this same script in multiple solutions and all builds.