How to increment version information after each build in Visual C++

Visual C++ doesn’t have a feature to automatically increment the version resource
information of your project after each build.
This article describes one way to provide such a feature.

You can write a program to modify the resource compiler (.rc) file instead of
using the steps described here. However, the RC file is under the control of
Visual C++. Visual C++ modifies the RC file while saving, and this may affect
the version resource. The approach described in this section can be applied to
any Visual C++ project. This example uses a Microsoft Foundation Classes
project.

Create a new project using the MFC (EXE) Appwizard and call it
MyProject . MyProject will have a MyProject.rc file,
which includes MyProject.rc2. The .rc2 file is meant for user-defined resources.
Follow these steps to increment MyProject’s version information after each
build:

1. 
   
2. Remove the version resource from the .rc file and place it in the .rc2
   file:
   
   1. 
      
   2. Open both MyProject.rc and MyProject.rc2 (found in the Res folder),
      in a text editor. To use the Visual C++ editor, click Open on the
      File menu and select Text in the Open As list for the
      MyProject.rc file.
   3. Find the version resource statements in MyProject.rc. It should look
      something like:
      查看源代码

      打印 帮助

      01

      ///

      02

      //

      03	// Version

      04

      //

      05

      06	VS_VERSION_INFO VERSIONINFO

      07	FILEVERSION 1,0,0,1

      08	PRODUCTVERSION 1,0,0,1

      09	FILEFLAGSMASK 0×3fL

      10	#ifdef _DEBUG

      11	FILEFLAGS 0×1L

      12

      #else

      13	FILEFLAGS 0×0L

      14

      #endif

      15	FILEOS 0×4L

      16	FILETYPE 0×1L

      17	FILESUBTYPE 0×0L

      18

      BEGIN

      19	BLOCK "StringFileInfo"

      20

      BEGIN

      21	BLOCK "040904b0"

      22

      BEGIN

      23	VALUE "Comments" , "Sample Application/0"

      24	VALUE "CompanyName" , "Microsoft Corp./0"

      25	VALUE "FileDescription" , "MyProject MFC Application/0"

      26	VALUE "FileVersion" , "1, 0, 0, 1/0"

      27	VALUE "InternalName" , "MyProject/0"

      28	VALUE "LegalCopyright" , "Copyright (C) 1999/0"

      29	VALUE "OriginalFilename" , "MyProject.EXE/0"

      30	VALUE "ProductName" , "MyProject Application/0"

      31	VALUE "ProductVersion" , "1, 0, 0, 1/0"

      32

      END

      33

      END

      34	BLOCK "VarFileInfo"

      35

      BEGIN

      36	VALUE "Translation" , 0×409, 1200

      37

      END

      38

      END

   4. Cut the version resource from the MyProject.rc file and paste it into
      the MyProject.rc2 file below the comment “Add manually edited resources here.”
      For information about what each one of the fields in the resource means, see the
      VERSIONINFO resource statement in Help.
   5. 
      
3. Replace the FILEVERSION and PRODUCTVERSION data with macros FILEVER and
   PRODUCTVER. Similarly, replace the FileVersion and ProductVersion string data
   with the macros STRFILEVER and STRPRODUCTVER.
4. Add a #include VersionNo.h immediately before
   the VS_VERSION_INFO resource statement. Now the version resource will look like:
   查看源代码

   打印 帮助

   01

   ///

   02

   //

   03	// Version

   04

   //

   05	#include "VersionNo.h"

   06	VS_VERSION_INFO VERSIONINFO

   07	FILEVERSION FILEVER

   08	PRODUCTVERSION PRODUCTVER

   09	FILEFLAGSMASK 0x3fL

   10	#ifdef _DEBUG

   11	FILEFLAGS 0x1L

   12

   #else

   13	FILEFLAGS 0x0L

   14

   #endif

   15	FILEOS 0x4L

   16	FILETYPE 0x1L

   17	FILESUBTYPE 0x0L

   18

   BEGIN

   19	BLOCK "StringFileInfo"

   20

   BEGIN

   21	BLOCK "040904b0"

   22

   BEGIN

   23	VALUE "Comments" , "Sample Application/0"

   24	VALUE "CompanyName" , "Microsoft Corp./0"

   25	VALUE "FileDescription" , "MyProject MFC Application/0"

   26	VALUE "FileVersion" , STRFILEVER

   27	VALUE "InternalName" , "MyProject/0"

   28	VALUE "LegalCopyright" , "Copyright (C) 1997/0"

   29	VALUE "OriginalFilename" , "MyProject.EXE/0"

   30	VALUE "ProductName" , "MyProject Application/0"

   31	VALUE "ProductVersion" , STRPRODUCTVER

   32

   END

   33

   END

   34	BLOCK "VarFileInfo"

   35

   BEGIN

   36	VALUE "Translation" , 0x409, 1200

   37

   END

   38

   END

5. Create a header file called VersionNo.h in the same directory as your
   project. This file will contain the following statements, which are the
   definitions for macros used in step 2:
   查看源代码

   打印 帮助

   1	#define FILEVER        1,0,0,1

   2	#define PRODUCTVER     1,0,0,1

   3	#define STRFILEVER     “1, 0, 0, 1/0″

   4	#define STRPRODUCTVER  “1, 0, 0, 1/0″

   NOTE: Add linefeed and carriage return characters on the last line.
   Now, MyProject.rc file includes MyProject.rc2, and MyProject.rc2 file includes VersionNo.h.

6. The VersionNo.h file contents will be modified using a Visual Basic Script
   macro. The macro described below handles the Visual C++ BuildFinish event, so it
   will not be fired until a build completes. Whenever this VB Script code is
   called, it first increments the version numbers inside the header file by a
   fixed amount, then it saves the file and closes it. During a subsequent build,
   the new version number is included in the executable.
   
   To install and use
   the VB Script code, do the following:
   
   
   
   1. 
      
   2. Open an existing DSM (macro) file or create a new DSM file in Visual
      C++. To create a new file, click New on the File menu, select
      Macro File on the Files tab, give it a name, and click OK .
   3. Paste the following VB Script code below (an empty DSM file cannot be
      installed in Visual C++; the next step explains installing):
      查看源代码

      打印 帮助

      01	Function GetProjectDir(FullName)

      02

      03	'VC++ doesn't provide any method for getting the path of the active project

      04	'See the VB Script reference for more information on the VB Script functions

      05	'used in this function

      06

      07	Dim proj_path

      08	proj_path = Split(StrReverse(FullName),"/",-1,1)

      09

      10

      Dim count

      11	count = UBound(proj_path)

      12

      13	Dim full_path

      14	full_path = ""

      15

      Dim i

      16

      17	for i = 1 to count

      18	full_path = full_path & "/" & proj_path(i)

      19

      next

      20

      21	GetProjectDir = StrReverse(full_path)

      22	End Function

      23

      24	Sub ReplaceText(selection, count, incrementby)

      25

      26	'selection represents the TextSelection object

      27	'count represents the position of the version number to be incremented

      28	'incrementby represents a number that will be added to the existing version number

      29

      30	selection.WordRight dsMove, count

      31	selection.WordRight dsExtend, 1

      32

      Dim str

      33	str = selection.Text

      34	str = str + incrementby

      35

      36	selection.Text = str

      37

      38

      End Sub

      39

      40	Sub Application_BuildFinish(numError, numWarning)

      41

      42	'This event will be triggered after every build of a project

      43	'You can check numError and/or numWarning to determine if you want to continue

      44	'If numError <> 0 Then

      45

      'exit sub

      46	'Obtain the full path of the active project

      47	Dim full_path

      48	full_path = GetProjectDir(ActiveProject.FullName)

      49

      50	full_path = full_path & "versionno.h"

      51

      52	'Open the VersionNo.h file

      53	Documents.Open full_path

      54

      55	'Obtain the TextSelection object

      56	Dim selection

      57	set selection = ActiveDocument.Selection

      58	selection.StartOfDocument

      59

      60	'Increment the version information

      61	ReplaceText selection, 9, 1

      62	selection.LineDown

      63	selection.StartOfLine

      64	ReplaceText selection, 9, 1

      65	selection.LineDown

      66	selection.StartOfLine

      67	ReplaceText selection, 10, 1

      68	selection.LineDown

      69	selection.StartOfLine

      70	ReplaceText selection, 10, 1

      71

      72	ActiveDocument.Save

      73	ActiveDocument.Close

      74

      End Sub

      NOTE: This code is an unsupported sample. You may modify it for your build scenario.

   4. Install the DSM file if it is not already installed. To install,
      click Customize on the Tools menu, click the Add-in and Macro
      Files tab, browse to select the DSM file, and click Close .
7. Select Build MyProject.exe from the Build menu. After the
   build finishes, open the VersionNo.h file. It will contain the following
   statements:
   查看源代码

   打印 帮助

   1	#define FILEVER        1,0,0,2

   2	#define PRODUCTVER     1,0,0,2

   3	#define STRFILEVER     "1, 0, 0, 2/0"

   4	#define STRPRODUCTVER  "1, 0, 0, 2/0"

   If you build the code again, this version information in included in the executable,
   and the version information is incremented.
   You can introduce some code in the macro described earlier to
   prevent incrementing version numbers if the build produced errors.