Programmatically get the version number of a DLL

Is it possible to get the version number programmatically from any .NET DLL?

If yes, how?

Solution 1:

This works if the dll is .net or Win32. Reflection methods only work if the dll is .net. Also, if you use reflection, you have the overhead of loading the whole dll into memory. The below method does not load the assembly into memory.

// Get the file version.
FileVersionInfo myFileVersionInfo = FileVersionInfo.GetVersionInfo(@"C:\MyAssembly.dll");

// Print the file name and version number.
Console.WriteLine("File: " + myFileVersionInfo.FileDescription + '\n' +
                  "Version number: " + myFileVersionInfo.FileVersion);

From: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.diagnostics.fileversioninfo.fileversion.aspx

original source

Solution 2:

Assembly assembly = Assembly.LoadFrom("MyAssembly.dll");
Version ver = assembly.GetName().Version;

Important: It should be noted that this is not the best answer to the original question. Don't forget to read more on this page.

Solution 3:

First of all, there are two possible 'versions' that you might be interested in:

• Windows filesystem file version, applicable to all executable files

• Assembly build version, which is embedded in a .NET assembly by the compiler (obviously only applicable to .NET assembly dll and exe files)

In the former case, you should use Ben Anderson's answer; in the latter case, use AssemblyName.GetAssemblyName(@"c:\path\to\file.dll").Version, or Tataro's answer, in case the assembly is referenced by your code.

Note that you can ignore all the answers that use .Load()/.LoadFrom() methods, since these actually load the assembly in the current AppDomain - which is analogous to cutting down a tree to see how old it is.

Solution 4:

Here's a nice way using a bit of reflection to get a version of a DLL containing a particular class:

var ver = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(!Class!)).GetName().Version;

Just replace !Class! with the name of a class which is defined in the DLL you wish to get the version of.

This is my preferred method because if I move the DLLs around for different deploys I don't have to change the filepath.