How to read property value from external file?

Question

I have AssemblyInfo.cs file automatically generated during build. Here's part of .csproj file:

<PropertyGroup>
    <Major>2</Major>
    <Minor>3</Minor>
    <Build>0</Build>
    <Revision>0</Revision>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
    <SvnVersion LocalPath="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)" ToolPath="C:\Program Files\VisualSVN Server\bin">
        <Output TaskParameter="Revision" PropertyName="Revision" />
    </SvnVersion>
    <AssemblyInfo CodeLanguage="CS" 
                  OutputFile="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\Properties\VersionInfo.cs" 
                  AssemblyVersion="$(Major).$(Minor).$(Build).$(Revision)" 
                  AssemblyFileVersion="$(Major).$(Minor).$(Build).$(Revision)"/>
</Target>

But I don't know how to specify Major and Minor properties outside .csproj file so I don't have to unload project every time I want to change version. I need either to load them from special text file inside project or to somehow set them in project properties dialog. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Used ReadLinesFromFile to make version in separate file:

<ReadLinesFromFile File="Properties\Version.txt">
    <Output TaskParameter="Lines" ItemName="Ver" />
</ReadLinesFromFile>
<SvnVersion LocalPath="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)" ToolPath="C:\Program Files (x86)\VisualSVN Server\bin">
    <Output TaskParameter="Revision" PropertyName="Revision" />
</SvnVersion>
<Message Text="Version: @(Ver).$(Revision)" />
<AssemblyInfo 
    CodeLanguage="CS" 
    OutputFile="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\Properties\VersionInfo.cs" 
    AssemblyVersion="@(Ver).$(Revision)" 
    AssemblyFileVersion="@(Ver).$(Revision)"/>

Answer 2

Use property pages, so you could set these properties on the project property sheets dialogs.

You will need to create a properties file and edit your project file (only once) to add an import directive to your properties file. Here is an example.

Answer 3

You can use your external tools

<Exec Command="newversion incMinor AssemblyInfo.cs > newversion.log" /> 

Answer 4

If it's locking of the csproj files by VS that's your concern, my answer to this question - How to turn off caching of build definitions in Visual studio might help you.

You could move the content of your BeforeBuild task (including the version propertygroup) into a separate proj file and invoke it with an MSBuild task (using a random filename generated by the example in the linked answer above). This would allow you to manually edit your version number properties without having to unload/load your csproj file.