[ACCEPTED]-Getting the date of a .NET assembly-.net-3.5

The following is based on: https://blog.codinghorror.com/determining-build-date-the-hard-way/

public static class ApplicationInformation
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the executing assembly.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>The executing assembly.</value>
    public static System.Reflection.Assembly ExecutingAssembly
    {
        get { return executingAssembly ?? (executingAssembly = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly()); }
    }
    private static System.Reflection.Assembly executingAssembly;

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the executing assembly version.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>The executing assembly version.</value>
    public static System.Version ExecutingAssemblyVersion
    {
        get { return executingAssemblyVersion ?? (executingAssemblyVersion = ExecutingAssembly.GetName().Version); }
    }
    private static System.Version executingAssemblyVersion;

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the compile date of the currently executing assembly.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>The compile date.</value>
    public static System.DateTime CompileDate
    {
        get
        {
            if (!compileDate.HasValue)
                compileDate = RetrieveLinkerTimestamp(ExecutingAssembly.Location);
            return compileDate ?? new System.DateTime();
        }
    }
    private static System.DateTime? compileDate;

    /// <summary>
    /// Retrieves the linker timestamp.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="filePath">The file path.</param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    /// <remarks>http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2005/04/determining-build-date-the-hard-way.html</remarks>
    private static System.DateTime RetrieveLinkerTimestamp(string filePath)
    {
        const int peHeaderOffset = 60;
        const int linkerTimestampOffset = 8;
        var b = new byte[2048];
        System.IO.FileStream s = null;
        try
        {
            s = new System.IO.FileStream(filePath, System.IO.FileMode.Open, System.IO.FileAccess.Read);
            s.Read(b, 0, 2048);
        }
        finally
        {
            if(s != null)
                s.Close();
        }
        var dt = new System.DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0).AddSeconds(System.BitConverter.ToInt32(b, System.BitConverter.ToInt32(b, peHeaderOffset) + linkerTimestampOffset));
        return dt.AddHours(System.TimeZone.CurrentTimeZone.GetUtcOffset(dt).Hours);
    }
}

0

I don't think the assembly itself contains 6 it's creation date. I suspect the closest 5 you can get is the creation date of the 4 assembly file itself:

File.GetCreationTime(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location)

should do the trick.

EDIT:

I 3 think Jeff Atwood's solution, written up 2 by "grenade" in this thread, is probably 1 the better way to go now.

What's wrong with:

System.IO.File.GetLastWriteTime(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);

0

Maybe this post on coding horror may help

0

This should work:

var entryAssembly = Assembly.GetEntryAssembly();
var fileInfo = new FileInfo(entryAssembly.Location);
var buildDate = fileInfo.LastWriteTime;

0

The best way to do this would be with a 5 custom attribute that you set on the PreBuild of 4 your assembly.

And then use the standard 3 reflection to get the attribute you created.

But 2 out of curiosity, why kill the app after 1 the BUILD date?

If you're writing an application for a mobile 2 device using the compact framwork, Assembly.Location 1 is not available.

Here, I found an alternative:

     System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().CodeBase)