VERSIONINFO resource
Defines a version-information resource. The resource contains such information about the file as its version number, its intended operating system, and its original filename. The resource is intended to be used with the Version Information functions.
There are two ways to format a VERSIONINFO statement:
Parameters
Version-information resource identifier. This value must be 1.
Version information, such as the file version and the intended operating system. This parameter consists of the following statements.
| Statement | Description |
|---|---|
| FILEVERSION version | Binary version number for the file. The version consists of two 32-bit integers, defined by four 16-bit integers. For example, «FILEVERSION 3,10,0,61» is translated into two doublewords: 0x0003000a and 0x0000003d, in that order. Therefore, if version is defined by the DWORD values dw1 and dw2, they need to appear in the FILEVERSION statement as follows: HIWORD(dw1) , LOWORD(dw1) , HIWORD(dw2) , LOWORD(dw2) . |
| PRODUCTVERSION version | Binary version number for the product with which the file is distributed. The version parameter is two 32-bit integers, defined by four 16-bit integers. For more information about version, see the FILEVERSION description. |
| FILEFLAGSMASK fileflagsmask | Indicates which bits in the FILEFLAGS statement are valid. For 16-bit Windows, this value is 0x3f. |
| FILEFLAGS fileflags | Attributes of the file. |
| FILEOS fileos | Operating system for which this file was designed. The fileos parameter can be one of the operating system values given in the Remarks section. |
| FILETYPE filetype | General type of file. The filetype parameter can be one of the file type values listed in the Remarks section. |
| FILESUBTYPE subtype | Function of the file. The subtype parameter is zero unless the filetype parameter in the FILETYPE statement is VFT_DRV, VFT_FONT, or VFT_VXD. For a list of file subtype values, see the Remarks section. |
Specifies one or more version-information blocks. A block can contain string information or variable information. For more information, see StringFileInfo Block or VarFileInfo Block.
Remarks
To use the constants specified with the VERSIONINFO statement, you must include the Winver.h or Windows.h header file in the resource-definition file.
The following list describes the parameters used in the VERSIONINFO statement:
A combination of the following values.
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| VS_FF_DEBUG | File contains debugging information or is compiled with debugging features enabled. |
| VS_FF_PATCHED | File has been modified and is not identical to the original shipping file of the same version number. |
| VS_FF_PRERELEASE | File is a development version, not a commercially released product. |
| VS_FF_PRIVATEBUILD | File was not built using standard release procedures. If this value is given, the StringFileInfo block must contain a PrivateBuild string. |
| VS_FF_SPECIALBUILD | File was built by the original company using standard release procedures but is a variation of the standard file of the same version number. If this value is given, the StringFileInfo block block must contain a SpecialBuild string. |
| VS_FFI_FILEFLAGSMASK | A combination of all the preceding values. |
One of the following values.
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| VOS_UNKNOWN | The operating system for which the file was designed is unknown. |
| VOS_DOS | File was designed for MS-DOS. |
| VOS_NT | File was designed for 32-bit Windows. |
| VOS__WINDOWS16 | File was designed for 16-bit Windows. |
| VOS__WINDOWS32 | File was designed for 32-bit Windows. |
| VOS_DOS_WINDOWS16 | File was designed for 16-bit Windows running with MS-DOS. |
| VOS_DOS_WINDOWS32 | File was designed for 32-bit Windows running with MS-DOS. |
| VOS_NT_WINDOWS32 | File was designed for 32-bit Windows. |
The values 0x00002L, 0x00003L, 0x20000L and 0x30000L are reserved.
One of the following values.
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| VFT_UNKNOWN | File type is unknown. |
| VFT_APP | File contains an application. |
| VFT_DLL | File contains a dynamic-link library (DLL). |
| VFT_DRV | File contains a device driver. If filetype is VFT_DRV, subtype contains a more specific description of the driver. |
| VFT_FONT | File contains a font. If filetype is VFT_FONT, subtype contains a more specific description of the font. |
| VFT_VXD | File contains a virtual device. |
| VFT_STATIC_LIB | File contains a static-link library. |
All other values are reserved for use by Microsoft.
Additional information about the file type.
If filetype specifies VFT_DRV, this parameter can be one of the following values.
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| VFT2_UNKNOWN | Driver type is unknown. |
| VFT2_DRV_COMM | File contains a communications driver. |
| VFT2_DRV_PRINTER | File contains a printer driver. |
| VFT2_DRV_KEYBOARD | File contains a keyboard driver. |
| VFT2_DRV_LANGUAGE | File contains a language driver. |
| VFT2_DRV_DISPLAY | File contains a display driver. |
| VFT2_DRV_MOUSE | File contains a mouse driver. |
| VFT2_DRV_NETWORK | File contains a network driver. |
| VFT2_DRV_SYSTEM | File contains a system driver. |
| VFT2_DRV_INSTALLABLE | File contains an installable driver. |
| VFT2_DRV_SOUND | File contains a sound driver. |
| VFT2_DRV_VERSIONED_PRINTER | File contains a versioned printer driver. |
If filetype specifies VFT_FONT, this parameter can be one of the following values.
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| VFT2_UNKNOWN | Font type is unknown. |
| VFT2_FONT_RASTER | File contains a raster font. |
| VFT2_FONT_VECTOR | File contains a vector font. |
| VFT2_FONT_TRUETYPE | File contains a TrueType font. |
If filetype specifies VFT_VXD, this parameter must be the virtual-device identifier included in the virtual-device control block.
All subtype values not listed here are reserved for use by Microsoft.
One of the following language codes.
| Code | Language | Code | Language |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0x0401 | Arabic | 0x0415 | Polish |
| 0x0402 | Bulgarian | 0x0416 | Portuguese (Brazil) |
| 0x0403 | Catalan | 0x0417 | Rhaeto-Romanic |
| 0x0404 | Traditional Chinese | 0x0418 | Romanian |
| 0x0405 | Czech | 0x0419 | Russian |
| 0x0406 | Danish | 0x041A | Croato-Serbian (Latin) |
| 0x0407 | German | 0x041B | Slovak |
| 0x0408 | Greek | 0x041C | Albanian |
| 0x0409 | U.S. English | 0x041D | Swedish |
| 0x040A | Castilian Spanish | 0x041E | Thai |
| 0x040B | Finnish | 0x041F | Turkish |
| 0x040C | French | 0x0420 | Urdu |
| 0x040D | Hebrew | 0x0421 | Bahasa |
| 0x040E | Hungarian | 0x0804 | Simplified Chinese |
| 0x040F | Icelandic | 0x0807 | Swiss German |
| 0x0410 | Italian | 0x0809 | U.K. English |
| 0x0411 | Japanese | 0x080A | Spanish (Mexico) |
| 0x0412 | Korean | 0x080C | Belgian French |
| 0x0413 | Dutch | 0x0C0C | Canadian French |
| 0x0414 | Norwegian ? Bokmal | 0x100C | Swiss French |
| 0x0810 | Swiss Italian | 0x0816 | Portuguese (Portugal) |
| 0x0813 | Belgian Dutch | 0x081A | Serbo-Croatian (Cyrillic) |
| 0x0814 | Norwegian ? Nynorsk |
One of the following character-set identifiers.
| Decimal | Hexadecimal | Character Set |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0000 | 7-bit ASCII |
| 932 | 03A4 | Japan (Shift ? JIS X-0208) |
| 949 | 03B5 | Korea (Shift ? KSC 5601) |
| 950 | 03B6 | Taiwan (Big5) |
| 1200 | 04B0 | Unicode |
| 1250 | 04E2 | Latin-2 (Eastern European) |
| 1251 | 04E3 | Cyrillic |
| 1252 | 04E4 | Multilingual |
| 1253 | 04E5 | Greek |
| 1254 | 04E6 | Turkish |
| 1255 | 04E7 | Hebrew |
| 1256 | 04E8 | Arabic |
One of the following predefined names.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Comments | Additional information that should be displayed for diagnostic purposes. |
| CompanyName | Company that produced the file?for example, «Microsoft Corporation» or «Standard Microsystems Corporation, Inc.» This string is required. |
| FileDescription | File description to be presented to users. This string may be displayed in a list box when the user is choosing files to install?for example, «Keyboard Driver for AT-Style Keyboards». This string is required. |
| FileVersion | Version number of the file?for example, «3.10» or «5.00.RC2». This string is required. |
| InternalName | Internal name of the file, if one exists?for example, a module name if the file is a dynamic-link library. If the file has no internal name, this string should be the original filename, without extension. This string is required. |
| LegalCopyright | Copyright notices that apply to the file. This should include the full text of all notices, legal symbols, copyright dates, and so on. This string is optional. |
| LegalTrademarks | Trademarks and registered trademarks that apply to the file. This should include the full text of all notices, legal symbols, trademark numbers, and so on. This string is optional. |
| OriginalFilename | Original name of the file, not including a path. This information enables an application to determine whether a file has been renamed by a user. The format of the name depends on the file system for which the file was created. This string is required. |
| PrivateBuild | Information about a private version of the file?for example, «Built by TESTER1 on \TESTBED». This string should be present only if VS_FF_PRIVATEBUILD is specified in the fileflags parameter of the root block. |
| ProductName | Name of the product with which the file is distributed. This string is required. |
| ProductVersion | Version of the product with which the file is distributed?for example, «3.10» or «5.00.RC2». This string is required. |
| SpecialBuild | Text that indicates how this version of the file differs from the standard version?for example, «Private build for TESTER1 solving mouse problems on M250 and M250E computers». This string should be present only if VS_FF_SPECIALBUILD is specified in the fileflags parameter of the root block. |
Certain attributes are also supported for backward compatibility. For more information, see Common Resource Attributes.
Examples
The following example defines a VERSIONINFO resource:
Generating VersionInfo resource for Windows DLLs and applications with CMake
I’m just answered stackoverflow question and I think that it is worth to put it here too with more explanation on the subject.
There is possibilities to add additional information to DLL or EXE application in Windows with resource files. Resource version info is very useful to distinguish what version is installed on production servers. You can include additional info like branch in VCS the binary was compiled from etc. This string is up for you! It’s your helper.
For a long time I used prepared resource file with all necessary information. When necessary I changed the version information manually. My resources were as follows (part of resource):
Note that file and product versions may be different. Its also important to note that top level FILEVERSION and PRODUCTVERSION are comma-delimited digits, and FileVersion and ProductVersion in StringFileInfo are dot-delimited digits.
Automated way to generate version information
Now I automated the way to generate such resource version information on configuring cmake project.
You need three files from github to generate resource version information:
Put it in cmake subdirectory of your project and make sure to include it to CMAKE_MODULE_PATH like:
Then before add_executable() or add_library(SHARED) your target, use:
VersionInfo.h and VersionResource.rc will be generated to cmake binaries folder. Variable VersionFilesOutputVariable will hold paths to these files. Just add this list to your target:
Full list of supported resource strings:
- NAME — name of executable, required parameter
- BUNDLE — general product name. For example, if your executable is Microsoft Word then your bundle may be Microsoft Office.
- ICON — path to application icon ($
/product.ico by default) - VERSION_MAJOR — default value is 1
- VERSION_MINOR — default value is 0
- VERSION_PATCH — default value is 0
- VERSION_REVISION — default value is 0
- COMPANY_NAME — your company name, required parameter
- COMPANY_COPYRIGHT — default value is $
(C) Copyright $ - COMMENTS — default value is $
v$ .$ - ORIGINAL_FILENAME — default value is $
- INTERNAL_NAME — default value is $
- FILE_DESCRIPTION — default value is $
As general tip to version numbers I use following conventions:
- major version should be changed manually when breaking changes in API occured
- minor version should be changed manually when new features added
- VERSION_PATH is build counter for current build from CI
- VERSION_REVISION is 0
- COMMENTS contains VCS branch information and build configuration
Conclusion
With introduced cmake module you can easily generate version info resource files for our projects.
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