How to display ClickOnce Version number on Windows Forms

1. Add an assembly reference to System.Deployment to your project.

2. Import the namespace in your class file:

   VB.NET:

   Imports System.Deployment.Application
   

   C#:

   using System.Deployment.Application;
   

3. Retrieve the ClickOnce version from the CurrentVersion property.

   You can obtain the current version from the ApplicationDeployment.CurrentDeployment.CurrentVersion property. This returns a System.Version object.

   Note (from MSDN):

   CurrentVersion will differ from UpdatedVersion if a new update has been installed but you have not yet called Restart. If the deployment manifest is configured to perform automatic updates, you can compare these two values to determine if you should restart the application.

   NOTE: The CurrentDeployment static property is only valid when the application has been deployed with ClickOnce. Therefore before you access this property, you should check the ApplicationDeployment.IsNetworkDeployed property first. It will always return a false in the debug environment.

   VB.NET:

   Dim myVersion as Version
   
   If ApplicationDeployment.IsNetworkDeployed Then
      myVersion = ApplicationDeployment.CurrentDeployment.CurrentVersion
   End If
   

   C#:

   Version myVersion;
   
   if (ApplicationDeployment.IsNetworkDeployed)
      myVersion = ApplicationDeployment.CurrentDeployment.CurrentVersion;
   

4. Use the Version object:

   From here on you can use the version information in a label, say on an "About" form, in this way:

   VB.NET:

   versionLabel.Text = String.Concat("ClickOnce published Version: v", myVersion)
   

   C#:

   versionLabel.Text = string.Concat("ClickOnce published Version: v", myVersion);
   

   (Version objects are formatted as a four-part number (major.minor.build.revision).)

No I do not believe that there is a way. I believe the ClickOnce information comes from the manifest which will only be available in a ClickOnce deployment. I think that hard coding the version number is your best option.