Detect current VSIX package's version from code

Question

I am writing a VSIX project and I would like for the code to be able to determine whether an update is available.

I know Visual Studio would be able to check for the update, however, I would like for the extension to be able to prompt user (developer) more verbosely.

1. I wonder how could make the extension read its own version from the package manifest?

Thank you.

Answer 1

I found that I could read the version information directly from the manifest XML file.

        var doc = new XmlDocument();
        doc.Load(manifestPath);
        var metaData = doc.DocumentElement.ChildNodes.Cast<XmlElement>().First(x => x.Name == "Metadata");
        var identity = metaData.ChildNodes.Cast<XmlElement>().First(x => x.Name == "Identity");
        var version = identity.GetAttribute("Version");

I also wrote a gist C# class code that encapsulate the code above. Besides, version, this technique could be used to get other information provided by the manifest file.