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About... The About Box

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4.70/5 (98 votes)
4 Mar 20073 min read 306.5K   4.4K   200   45
A reusable About Box form for developers and users.

Sample Image - aboutbox.gif

Introduction

The About Box dialog isn't an essential part of any application, but it serves an important role, as the "dogtags" for your application.

There are two distinct, and very different, audiences for this dialog.

  • users: to identify the application's name, who made it, when it was created, and what version they have. Very basic stuff.
  • developers: to provide extremely detailed build, version, and file information. Typically used when troubleshooting problems with compiled, deployed code.

You definitely should have an About Box-- but to continue with the dogtag analogy, if you're whipping out dogtags on a regular basis, that's symptomatic of a deeper problem (Mediiiic!). When you do need it, it can be a lifesaver. It's OK to be used infrequently, but it also needs to provide decent diagnostic info. Decorative About Boxes with their scrolling text and 3D graphics may be fun, but they aren't helpful.

In order to serve the needs of these two vastly different user groups, my About Box provides two views: a simple, basic view for users, and a vastly more detailed view (accessible through a "More >>" button) for developers.

Using the code

This form is intended to be a standalone, resuable component; simply drag and drop the AboutBox.vb file into your project, then instantiate it as you would any other form. It has no special dependencies.

VB.NET
Private Sub MenuItemAbout_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object,_
                   ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MenuItemAbout.Click
   Dim frmAbout As New AboutBox
   frmAbout.ShowDialog(Me)
End Sub

That provides the simplest, default About Box behavior. This should work for most applications right out of the box (as pictured in the screenshot). If you want to customize the form's behavior, it does have a number of optional properties that can be set before showing the dialog:

VB.NET
Public Property AppEntryAssembly() As System.Reflection.Assembly
Public Property AppTitle() As String
Public Property AppDescription() As String
Public Property AppVersion() As String
Public Property AppCopyright() As String
Public Property AppImage() As Image
Public Property AppMoreInfo() As String
Public Property AppDetailsButton() As Boolean

The sample application demonstrates how to set these properties to customize the text in the dialog.

Points of Interest

The primary information presented by the About Box form is automatically derived from the AssemblyInfo.* file. The AssemblyInfo.* file should always be populated for all of your assemblies as a best programming practice, but you'll want to make doubly sure in this case.

VB.NET
<Assembly: AssemblyTitle("About Box Demo")>
<Assembly: AssemblyDescription("Demonstration of AboutBox.vb code")>
<Assembly: AssemblyCompany("Atwood Heavy Industries")>
<Assembly: AssemblyProduct("Demo code")>
<Assembly: AssemblyCopyright("© 2004, Atwood Heavy Industries")>
<Assembly: AssemblyTrademark("All Rights Reserved")>

The rest of the detailed information is gathered through .NET's built in, and very powerful, reflection capabilities.

The build date is automatically calculated for each assembly based on the Build and Revision numbers specified in the AssemblyInfo.*:

XML
<Assembly: AssemblyVersion("4.1.*")>

This algorithm only works if standard auto-increment values were used (as pictured):

VB.NET
dt = CType("01/01/2000", DateTime). _
  AddDays(AssemblyVersion.Build). _
  AddSeconds(AssemblyVersion.Revision * 2)
If TimeZone.IsDaylightSavingTime(dt, _
  TimeZone.CurrentTimeZone.GetDaylightChanges(dt.Year)) Then
  dt = dt.AddHours(1)
End If
If dt > DateTime.Now Or AssemblyVersion.Build < 730 Or _
  AssemblyVersion.Revision = 0 Then
  dt = AssemblyLastWriteTime(a)
End If

If you've overridden the Build or Revision numbers, I can't calculate build date that way. In those scenarios, I use GetLastWriteTime on the assembly DLL file. I'm not aware of any more accurate methods to get build date, but between these two, the build time is usually correct.

History

  • Monday, June 14, 2004 - Published.
  • Sunday, December 19, 2004 - Version 1.1
    • code refactored for readability and simplicity.
    • switched to RichTextBox for more text, so URLs and MAILTO are automatically supported in .AppMoreInfo property.
    • More assembly properties are enumerated in the Assembly Detail tab.
    • converted to VB.NET 2005 style XML comments.
    • now with 36% more cowbell!
  • Wednesday, Janary 30, 2007 - Version 1.2
    • Added support for using proper system font
    • Tested in Windows Vista
    • Ported to Visual Studio 2005 and .NET 2.0
  • Monday, February 26, 2007 - Version 1.2a
    • Added C# version, thanks to Scott Ferguson!

License

This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

A list of licenses authors might use can be found here


Written By
Web Developer
United States United States
My name is Jeff Atwood. I live in Berkeley, CA with my wife, two cats, and far more computers than I care to mention. My first computer was the Texas Instruments TI-99/4a. I've been a Microsoft Windows developer since 1992; primarily in VB. I am particularly interested in best practices and human factors in software development, as represented in my recommended developer reading list. I also have a coding and human factors related blog at www.codinghorror.com.

Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
Frank Kannemann5-Jul-22 18:40
Frank Kannemann5-Jul-22 18:40 
QuestionFantastic about dialog Pin
haggenx9-Oct-20 8:14
haggenx9-Oct-20 8:14 
QuestionThe invoked member is not supported in a dynamic assembly. Pin
Ciuchinobello19-Dec-13 23:50
Ciuchinobello19-Dec-13 23:50 
AnswerRe: The invoked member is not supported in a dynamic assembly. Pin
Christian Junk31-Jan-14 4:28
Christian Junk31-Jan-14 4:28 
GeneralRe: The invoked member is not supported in a dynamic assembly. Pin
matthewsheeran17-Feb-18 21:50
matthewsheeran17-Feb-18 21:50 
QuestionWhat happened to the .zip files?? Pin
Jose Parra22-Jan-13 10:01
Jose Parra22-Jan-13 10:01 
AnswerRe: What happened to the .zip files?? Pin
YaakovF12-Jun-13 20:39
YaakovF12-Jun-13 20:39 
QuestionGreat! Thanks! Pin
catchit20008-Mar-12 12:43
catchit20008-Mar-12 12:43 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
DuffmanLight3-Oct-11 13:40
DuffmanLight3-Oct-11 13:40 
Nice complete About box code.
Generalthank you Pin
lopez20108-Nov-09 22:18
lopez20108-Nov-09 22:18 
Generalgood article Pin
Donsw15-Mar-09 16:26
Donsw15-Mar-09 16:26 
QuestionPlace holders are visible [modified] Pin
Jiong Mai22-Sep-08 3:27
Jiong Mai22-Sep-08 3:27 
AnswerRe: Place holders are visible Pin
Jiong Mai1-Dec-08 4:38
Jiong Mai1-Dec-08 4:38 
GeneralRe: Place holders are visible Pin
abmv14-Jan-09 20:24
professionalabmv14-Jan-09 20:24 
QuestionCan we have a WPF Version ? Pin
abmv4-Aug-08 1:19
professionalabmv4-Aug-08 1:19 
AnswerRe: Can we have a WPF Version ? Pin
andrew.nagel@dot.gov26-Nov-10 4:04
andrew.nagel@dot.gov26-Nov-10 4:04 
QuestionExcellent Work! Details button disappears after the 1st time. Pin
WarrenG22-May-08 13:18
WarrenG22-May-08 13:18 
AnswerRe: Excellent Work! Details button disappears after the 1st time. Pin
kenboo27-Feb-12 8:30
kenboo27-Feb-12 8:30 
GeneralWell done. Pin
Daniel Landers27-Mar-08 2:53
Daniel Landers27-Mar-08 2:53 
Generalhelpful Pin
Abhijit Jana15-Jan-08 3:51
professionalAbhijit Jana15-Jan-08 3:51 
GeneralProblem when using with XslCompiledTransform Pin
Mattman2068-Aug-07 4:22
Mattman2068-Aug-07 4:22 
Generaladditions Pin
Mr.Mullet2-Jul-07 1:03
Mr.Mullet2-Jul-07 1:03 
GeneralHelp with Pin
bgc-waterman28-Feb-07 8:18
bgc-waterman28-Feb-07 8:18 
GeneralConversion to c# Pin
mejax24-Jan-07 9:26
mejax24-Jan-07 9:26 
GeneralRe: Conversion to c# Pin
Robert M. Bouwens31-Jan-07 2:52
Robert M. Bouwens31-Jan-07 2:52 

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