'DLLVERSIONINFO' Compile error after updating project to VS2012 from VS2008 - c++

Question

I have a very old C++ application that over the years, and before my time, the source code has been migrated many times. It now builds and compiles under VS2008. I decided to migrate to VS2012, after doing so, I now receive the following compiler error: error C2371: 'DLLVERSIONINFO' : redefinition; different basic types
I have not changed one single line of code. I simply updated the project from VS2008 to VS2012.
After visiting MSDN, and playing around a little bit, I commented out the last part of the struct “DLLVERSIONINFO” at the very end of the _DllVersionInfo struct.
Now the project compiles and run!!!
My questions are as follows:
1) Does that mean that Microsoft changed the way this struct works in VS2012?
2) What sort of problems could I possibly run into if I leave the commented section out for good?
Source code below.
// 1998 Microsoft Systems Journal
//
// If this code works, it was written by Paul DiLascia.
// If not, I don't know who wrote it.
// http://www.microsoft.com/msj/0498/c0498.aspx
#ifndef __MODULEVER_H
#define __MODULEVER_H
// tell linker to link with version.lib for VerQueryValue, etc.
#pragma comment(linker, "/defaultlib:version.lib")
#ifndef DLLVERSIONINFO
// following is from shlwapi.h, in November 1997 release of the Windows SDK
typedef struct _DllVersionInfo
{
DWORD cbSize;
DWORD dwMajorVersion; // Major version
DWORD dwMinorVersion; // Minor version
DWORD dwBuildNumber; // Build number
DWORD dwPlatformID; // DLLVER_PLATFORM_*
} /*DLLVERSIONINFO*/; // commented out this part
// Platform IDs for DLLVERSIONINFO
#define DLLVER_PLATFORM_WINDOWS 0x00000001 // Windows 95
#define DLLVER_PLATFORM_NT 0x00000002 // Windows NT
#endif // DLLVERSIONINFO
// value must pair with static LPCTSTR Keys[] in method CString
// CMainVersion::GetFile_VS_VERSION_INFO(...)
typedef enum {
eCompanyName = 0,
eFileDescription = 1,
eFileVersion = 2,
eInternalName = 3,
eLegalCopyright = 4,
eOriginalFilename = 5,
eProductName = 6,
eProductVersion = 7,
eAllInfo = 8
} E_VS_VERSION_INFO;
class CModuleVersion : public VS_FIXEDFILEINFO
{
protected:
BYTE* m_pVersionInfo; // all version info
struct TRANSLATION {
WORD langID; // language ID
WORD charset; // character set (code page)
} m_translation;
public:
CModuleVersion();
virtual ~CModuleVersion();
static CString GetModuleVersion();
static CString GetModuleHistory();
BOOL GetFileVersionInfo(LPCTSTR modulename);
CString GetValue(LPCTSTR lpKeyName);
static BOOL DllGetVersion(LPCTSTR modulename, DLLVERSIONINFO& dvi);
};
class CMainVersion
{
public:
CMainVersion();
virtual ~CMainVersion();
static CString GetFileVersion(const CString & csModuleName);
static CString GetFile_VS_VERSION_INFO(const CString & csModuleName,
E_VS_VERSION_INFO eInfo);
static CString GetFileAndDllVersion(const CString & csModuleName);
static CString GetAllVersions();
};
#endif

Answer 1

Obviously, Microsoft added their own declaration of DLLVERSIONINFO (in shlwapi.h) sometime between VS2008 and VS2012. You should not be declaring it manually anymore, just use #include <shlwapi.h> instead.
Either way, #ifndef DLLVERSIONINFO would never have worked, as DLLVERSIONINFO is not declared using a #define statement. If you want to conditionally define DLLVERSIONINFO based on compiler version, use _MSC_VER instead, eg:
#if _MSC_VER >= 1700 // 1700 == VS2012
#include <shlwapi.h>
#else
// following is from shlwapi.h, in November 1997 release of the Windows SDK
typedef struct _DllVersionInfo
{
DWORD cbSize;
DWORD dwMajorVersion; // Major version
DWORD dwMinorVersion; // Minor version
DWORD dwBuildNumber; // Build number
DWORD dwPlatformID; // DLLVER_PLATFORM_*
} DLLVERSIONINFO;
// Platform IDs for DLLVERSIONINFO
#define DLLVER_PLATFORM_WINDOWS 0x00000001 // Windows 95
#define DLLVER_PLATFORM_NT 0x00000002 // Windows NT
#endif // _MSC_VER