Resource (Windows)

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In Microsoft Windows, resources are read-only data embedded in an EXE or DLL files.

The Windows API provides for easy access to all applications' resources.

Contents

[edit] Types

Each resource has a type and a name, both being either numeric identifiers or strings.

Windows has a set of predefined resource types:

The programmer can also define custom data types in resources.

[edit] Usage

The icon that Windows displays for a program file is actually the first icon resource in its EXE file. If the EXE file has no icon resources, a standard icon is displayed.

The version resource for EXE and DLL files is displayed in the Version tab of their property pages.

Editors are available that can modify resources embedded in EXE or DLL files. These are typically used to translate all strings of an application to another language, or to modify its icons and bitmaps accordingly.

[edit] Resource Editors

[edit] Resource compilers

  • GoRC (Freeware) resource compiler for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows programming