Re: [Dev-C++] Resource files

[Terry L F. <tf...@sm...>]

Hello Louis,

Wednesday, March 19, 2003 you wrote:
LG> Are .res files optional or must they always be present in WIN32
LG> API apps ?

    Resource files are not necessary.

LG> What is the advantage of having a menus etc. in the .res file and
LG> not in the .exe file?

    Resource files are embedded directly into an executable or dll and
    then at runtime the program uses the resource data.  So if data in
    the resource file changes the program still has to be recompiled
    to create the executable.

    Typically you begin with a .rc file (Resource Compiler file) which
    can be edited. The .rc file is then compiled into a .res file.
    Some programming languages even have converters for .res files so
    that you might use it in different application languages.

    Microsoft has a dialog editor (DLGEDIT.EXE) that produces a .dlg
    file which can be edited with any text editor and saved as a .rc
    file.  DLGEDIT.exe produces 16 bit binary .res files so normally
    not usable in 32 bit applications.  You can make a few changes to
    the .dlg file, save it as .rc and then use dev-c++ to edit it.
    You mainly just change the block in the .dlg:
      DLGINCLUDE RCDATA FIXED IMPURE
      BEGIN
         "FILE.H\0"
      END
    to
      #include "FILE.H"

    But now if you want to change the ICON or menu strings, other
    strings, or even other user-defined items you can do it in the .rc
    file - recompile it to a .res file - and then recompile your
    application.  But you haven't had to touch your code.
    

Terry Fritts