DEV Community

Gurigraphics
Gurigraphics

Posted on

Embedding Files in an Executable - Icons & Details - Part 6

#cpp #programming #desktop

How change icon, file details and load a file.txt from resources?

1) Create a simple window:

main.cpp

#include <windows.h>
#include <iostream>

LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hwnd, UINT msg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam);

int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nCmdShow){

    WNDCLASS wc = {0};
    wc.lpfnWndProc   = WndProc;
    wc.hInstance     = hInstance;
    wc.hbrBackground = (HBRUSH)(COLOR_BACKGROUND);
    wc.lpszClassName = TEXT("MyWindowClass");

    if (!RegisterClass(&wc))
        return 1;

    HWND hwnd = CreateWindow(
        TEXT("MyWindowClass"),
        TEXT( "My window" ),
        WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW,
        CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, 640, 480,
        NULL, NULL, hInstance, NULL);

    ShowWindow(hwnd, nCmdShow);

    MSG msg = {0};
    while (GetMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0)){
        TranslateMessage(&msg);
        DispatchMessage(&msg);
    }   

    return (int) msg.wParam;
}

LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hwnd, UINT msg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
{
    switch (msg){
        case WM_DESTROY:
            PostQuitMessage(0);
            break;

        default:
            return DefWindowProc(hwnd, msg, wParam, lParam);
    }    
    return 0;
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

2) Compile

g++ main.cpp -o main.exe && main
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

4) Download 1 or 2 files: favicon.ico

https://favicon.io/emoji-favicons/

5) Create a file: data.txt

My window name
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

6) Create resource.h

#define IDI_MYICON  101
#define TEXTFILE   256
#define IDR_DATA1  255

void LoadFileInResource(int name, int type, DWORD& size, const wchar_t*& data){
    HMODULE handle = ::GetModuleHandleW(NULL);
    HRSRC rc = ::FindResourceW(handle, MAKEINTRESOURCEW(name), MAKEINTRESOURCEW(type));
    HGLOBAL rcData = ::LoadResource(handle, rc);
    size = ::SizeofResource(handle, rc);
    data = static_cast<const wchar_t*>(::LockResource(rcData));
}

std::string GetResource(){
    DWORD size = 0;
    const char* data = NULL;
    LoadFileInResource(IDR_DATA1, TEXTFILE, size, reinterpret_cast<const wchar_t*&>(data));  
    std::string content(data, size);
    return content;
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

7) Create resource.rc

#include <windows.h>
#include "resource.h"

IDI_MYICON ICON "favicon.ico"
IDR_DATA1 TEXTFILE "data.txt"

VS_VERSION_INFO     VERSIONINFO
FILEVERSION       1,0,0,1
PRODUCTVERSION    1,0,0,1
FILEFLAGSMASK 0x3fL

#ifdef _DEBUG
 FILEFLAGS 0x1L
#else
 FILEFLAGS 0x0L
#endif
 FILEOS 0x4L
 FILETYPE 0x2L
 FILESUBTYPE 0x0L
BEGIN
    BLOCK "StringFileInfo"
    BEGIN
        BLOCK "040904b0"
        BEGIN
            VALUE "CompanyName", "CompanyName"
            VALUE "LegalCopyright", "(c) CompanyName. All Rights reserved."
            VALUE "ProductName", "ProductName35"
            VALUE "ProductVersion", "1,0,0,1"
            VALUE "FileDescription", "ProductName"
            VALUE "InternalName", "ProductName"
            VALUE "OriginalFilename", "main.exe"
            VALUE "ShellIntegrationVersion", "2"
        END
    END
    BLOCK "VarFileInfo"
    BEGIN
        VALUE "Translation", 0x0416, 1200
    END
END
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

8) Generate resource.res

In Windows

windres.exe -i "resource.rc" --input-format=rc -o "resource.res" -O coff
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

In Linux/WSL2

x86_64-w64-mingw32-windres resource.rc -O coff -o resource.o -I/usr/share/mingw-w64/include
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

9) Adding icons in window:

Print in console data.txt content:

std::cout << GetResource();
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Display window name:

TEXT( GetResource().c_str() )
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Load icon:

wc.hIcon = LoadIcon(hInstance, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDI_MYICON));
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Set icons:

SendMessage(hwnd, WM_SETICON, ICON_BIG, (LPARAM)::LoadIcon(::GetModuleHandle(NULL), MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDI_MYICON)));
SendMessage(hwnd, WM_SETICON, ICON_SMALL, (LPARAM)::LoadIcon(::GetModuleHandle(NULL), MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDI_MYICON)));
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Destroy icons:

DestroyIcon((HICON)SendMessage(hwnd, WM_GETICON, ICON_SMALL, 0));
DestroyIcon((HICON)SendMessage(hwnd, WM_GETICON, ICON_BIG, 0));
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

main.cpp

#include <windows.h>
#include <iostream>
#include "resource.h"

LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hwnd, UINT msg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam);

int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nCmdShow){

    std::cout << GetResource();

    WNDCLASS wc = {0};
    wc.lpfnWndProc   = WndProc;
    wc.hInstance     = hInstance;
    wc.hbrBackground = (HBRUSH)(COLOR_BACKGROUND);
    wc.lpszClassName = TEXT("MyWindowClass");
    wc.hIcon = LoadIcon(hInstance, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDI_MYICON));

    if (!RegisterClass(&wc))
        return 1;

    HWND hwnd = CreateWindow(
        TEXT("MyWindowClass"),
        TEXT( GetResource().c_str() ),
        WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW,
        CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, 640, 480,
        NULL, NULL, hInstance, NULL);

    // Set icon
    SendMessage(hwnd, WM_SETICON, ICON_BIG, (LPARAM)::LoadIcon(::GetModuleHandle(NULL), MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDI_MYICON)));
    SendMessage(hwnd, WM_SETICON, ICON_SMALL, (LPARAM)::LoadIcon(::GetModuleHandle(NULL), MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDI_MYICON)));

    ShowWindow(hwnd, nCmdShow);

    MSG msg = {0};
    while (GetMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0)){
        TranslateMessage(&msg);
        DispatchMessage(&msg);
    }   

    // Free icon
    DestroyIcon((HICON)SendMessage(hwnd, WM_GETICON, ICON_SMALL, 0));
    DestroyIcon((HICON)SendMessage(hwnd, WM_GETICON, ICON_BIG, 0));

    return (int) msg.wParam;
}

LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hwnd, UINT msg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
{
    switch (msg){
        case WM_DESTROY:
            PostQuitMessage(0);
            break;

        default:
            return DefWindowProc(hwnd, msg, wParam, lParam);
    }    
    return 0;
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

10) Compile

In Windows

g++ main.cpp -o main.exe resource.res
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

In Linux/WSL2

x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++ main.cpp resource.o -o main.exe -static-libgcc -static-libstdc++ -I/usr/share/mingw-w64/include
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Top comments (0)

Read next

arjun98k profile image

Conditional Statements and Loops in JavaScript

arjun -

mdarifulhaque profile image

2779. Maximum Beauty of an Array After Applying Operation

MD ARIFUL HAQUE -

szabgab profile image

Python 🐍 and variable types

Gabor Szabo -

hamzakhan profile image

🚀 The Rise of Bun.js: Why It’s More Than Just Another JavaScript Runtime 🥖

Hamza Khan -