A multiline resource-definition statement can begin with any of the following keywords:
Keyword | Description |
ACCELERATORS | Defines menu accelerator keys. |
DIALOG | Defines a template that an application can use to create dialog boxes. |
MENU | Defines the appearance and function of an application menu. |
RCDATA | Defines data resources. Data resources let you include binary data directly into the executable file. |
STRINGTABLE | Defines string resources. String resources are null-terminated ASCII strings that can be loaded from the executable file. |
The following directives can be used as needed in the resource-definition file to instruct RC to perform actions or to assign values to names:
Keyword | Description |
#define | Defines a specified name by assigning it a given value. |
#elif | Marks an optional clause of a conditional compilation block. |
#else | Marks the last optional clause of a conditional compilation block. |
#endif | Marks the end of a conditional compilation block. |
#if | Carries out conditional compilation if a specified expression is true. |
#ifdef | Carries out conditional compilation if a specified name is defined. |
#ifndef | Carries out conditional compilation if a specified name is not defined. |
#include | Copies the contents of a file into the resource-definition file before RC processes the latter. |
#undef | Removes the current definition of the specified name. |
The following example shows an .RC file that defines the resources for an application named Shapes:
#include "SHAPES.H"
ShapesCursor CURSOR SHAPES.CUR
ShapesIcon ICON SHAPES.ICO
ShapesMenu MENU
BEGIN
POPUP "&Shape"
BEGIN
MENUITEM "&Clear", ID_CLEAR
MENUITEM "&Rectangle", ID_RECT
MENUITEM "&Triangle", ID_TRIANGLE
MENUITEM "&Star", ID_STAR
MENUITEM "&Ellipse", ID_ELLIPSE
END
END
The CURSOR statement names the application's cursor resource ShapesCursor and specifies the cursor file SHAPES.CUR, which contains the image for that cursor.
The ICON statement names the application's icon resource ShapesIcon and specifies the icon file SHAPES.ICO, which contains the image for that icon.
The MENU statement defines an application menu named ShapesMenu, a pop-up menu with five menu items.
The menu definition, enclosed by the BEGIN and END keywords, specifies each menu item and the menu identifier that is returned when the user selects that item. For example, the first item on the menu, Clear, returns the menu identifier ID_CLEAR when the user selects it. The menu identifiers are defined in the application header file, SHAPES.H.
For more information about resource-definition files, the syntax of resource statements, and how to define your own resources, see the Microsoft Windows Programmer's Reference, Volume 4.