Creating a Resource-Definition File

After creating individual resource files for your application's icon, cursor, font, bitmap, and dialog boxes, create a resource-definition file, or script. A script file is a text file with the extension .RC. The file can use single-byte, double-byte, or Unicode characters.

The syntax and semantics for the RC preprocessor are similar to those of the Microsoft C/C++ compiler. However, RC supports a subset of the preprocessor directives, defines, and pragmas in a script.

The script also defines resources. For a resource that exists in a separate file, such as an icon or cursor, the script specifies the resource and the file that contains it. For some resources, such as a menu, the entire definition of the resource exists within the script.

The following topics describe the information a script file can contain:

• Comments, which are notes to be ignored by RC.
• Predefined macros, which take no arguments and cannot be redefined.
• Preprocessor directives, which instruct RC to perform actions on the script before compiling it.
• Preprocessor operators, which are used with the #define directive.
• Pragma directives
• Resource-definition statements, which name and describe resources.