ExtractAssociatedIcon

The ExtractAssociatedIcon function returns a handle to an indexed icon found in a file or an icon found in an associated executable file.

HICON ExtractAssociatedIcon(
  HINSTANCE hInst,    // application instance handle
  LPTSTR lpIconPath,  // path and filename of file for which icon is 
                      // wanted
  LPWORD lpiIcon      // pointer to icon index
);
 

Parameters

hInst

Specifies the instance of the application calling the function.

lpIconPath

Pointer to a string that specifies the full path and filename of the file for which an icon is desired. The function extracts the icon handle from that file, or from an executable file associated with that file.

If the icon handle is obtained from an executable file, the function stores the full path and filename of that executable in the string pointed to by lpIconPath.

lpiIcon

Pointer to a WORD that specifies the index of the icon whose handle is to be obtained.

If the icon handle is obtained from an executable file, the function stores the icon's identifier in the WORD pointed to by lpiIcon.

Return Values

If the function succeeds, the return value is an icon handle. If the icon is extracted from an associated executable file, the function stores the full path and filename of the executable file in the string pointed to by lpIconPath, and stores the icon's identifier in the WORD pointed to by lpiIcon.

If the function fails, the return value is NULL.

Remarks

The ExtractAssociatedIcon function first looks for the indexed icon in the file specified by lpIconPath. If the function cannot obtain the icon handle from that file, and the file has an associated executable file, it looks in that executable file for an icon. Associations with executable files are based on filename extensions, are stored in the per-user part of the registry, and can be defined using File Manager's Associate command.

QuickInfo

  Windows NT: Requires version 3.5 or later.
  Windows: Requires Windows 95 or later.
  Windows CE: Unsupported.
  Header: Declared in shellapi.h.
  Import Library: Use shell32.lib.
  Unicode: Implemented as Unicode and ANSI versions on Windows NT.

See Also

Icons Overview, Icon Functions, ExtractIcon