Managing Icons Extracted Using ExtractIcon()

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows version 3.1

SUMMARY

The ExtractIcon() API is new to Windows version 3.1. The Window 3.1 Software Development Kit (SDK) "Programmer's Reference, Volume 2: Functions" description of this function, on page 296, does not address management of the memory occupied by the icons extracted using ExtractIcon. This article provides that information.

MORE INFORMATION

When an application calls ExtractIcon(), it passes an hInstance. When that hInstance is terminated, the memory occupied by that icon is automatically freed.

Applications that extract several icons during their lifetime may not be able to keep several unused icons in memory. Such applications can call DestroyIcon to free memory occupied by icons.

If application A needs to pass a handle to an icon to application B in the system, it should make a copy of the icon with CopyIcon() using the hInstance of application B. This ensures that even if application A quits while application B is still using the icon, the handle to the icon passed to application B will still be valid.