Working with Resource Files

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You can work with resources that were not developed in Visual C++'s development environment or are not part of your current project. For example, you can:

• Work with nested and conditionally included resource files.
  
  
• Update existing resources or convert them to Visual C++ format.
  
  
• Import or export graphic resources to or from your current resource file.
  
  
• Include shared or read-only identifiers (symbols) that can’t be modified by the development environment.
  
  
• Include resources in your executable (.exe) file that don’t require editing (or that you don’t want to be edited) during your current project, such as resources that are shared between several projects.
  
  
• Include resource types not supported by the development environment.

You can open the types of files shown in the following table and edit the resources they contain.

You can save your resources as shown in the following table.

Note   Resource script files (.rc) are distinguished as being 16- or 32-bit by whether they contain 32-bit resource keywords (such as LANGUAGE, EXSTYLE, or DIALOGEX), not by their underlying file structure. You create a 32-bit .rc file only by adding 32-bit keywords to it.

The environment also works with the files shown in the following table during your resource editing session.

What do you want to do?

• Import a resource script file created by another application
  
  
• Add MFC support to a resource script file
  
  
• Use advanced resource file techniques