FindResource

This function determines the location of a resource with the specified type and name in the specified module.

At a Glance

Header file:	Winbase.h
Windows CE versions:	1.0 and later

Syntax

HRSRC FindResource( HMODULE hModule, LPCWSTR lpName, LPCWSTR lpType);

Parameters

hModule

Handle to the module whose executable file contains the resource. In Windows CE, this can not be set to NULL.

lpName

Pointer to the name of the resource. For more information, see the Remarks section.

lpType

Pointer to the resource type. For more information, see the Remarks section. For standard resource types, this parameter can be one of the following values:

Value	Description
RT_ACCELERATOR	Accelerator table
RT_BITMAP	Bitmap resource
RT_CURSOR	Hardware-dependent cursor resource
RT_DIALOG	Dialog box
RT_FONT	Font resource
RT_FONTDIR	Font directory resource
RT_GROUP_CURSOR	Hardware-independent cursor resource
RT_GROUP_ICON	Hardware-independent icon resource
RT_HTML	HTML document
RT_ICON	Hardware-dependent icon resource
RT_MENU	Menu resource
RT_MESSAGETABLE	Message-table entry
RT_RCDATA	Application-defined resource (raw data)
RT_STRING	String-table entry
RT_VERSION	Version resource

Return Values

A handle to the specified resource’s info block indicates success. To obtain a handle to the resource, pass this handle to the LoadResource function. NULL indicates failure. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.

Remarks

If the high-order word of the lpName or lpType parameter is zero, the low-order word specifies the integer identifier of the name or type of the given resource. Otherwise, those parameters are long pointers to null-terminated strings. If the first character of the string is a pound sign (#), the remaining characters represent a decimal number that specifies the integer identifier of the resource’s name or type. For example, the string “#258” represents the integer identifier 258.

The lpName parameter does not support the resource ID zero—that is, FindResource(h, 0 ,t) will not work as expected.

An application should reduce the amount of memory required for the resources by referring to them by integer identifier instead of by name.

When you are finished using an accelerator table, bitmap, cursor, icon, or menu, you can release its associated memory by calling one of the functions in the following table.

Resource	Release function
Accelerator table	DestroyAcceleratorTable
Bitmap	DeleteObject
Cursor	DestroyCursor
Icon	DestroyIcon
Menu	DestroyMenu

The system automatically deletes these resources when the process that created them terminates, however, calling the appropriate function saves memory and decreases the size of the process's working set.

An application can use FindResource to find any type of resource, but this function should be used only if the application must access the binary resource data when making subsequent calls to LoadLibrary.

To use a resource immediately, an application should use one of the following resource-specific functions to find and load the resources in one call:

Function	Description
FormatMessage	Loads and formats a message-table entry.
LoadAccelerators	Loads an accelerator table.
LoadBitmap	Loads a bitmap resource.
LoadCursor	Loads a cursor resource.
LoadIcon	Loads an icon resource.
LoadMenu	Loads a menu resource.
LoadString	Loads a string-table entry.

For example, an application can use the LoadIcon function to load an icon for display on the screen. However, the application should use FindResource and LoadResource if it is loading the icon to copy its data to another application.

String resources are stored in sections of up to 16 strings per section. The strings in each section are stored as a sequence of counted (not null-terminated) Unicode strings. The LoadString function will extract the string resource from its corresponding section.