How to: Include Resources at Compile Time (C++)

Article
08/03/2021

By default all resources are located in one resource script (.rc) file, however there are many reasons to place resources in a file other than the main .rc file:

To add comments to resource statements that won't get deleted when you save the .rc file.
To include resources that have already been developed and tested and don't need further modification. Any files that are included but don't have an .rc extension won't be editable by the resource editors.
To include resources that are being used by different projects, or that are part of a source code version-control system. These resources must exist in a central location where modifications will affect all projects.
To include resources (such as RCDATA resources) that are a custom format. RCDATA resources have special requirements where you can't use an expression as a value for the nameID field.

If you have sections in your existing .rc files that meet any of these conditions, place these sections in one or more separate .rc files and include them in your project using the Resource Includes dialog box.

Resource Includes

You can add resources from other files to your project at compile time by listing them in the Compile-time directives box in the Resource Includes dialog box. Use the Resource Includes dialog box to modify the project environment's normal working arrangement of storing all resources in the project .rc file and all symbols in Resource.h.

To get started, open the Resource Includes dialog box by right-clicking an .rc file in Resource View, select Resource Includes and note the following properties:

Property	Description
Symbol header file	Allows you to change the name of the header file where symbol definitions for your resource files are stored. For more information, see Changing the Names of Symbol Header Files.
Read-only symbol directives	Enables you to include header files that contain symbols that shouldn't be modified. For example, symbol files to be shared with other projects. This can also include MFC .h files. For more information, see Including Shared (Read-Only) or Calculated Symbols.
Compile-time directives	Allows you to include resource files that are created and edited separately from the resources in your main resource file, contain compile-time directives (such as those directives that conditionally include resources), or contain resources in a custom format. You can also use the Compile-time directives box to include standard MFC resource files.

Note

Entries in these text boxes appear in the .rc file marked by TEXTINCLUDE 1, TEXTINCLUDE 2, and TEXTINCLUDE 3 respectively. For more information, see TN035: Using Multiple Resource Files and Header Files with Visual C++.

Once changes are made to your resource file using the Resource Includes dialog box, you must close and reopen the .rc file for the changes to take effect.

To include resources in your project at compile time

Place the resources in a resource script file with a unique file name. Don't use projectname.rc, because this is the name of the file used for the main resource script file.
Right-click the .rc file in Resource View and select Resource Includes.
In the Compile-time directives box, add the #include compiler directive to include the new resource file in the main resource file in the development environment.

The resources in files included this way are only made part of the executable at compile time and aren't available for editing or modification when you're working on your project's main .rc file. Included .rc files need to be opened separately and any files included without the .rc extension won't be editable by the resource editors.

To specify include directories for a specific resource (.rc) file

Right-click the .rc file in Solution Explorer and select Properties.
Select the Resources node in the left pane and specify any additional include directories in the Additional include directories property.

To find symbols in resources

Go to menu Edit > Find Symbol.

Tip

To use regular expressions in your search, select Find in Files in the Edit menu instead of Find Symbol. Select the Use: Regular Expressions check box in the Find dialog box and in the Find What box you can choose a regular search expression from the drop-down list. When you select an expression from this list, it's substituted as the search text in the Find What box.
In the Find What box, select a previous search string from the drop-down list or type the accelerator key you want to find, for example, ID_ACCEL1.
Select any of the Find options and choose Find Next.

Note

You cannot search for symbols in string, accelerator, or binary resources.

Requirements

Win32