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FindResource

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

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

Parameters

  • hModule
    Handle to the module whose executable file contains the resource. In Windows CE, this cannot 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_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.

Requirements

OS Versions: Windows CE 1.0 and later.
Header: Winbase.h.
Link Library: Coredll.lib, Nk.lib.

See Also

DeleteObject | DestroyAcceleratorTable | DestroyCursor | DestroyIcon | DestroyMenu | LoadAccelerators | LoadBitmap | LoadIcon | LoadMenu | LoadResource | LoadString | Using Resources

Last updated on Wednesday, April 13, 2005

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