ImageList_LoadImageA function (commctrl.h)

Article
02/09/2023

Creates an image list from the specified bitmap.

Syntax

HIMAGELIST ImageList_LoadImageA(
  HINSTANCE hi,
  LPCSTR    lpbmp,
  int       cx,
  int       cGrow,
  COLORREF  crMask,
  UINT      uType,
  UINT      uFlags
);

Parameters

hi

Type: HINSTANCE

A handle to the instance that contains the resource. This parameter can be NULL if you are loading an image from a file or loading an OEM resource.

lpbmp

Type: LPCTSTR

The image to load.

If the uFlags parameter includes LR_LOADFROMFILE, lpbmp is the address of a null-terminated string that names the file containing the image to load.

If the hi parameter is non-NULL and LR_LOADFROMFILE is not specified, lpbmp is the address of a null-terminated string that contains the name of the image resource in the hi module.

If hi is NULL and LR_LOADFROMFILE is not specified, the LOWORD of this parameter must be the identifier of an OEM image to load. To create this value, use the MAKEINTRESOURCE macro with one of the OEM image identifiers defined in Winuser.h. These identifiers have the following prefixes.

Value	Meaning
OBM_ for OEM bitmaps
OIC_ for OEM icons
OCR_ for OEM cursors

cx

Type: int

The width of each image. The height of each image and the initial number of images are inferred by the dimensions of the specified resource.

cGrow

Type: int

The number of images by which the image list can grow when the system needs to make room for new images. This parameter represents the number of new images that the resized image list can contain.

crMask

Type: COLORREF

The color used to generate a mask. Each pixel of this color in the specified bitmap, cursor, or icon is changed to black, and the corresponding bit in the mask is set to 1. If this parameter is the CLR_NONE value, no mask is generated. If this parameter is the CLR_DEFAULT value, the color of the pixel at the upper-left corner of the image is treated as the mask color.

uType

Type: UINT

A flag that specifies the type of image to load. This parameter must be IMAGE_BITMAP to indicate that a bitmap is being loaded.

Note ImageList_LoadImage is for use only with bitmap files. No other image types are supported.

Value	Meaning
IMAGE_BITMAP	Loads a bitmap.

uFlags

Type: UINT

Flags that specify how to load the image. This parameter can be a combination of the following values.

Value	Meaning
LR_CREATEDIBSECTION	Causes the function to return a DIB section bitmap rather than a compatible bitmap when the uType parameter specifies IMAGE_BITMAP. LR_CREATEDIBSECTION is useful for loading a bitmap without mapping it to the colors of the display device.
LR_DEFAULTCOLOR	Uses the color format of the display.
LR_DEFAULTSIZE	Uses the width or height specified by the system metric values for cursors and icons if the cx parameter is set to zero. If this value is not specified and cx is set to zero, the function sets the size to the one specified in the resource. If the resource contains multiple images, the function sets the size to that of the first image.
LR_LOADFROMFILE	Loads the image from the file specified by the lpbmp parameter.
LR_LOADMAP3DCOLORS	Searches the color table for the image and replaces the following shades of gray with the corresponding three-dimensional color: Dk Gray: RGB(128, 128, 128)COLOR_3DSHADOW Gray: RGB(192, 192, 192)COLOR_3DFACE Lt Gray: RGB(223, 223, 223)COLOR_3DLIGHT For more information, see the Remarks section.
LR_LOADTRANSPARENT	Retrieves the color value of the first pixel in the image and replaces the corresponding entry in the color table with the default window color (the COLOR_WINDOW display color). All pixels in the image that use that color become the default window value color. This value applies only to images that have a corresponding color table. For more information, see the Remarks section.
LR_MONOCHROME	Loads the image in black and white.
LR_SHARED	Shares the image handle if the image is loaded multiple times. Do not use this value for images that have nontraditional sizes that might change after loading or for images that are loaded from a file.

Return value

Type: HIMAGELIST

Returns the handle to the image list if successful, or NULL otherwise.

Remarks

LR_LOADTRANSPARENT does not load the image transparently. It creates an opaque image list that only appears transparent because all the background pixels have been changed to COLOR_WINDOW. If the images are drawn over a background that is not the color COLOR_WINDOW, the image does not draw properly. Also, LR_LOADTRANSPARENT and LR_LOADMAP3DCOLORS use the system colors that were in effect at the time that ImageList_LoadImage was called. If the system colors subsequently change, the application must reload the image to remap the colors.

Note

The commctrl.h header defines ImageList_LoadImage as an alias which automatically selects the ANSI or Unicode version of this function based on the definition of the UNICODE preprocessor constant. Mixing usage of the encoding-neutral alias with code that not encoding-neutral can lead to mismatches that result in compilation or runtime errors. For more information, see Conventions for Function Prototypes.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows Vista [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server	Windows Server 2003 [desktop apps only]
Target Platform	Windows
Header	commctrl.h
Library	Comctl32.lib
DLL	Comctl32.dll