embedded file into delphi exe application (not as a separate file from the appliaction)

Question

i want to embedded a file (any kind of type) to my exe application and be able to extract in the remote to use it, i know how do it by embedded into resource,but i don't want to place the files in the app directory, i want to store all files (like .rec) into my exe, in c# it is possible to store as text file and then read it by FileStream but in Delphi the resource files is separate from the exe file. is there any solution to do this ? Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

You should make an .rc file and add that to your project. The content of the RC file is like:

FIXED48                 IMAGE           ..\Resources\Fixed48x48.png
MENU16                  IMAGE           ..\Resources\Menu16x16.png
TICK            SOUND       ..\Resources\Tick.wav
PING            SOUND       ..\Resources\Ping.wav

Now after you do a build you can load one of these fikles using a TResourceStream:

procedure TdmReportGeneral.InsertLogo(Memo: TStringList; View: TfrView);
var
    S:    TResourceStream;
begin
    if (View is TfrPictureView) and (View.Name = 'Logo') then begin
        S := TResourceStream.Create( 0, 'FIXED48', 'IMAGE' );
        try
            // do something useful... TfrPictureView(View).Picture.MetaFile.LoadFromStream( S );
        finally
            S.Free();
        end;
    end;
end;

Answer 2

You should be able to get the Delphi compiler to link your resource into your EXE by adding it as a {$R myresource.res} pragma in a unit in your project. You can then get a handle to it via a call to FindResource when you need to read it.

This article takes you through the appropriate steps.

Answer 3

DelphiDabbler has a great article on this very topic. They even include 2 example projects for download that show how to embed a file as a resource, and how to read it back.

You can download a worked example that demonstrates what we've described here – it uses the above code. The zip file contains a pair of projects. The first is a program that embeds a supplied rich text file in a resource file. The second program includes the resource file and displays the rich text in a rich edit component as above.