How do I set the icon for my program in Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition?

Question

I want to set the embedded icon for my executable console program to a custom icon.

I know this is pretty much the same question as this one here, but I'm using Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition, and the Resources View is not available (and the Project-context-menu->Add->Resource... is grayed out), so I'm at loss here. Will I have to upgrade to a pro edition for such a basic task?

Answer 1

You can still add a resource in Express edition, but there is no resource editor GUI, you have to create the resource yourself using external tools.

The Win32 Platform SDK has a resource compiler (rc.exe) that will compile a resource script which is just a text file that you can write yourself. There are also free resource editors out there if you'd rather not create the file by hand.

The process is:

1. Create the resource script
2. Compile it using rc.exe to create a .rc file
3. Add the .rc file to the Visual Studio C++ project
4. Recompile