Q185883: HOWTO: Extract an Icon from a Windows Program

Article: Q185883
Product(s): Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
Version(s): WINDOWS:4.0,5.0,6.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbAPI kbSDKWin32 kbVBp kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbGrpDSVB kbDSupport
Last Modified: 11-JAN-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Visual Basic Learning Edition for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Standard Edition, 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition, 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition, 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0 
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SUMMARY
=======

The sample code given below demonstrates how to extract an icon from a 32-bit
Microsoft Windows program or DLL file.

MORE INFORMATION
================

The sample program displays the icon of an application in a picture box. It also
shows how to cause the image to remain by using the AutoRedraw property of the
picture box.

Step-by-Step Example
--------------------

1. Start Visual Basic, or from the File menu, click New Project (ALT+F, N) if
  Visual Basic is already running. Form1 is created by default.

2. Add a Command button and a Picture box control to Form1. Adjust the size of
  Picture1 so that a 32*32 icon fits inside the picture box.

3. Add the following code to the General Declarations section of Form1:

        Option Explicit
        Private Const MAX_PATH = 260

        Private Declare Function GetSystemDirectory Lib "kernel32" Alias _
        "GetSystemDirectoryA" (ByVal lpBuffer As String, _
                               ByVal nSize As Long) As Long

        Private Declare Function ExtractIcon Lib "shell32.dll" Alias _
        "ExtractIconA" (ByVal hInst As Long, _
                        ByVal lpszExeFileName As String, _
                        ByVal nIconIndex As Long) As Long

        Private Declare Function DrawIcon Lib "user32" (ByVal hdc As Long, _
        ByVal x As Long, ByVal y As Long, ByVal hIcon As Long) As Long

        Dim path$, nIcon As Long

        Private Sub Command1_Click()
            Dim hIcon As Long

            hIcon = ExtractIcon(App.hInstance, path$, nIcon)
            Set Picture1.Picture = LoadPicture("") ' Clear the picture box
            Picture1.AutoRedraw = True
            Call DrawIcon(Picture1.hdc, 0, 0, hIcon)
            Picture1.AutoRedraw = False
            Picture1.Refresh
            nIcon = nIcon + 1
        End Sub

        Private Sub Form_Load()
        ' Store the full path to the file containing the icon(s).
            path$ = Space$(MAX_PATH)
            Call GetSystemDirectory(path$, MAX_PATH)
            path$ = Trim$(path$) ' Trim trailing blanks & Null terminator
            path$ = Left$(path$, Len(path$) - 1) & "\Shell32.dll"
            nIcon = 0
        End Sub

4. Press F5 to run the program. Click Command1 to copy the first icon stored in
  Shell32.dll to Picture1. Each subsequent click of Command1 displays a
  different icon.

REFERENCES
==========

For more information, please see the following Web page on the Microsoft
Developer Network (MSDN):

  http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?URL=/library/psdk/shellcc/shell/functions/shgetfileinfo.htm

Additional query words: ExtractIcon

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Keywords          : kbAPI kbSDKWin32 kbVBp kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbGrpDSVB kbDSupport 
Technology        : kbVBSearch kbAudDeveloper kbZNotKeyword6 kbZNotKeyword2 kbVB500Search kbVB600Search kbVBA500 kbVBA600 kbVB500 kbVB600 kbVB400Search kbVB400
Version           : WINDOWS:4.0,5.0,6.0
Issue type        : kbhowto

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