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Dialog (RT_DIALOG)

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Thomas Freudenberg edited this page Oct 28, 2017 · 1 revision

When ResourceInfo encounters a resource of type 5 (RT_DIALOG), it creates an object of type DialogResource which contains either a DialogTemplate or a DialogExTemplate. These structures represent a single dialog template in a standard or extended format and include a collection of DialogTemplateControl or DialogExTemplateControl controls respectively.

Reading Dialog Resources

The following example loads all dialog resources from a file.

string filename = Path.Combine(Environment.SystemDirectory, "acppage.dll");
using (ResourceInfo ri = new ResourceInfo())
{
    ri.Load(filename);
    foreach(DialogResource rc in ri[Kernel32.ResourceTypes.RT_DIALOG])
    {
        Console.WriteLine("DialogResource: {0}, {1}", rc.Name, rc.TypeName);
        Console.WriteLine(rc.ToString());
    }
}

The acppage.dll contains two extended dialog resources.

DialogResource: 101, RT_DIALOG
DIALOGEX 0, 0, 224, 233
STYLE WS_DLGFRAME | WS_BORDER | WS_CAPTION | WS_DISABLED | WS_CHILD | DS_FIXEDSYS | DS_SETFONT | DS_SHELLFONT
EXSTYLE WS_OVERLAPPED | WS_EX_LTRREADING | WS_EX_LTRREADING | WS_EX_LTRREADING
CAPTION "Shim Layer Property Page"
FONT 8, "MS Shell Dlg"
{
 Static "If you have problems with this program and it worked correctly on an earlier version of Windows, select the compatibility mode that matches that earlier version." 1013, Static, 7, 7, 210, 31, WS_GROUP | WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD | SS_LEFT
 Button "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" 5000, Button, 18, 53, 149, 10, WS_TABSTOP | WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD | SS_LEFT| BS_AUTOCHECKBOX
 ComboBox "" 1005, ComboBox, 18, 66, 152, 85, WS_TABSTOP | WS_VSCROLL | WS_DISABLED | WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD | SS_LEFT
 ...
}

DialogResource: 5011, RT_DIALOG
DIALOGEX 0, 0, 224, 250
STYLE WS_DLGFRAME | WS_BORDER | WS_CAPTION | WS_DISABLED | WS_CHILD | DS_FIXEDSYS | DS_SETFONT | DS_SHELLFONT
EXSTYLE WS_OVERLAPPED | WS_EX_LTRREADING | WS_EX_LTRREADING | WS_EX_LTRREADING
CAPTION "Shim Layer Property Page"
FONT 8, "MS Shell Dlg"
{
 Static "If you have problems with this program and it worked correctly on an earlier version of Windows, select the compatibility mode that matches that earlier version." 1013, Static, 7, 7, 210, 31, WS_GROUP | WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD | SS_LEFT
 Button "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" 5000, Button, 18, 53, 149, 10, WS_TABSTOP | WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD | SS_LEFT| BS_AUTOCHECKBOX
 ComboBox "" 1005, ComboBox, 18, 66, 152, 85, WS_TABSTOP | WS_VSCROLL | WS_DISABLED | WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD | SS_LEFT
 Button "Run in 256 colors" 5001, Button, 18, 106, 196, 10, WS_TABSTOP | WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD | SS_LEFT| BS_AUTOCHECKBOX
 ...
}

Reading Specific Dialog Resources

The following example loads a single dialog resource directly, without enumerating all resources.

string filename = Path.Combine(Environment.SystemDirectory, "acppage.dll");
DialogResource rc = new DialogResource();
rc.Name = new ResourceId(5011);
rc.LoadFrom(filename);
Console.WriteLine("DialogResource: {0}, {1}", rc.Name, rc.TypeName);
Console.WriteLine(rc.ToString());

Writing Dialog Resources

In order to embed a dialog into an executable (.exe or .dll) create a new instance of DialogTemplate or a DialogExTemplate, add controls, assign it to a DialogResource and save it to the destination file. You may also copy a dialog from one file to another, etc.

source sourceFilename = ...
string targetFilename = ...
DialogResource sourceDialog = new DialogResource();
sourceDialog.Name = new ResourceId("DIALOGID");
sourceDialog.LoadFrom(sourceFilename);
sourceDialog.SaveTo(targetFilename);

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