[VBnet Icon] ExtractIcon: Retrieving and Viewing Application Icons


	Visual Basic Icon Routines ExtractIcon: Retrieving and Viewing Application Icons

Posted:	Monday May 1, 2000
Updated:	Monday December 26, 2011

Applies to:	VB4-32, VB5, VB6
Developed with:	VB6, Windows NT4
OS restrictions:	None
Author:	VBnet - Randy Birch

Related:	ExtractIcon: Viewing Application Icons in a Scrollable Viewport

Prerequisites

None.

This is a simple demo showing how to use ExtractIcon to retrieve the icons contained in shell32.dll. I'm leaving the exercise of writing this icon out to an .ico file up to you.

BAS Module Code

None.

Form Code

On a form place a picturebox (Picture1), a command button (Command1) and an UpDown control (UpDown1) to the form. (Alternatively, you can use two additional command button adding a method to increment the index count). Add three labels (Label1, Label2 and Label3). Assure both the form and picturebox scale modes are 1 - Twips, and add the following code to the form:

Option Explicit

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
' Copyright ©1996-2011 VBnet/Randy Birch, All Rights Reserved.
' Some pages may also contain other copyrights by the author.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
' Distribution: You can freely use this code in your own
'               applications, but you may not reproduce 
'               or publish this code on any web site,
'               online service, or distribute as source 
'               on any media without express permission.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Private Const sIconFile As String = "c:\winnt\system32\shell32.dll"

Private twipsX As Long
Private twipsY As Long
Private picH As Long
Private picW 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

Private Declare Function ExtractIcon Lib "shell32" _
   Alias "ExtractIconA" _
  (ByVal hInst As Long, _
   ByVal lpszExeFileName As String, _
   ByVal nIconIndex As Long) As Long
   
Private Declare Function DestroyIcon Lib "user32" _
  (ByVal hIcon As Long) As Long

Private Sub Form_Load()

   twipsX = Screen.TwipsPerPixelX
   twipsY = Screen.TwipsPerPixelY
   picH = Picture1.ScaleWidth
   picW = Picture1.ScaleWidth

End Sub


Private Sub Command1_Click()

   Dim hIcon As Long
   Dim nIconCount As Long
   
   nIconCount = ExtractIcon(0&, sIconFile, -1)
   
   If nIconCount > 0 Then
      
      UpDown1.Min = 0
      UpDown1.Max = nIconCount - 1
      UpDown1.Value = 0
      
      Label1.Caption = sIconFile
      Label2.Caption = nIconCount & " Icons"
      
      UpDown1_UpClick

   End If

End Sub


Private Sub UpDown1_DownClick()

   Dim index As Long
   Dim hIcon As Long
   Dim x As Long
   Dim Y As Long
   
  'calc centre of the pixbox for
  'the icon display
   x = ((picH \ twipsX) - 32) \ 2
   Y = ((picW \ twipsY) - 32) \ 2
   
   index = UpDown1.Value
   
   If index >= UpDown1.Min Then
      
      Picture1.Cls
      
     'extract, draw then destroy
      hIcon = ExtractIcon(0&, sIconFile, index)
      
      Call DrawIcon(Picture1.hdc, x, Y, hIcon)
      Call DestroyIcon(hIcon)
      
      Label3.Caption = "Icon # " & index
   
   End If
   
End Sub


Private Sub UpDown1_UpClick()
  
   Dim index As Long
   Dim hIcon As Long
   Dim x As Long
   Dim Y As Long
   
   x = ((picH \ twipsX) - 32) \ 2
   Y = ((picW \ twipsY) - 32) \ 2
   
   index = UpDown1.Value
   
   If index <= UpDown1.Max Then
      
      Picture1.Cls
      hIcon = ExtractIcon(0&, sIconFile, index)
      
      Call DrawIcon(Picture1.hdc, x, Y, hIcon)
      Call DestroyIcon(hIcon)
      
      Label3.Caption = "Icon # " & index
   
   End If
   
End Sub

Comments

Change the path constant to point to your \system or \system32 folder, and run. Press the command button, and navigate through the icons in shell32.dll using the up/down control, or the two alternate command buttons.

PayPal Link