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LoadImage

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This function loads an icon, cursor, or bitmap.

HANDLE LoadImage(
  HINSTANCE hinst,
  LPCTSTR lpszName, 
  UINT uType, 
  int cxDesired, 
  int cyDesired, 
  UINT fuLoad 
);

Parameters

  • hinst
    [in] Handle to an instance of the module that contains the image to be loaded.

  • lpszName
    [in] Pointer to a null-terminated string that contains the name of the image resource in the hinst module that identifies the image to load.

  • uType
    [in] Specifies the type of image to be loaded. This parameter can be one of the following values.

    Value Description
    IMAGE_BITMAP Loads a bitmap.
    IMAGE_CURSOR Loads a cursor.
    IMAGE_ICON Loads an icon.

  • cxDesired
    [in] Specifies the width, in pixels, of the icon or cursor. If this parameter is zero, the function uses the SM_CXICON or SM_CXCURSOR system metric value to set the width. If uType is IMAGE_BITMAP, this parameter must be zero.

  • cyDesired
    [in] Specifies the height, in pixels, of the icon or cursor. If this parameter is zero, the function uses the SM_CYICON or SM_CYCURSOR system metric value to set the height. If uType is IMAGE_BITMAP, this parameter must be zero.

  • fuLoad
    [in] Set to zero.

    Windows CE behaves as though the LR_DEFAULTCOLOR and LR_DEFAULTSIZE values are set. LR_DEFAULTCOLOR means not monochrome. LR_DEFAULTSIZE means that the system uses the width or height specified by the system metric values for cursors or icons if the cxDesired or cyDesired values are set to zero. If the resource contains multiple images, the function uses the size of the first image.

Return Values

The handle of the newly loaded image indicates success. NULL indicates failure. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.

Remarks

When you are finished using a bitmap, cursor, or icon you loaded, you can release its associated memory by calling one of the functions in the following table.

Resource Release function
Bitmap DeleteObject
Cursor DestroyCursor
Icon DestroyIcon

The system automatically deletes these resources when the process that created them terminates; however, calling the appropriate function saves memory and decreases the size of the working set of the process.

If you are targeting a platform that does not support mouse cursors, you cannot specify the SM_CXCURSOR and SM_CYCURSOR values in the cxDesired and cyDesired parameters, and you cannot specify IMAGE_CURSOR for the uType parameter.

You typically use LoadImage to load icons, cursors, and bitmaps from a standard resource (.rc) file. It is also possible, however, to store these resources in a common DLL file. To obtain a handle to a resource stored in a DLL, call the LoadLibraryEx function with the dwFlags parameter set to LOAD_LIBRARY_AS_DATAFILE. You can then pass the resulting handle to LoadImage.

Requirements

OS Versions: Windows CE 1.0 and later.
Header: Winuser.h.
Link Library: Loadimg.lib.

See Also

DeleteObject | DestroyCursor | DestroyIcon | GetSystemMetrics | LoadBitmap | LoadIcon | LoadLibraryEx

Last updated on Wednesday, April 13, 2005

© 2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.