Manifest from Resources

The Manifest from Resources tool is a console application that takes a list of image resources (.png or .xaml files) and generates an .imagemanifest file that allows those images to be used with the Visual Studio Image Service. Additionally, this tool can be used to add images to an existing .imagemanifest. This tool is useful for adding high-DPI and theming support for images to a Visual Studio extension. The generated .imagemanifest file should be included in and deployed as a part of a Visual Studio extension (.vsix).

How to use the tool

Syntax

ManifestFromResources /resources:<Dir1>;<Img1> /assembly:<AssemblyName> <Optional Args>

Arguments

Examples

• ManifestFromResources /resources:D:\Images /assembly:My.Assembly.Name /isNative

• ManifestFromResources /resources:D:\Images\Image1.png;D:\Images\Image1.xaml /assembly:My.Assembly.Name /manifest:MyImageManifest.imagemanifest

• ManifestFromResources /resources:D:\Images\Image1.png;D:\Images\Image1.xaml /assembly:My.Assembly.Name /guidName:MyImages /newGuids /newIds

Notes

• The tool only supports .png and .xaml files. Any other image or file types will be ignored. A warning is generated for all unsupported types encountered while parsing the resources. If no supported images are found when the tool is finished parsing the resources, an error will be generated

• By following the suggested format for .png images, the tool will set the size/dimension value for the .png to the format-specified size, even if it differs from the image’s actual size.

• The width/height format can be omitted for .png images, but the tool will read the image’s actual width/height and use those for the image’s size/dimension value.

• Running this tool on the same image strip multiple times for the same .imagemanifest will result in duplicate manifest entries, because the tool attempts to split the image strip into standalone images and add those to the existing manifest.

• Merging (omitting /newGuids or /newIds) should only be done for tool-generated manifests. Manifests that have been customized or generated through other means might not be merged correctly.

• Manifests that are generated for native assemblies might need to be hand-edited after generation to make the ID symbols match the resource IDs from the native assembly’s .rc file.

Sample Output

Simple image manifest

An image manifest will be similar to this .xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>  
<!-- This file was generated by the ManifestFromResources tool.-->  
<!-- Version: 14.0.15197 -->  
<ImageManifest xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/ImageManifestSchema/2014">  
  <Symbols>  
    <String Name="Resources" Value="/My.Assembly.Name;Component/Resources/Images" />  
    <Guid Name="AssetsGuid" Value="{fb41b7ef-6587-480c-aa27-5b559d42cfc9}" />  
    <ID Name="MyImage" Value="0" />  
  </Symbols>  
  <Images>  
    <Image Guid="$(AssetsGuid)" ID="$(MyImage)">  
      <Source Uri="$(Resources)/Xaml/MyImage.xaml" />  
      <Source Uri="$(Resources)/Png/MyImage.16.16.png">  
        <Size Value="16" />  
      </Source>  
    </Image>  
  </Images>  
  <ImageLists />  
</ImageManifest>  

Image manifest for an image strip

An image manifest for an image strip will be similar to this .xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>  
<!-- This file was generated by the ManifestFromResources tool.-->  
<!-- Version: 14.0.15197 -->  
<ImageManifest xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/ImageManifestSchema/2014">  
  <Symbols>  
    <String Name="Resources" Value="/My.Assembly.Name;Component/Resources/ImageStrip" />  
    <Guid Name="AssetsGuid" Value="{fb41b7ef-6587-480c-aa27-5b559d42cfc9}" />  
    <ID Name="MyImageStrip_0" Value="1" />  
    <ID Name="MyImageStrip_1" Value="2" />  
    <ID Name="MyImageStrip" Value="3" />  
  </Symbols>  
  <Images>  
    <Image Guid="$(AssetsGuid)" ID="$(MyImageStrip_0)">  
      <Source Uri="$(Resources)/MyImageStrip_0.png">  
        <Size Value="16" />  
      </Source>  
    </Image>  
    <Image Guid="$(AssetsGuid)" ID="$(MyImageStrip_1)">  
      <Source Uri="$(Resources)/MyImageStrip_1.png">  
        <Size Value="16" />  
      </Source>  
    </Image>  
  </Images>  
  <ImageLists>  
    <ImageList Guid="$(AssetsGuid)" ID="$(MyImageStrip)">  
      <ContainedImage Guid="$(AssetsGuid)" ID="$(MyImageStrip_0)" />  
      <ContainedImage Guid="$(AssetsGuid)" ID="$(MyImageStrip_1)" />  
    </ImageList>  
  </ImageLists>  
</ImageManifest>  

Image manifest for native assembly image resources

An image manifest for native images will be similar to this .xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>  
<!-- This file was generated by the ManifestFromResources tool.-->  
<!-- Version: 14.0.15198 -->  
<ImageManifest xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/ImageManifestSchema/2014">  
  <Symbols>  
    <String Name="Resources" Value="..\Assembly\Folder\My.Assembly.Name" />  
    <Guid Name="AssetsGuid" Value="{442d8739-efde-46a4-8f29-e3a1e5e7f8b4}" />  
    <ID Name="MyImage1" Value="0" />  
    <ID Name="MyImage2" Value="1" />  
  </Symbols>  
  <Images>  
    <Image Guid="$(AssetsGuid)" ID="$(MyImage1)">  
      <Source Uri="$(Resources)">  
        <Size Value="16" />  
        <NativeResource ID="$(MyImage1)" Type="PNG" />  
      </Source>  
    </Image>  
    <Image Guid="$(AssetsGuid)" ID="$(MyImage2)">  
      <Source Uri="$(Resources)">  
        <Size Value="16" />  
        <NativeResource ID="$(MyImage2)" Type="PNG" />  
      </Source>  
    </Image>  
  </Images>  
  <ImageLists />  
</ImageManifest>