HOWTO: How to specify 32x32 and 16x16 Icons for Win95 Logo Compliance

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Specifying an icon in the Make EXE Options dialog that includes both 16x16 and 32x32 icon images is all that is necessary to accomplish this functionality. If this is done, Visual Basic will generate an EXE that allows Windows 95 (and Windows NT 4.0) to find and use the correct icon.

Icon resource files (files with a .ICO extension) can contain more than one image. The ImageEdit utility, which ships with Visual Basic 4.0, can be used to create icon resources that include multiple icons. It is located in the Tools\Imagedit directory on the VB4 CD. The steps below demonstrate how to create icons of both sizes with Imagedit program and then specify them correctly in Visual Basic. The Imagedit program is a 32-bit program, and will not run on 16-bit operating systems. The Windows 3.1 SDK and QuickC for Windows include a 16-bit version of Imagedit.Exe.

How to create an .ICO file with 32x32 and 16x16 images

1. Start the Imagedit application. Select File New and specify Icon when asked for the type of resource. Click OK to select the default 32x32 icon image.
2. Draw your icon utilizing the abilities of the Image Editor application.
3. When this icon is complete, select 'New Image...' from the Edit menu. This time select the 'Small Icon 16x16' option and click OK. You now have two icon images that will be saved to the same .ICO file. The Icon Image drop-down combo box can be used to switch between all icon images.
4. Draw the 16x16 version of your icon.
5. When complete, select Save from the File menu. You now have an icon resource file that contains both 16x16 and 32x32 icon images. The following steps show how to use this .ICO file in Visual Basic.

Note: The Imagedit application supports standard Windows cut/copy/paste operations. This makes it easy to copy an existing image and paste it into Imagedit. If the image being pasted is of a different size than the currently selected image, Imagedit will ask to either shrink or enlarge the image, or to crop it so that it will fit in the area specified.

How to Use a Multiple Image .ICO file in Visual Basic 4.0

1. Start Visual Basic 4.0. Form1 is created by default.
2. In the Properties dialog, change the Icon property to the .ICO file containing the images you would like to display.
3. Select Make EXE from the File menu, and then choose the Options button to display the EXE options dialog. The 'Application' Frame contains a drop-down combo box that allows the selection of any of the icons specified in the Icon property of a form. In this case, the only existing form is Form1, and the icon specified in Form1 is used. Click OK to dismiss the Options dialog.
4. Click OK to make an EXE. Open Explorer and view the file listing for the new executable, noticing that the icon used by Explorer is the 16x16 icon image. If the application is started, the image used for the control box will be 32x32.