Changing EXE Icon

[7J1L1M]

Hello,

I have been making a bunch of LabVIEW applications and forming EXEs from them.  The problem is:

I want to give them an icon that is more advanced than 16 colors.

I need to implant other icons (and maybe cursors) into the EXE as a resource.

LabVIEW does not do it.

I'm thinking of using the below resource editor to do this:

http://www.sharewareconnection.com/exe-icon-changer.htm

Would this work, or will my EXE become invalid if I am messing around with icon and resource types?  As a side, has anyone ever done this before?  I hope the Icon Changer doesn't have spam or spyware built in .

Appreciate it,

7J1L1M

[altenbach]

What is your LabVIEW version?

If you use the application builder in LabVIEW 8.0 or later, there is an Icon editor that lets you have icons up to "48x48, 256 colors". just click the [Insert new icon] button under the selection list and select from a large variety of sizes and color depths.. 🙂

[7J1L1M]

Hay,

I read about the built-in icon editor, but I have LabVIEW 7.1.

Even so, that would not allow me to insert other icon types (that is low on my list though, they are for file associations).

Is it possible to use a resource editor like the one I gave a link to in my previous message?

7J1L1M

[tst]

You can use a resource editor to do this, since the LV exe is a standard Windows exe. I have personally done this with ResHack.

If you search the LAVA forums, you should also be able to find a suggestion for how to automate this.

[rolfk]

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@tst wrote:

You can use a resource editor to do this, since the LV exe is a standard Windows exe. I have personally done this with ResHack.

If you search the LAVA forums, you should also be able to find a suggestion for how to automate this.

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But!!! Don't edit the resources after you build the executable. Unless you replace an existing icon with a new one of the same size and color depth you are changing the size of the resource table and that will change the location of the tacked on LabVIEW LLB and the executable won't be able to find that anymore, making your executable non-functional.

If you want to change icon resources that would change the size of the resources at all you should do the editing of those resources on the file applibs/lvapp.lib which really is a Windows 32bit executable stub to whom the application builder tacks the resulting application LLB too. For most Windows resource editors you will need to rename lvapp.lib temporarely to lavapp.exe as they rely to much on the file ending to determine if they can do anything with a file.

Rolf Kalbermatter

[Marc_A]

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@altenbach wrote:

What is your LabVIEW version?

If you use the application builder in LabVIEW 8.0 or later, there is an Icon editor that lets you have icons up to "48x48, 256 colors". just click the [Insert new icon] button under the selection list and select from a large variety of sizes and color depths.. 🙂

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Am I missing the way to use a 256 color icon for an exe using the editor? I made one, but in the application builder it only shows 16 color, and black and white icons. When i build it and install the program, I only see a 16 color on the windows desktop.

[7J1L1M]

Thank you all for your comments.

tst, about the program you mentioned, I do not have access to the LAVA forums, as most of the time it requires me to be a member, which I am not.  To rolfk, I looked up the lib you were talking about, but what do you mean when you talk about editing it?  When it comes to the realm of Visual Studio and Microsoft stuff, I am somewhat ignorant .  Could you maybe clarify it?

As I am not very good with topics you mentioned, please help me out .  Thanks.

[tst]

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@7J1L1M wrote:

tst, about the program you mentioned, I do not have access to the LAVA forums, as most of the time it requires me to be a member, which I am not. 

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Most things in the LAVA forums should be available without any registration.

Some things, like downloading attachments or accessing the scripting forum, are only available to members, but you should note that standard membership is completely free and without any requirements.

[rolfk]

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@7J1L1M wrote:

Thank you all for your comments.

tst, about the program you mentioned, I do not have access to the LAVA forums, as most of the time it requires me to be a member, which I am not.  To rolfk, I looked up the lib you were talking about, but what do you mean when you talk about editing it?  When it comes to the realm of Visual Studio and Microsoft stuff, I am somewhat ignorant .  Could you maybe clarify it?

As I am not very good with topics you mentioned, please help me out .  Thanks.

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Basically that lib file is really an EXE file, although without build LLB attached as how the Application Builder does it, it won't do much. But since Microsoft in its infinite wisdom once has decided that a file ending is the non-plusultra for file type indication, and the whole world follows that standard blindly you will have to rename that file first to lvapp.exe before most resource compilers will even consider to open it for editing. Don't forget to rename it back to the original name however. LabVIEW specifically looks for the lvapp.lib file and will not accept anything else.

Rolf Kalbermatter

[7J1L1M]

Rolfk,

Are you saying that I can use a resource editor like the one I mentioned in the beginning and, if I edit it, can then make an EXE with those resources?  Should I make a backup of the original lvapp.lib before editing it?

7J1L1M