How do i Extract an icon from a dll (ExtractIcon - Shell32.dll)

Question

_{Saturday, January 1, 2011 9:07 AM}

Ive traced the default file icon back to the dll where the images are stored (small and large), however, how do i read the dll to get the inside images?

An example dll is: C:\Windows\system32\imageres.dll  (notepad, has an id of 102, dunno if that is relevent)

Ive been looking at ExtractIcon (in Shell32.dll), but i dont know how to use it (all forum posts are on visual basic):

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms648068(v=vs.85).aspx

All replies (2)

_{Saturday, January 1, 2011 9:54 AM ✅Answered}

So different is the VB code in this thread from C#

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vbgeneral/thread/ed0ec792-911b-4ed0-ac63-e24c1f95f95b

Free snippet converter

http://www.tangiblesoftwaresolutions.com/

Success
Cor

_{Tuesday, January 4, 2011 8:37 AM ✅Answered | 2 votes}

Hi Fatal Berserker,

Welcome to MSDN Forums!

We can use the following sample code to extract the icon from the dll file.

And you will need to add the "/unsafe" option when you compile this code file.

using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
{
  class ExtractIconExample
  {
    /* CONSTRUCTORS */
    static ExtractIconExample()
    {
    }

    // HIDE INSTANCE CONSTRUCTOR
    private ExtractIconExample()
    {
    }

    [DllImport("Shell32", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
    private static unsafe extern int ExtractIconEx(
      string lpszFile,
      int nIconIndex,
      IntPtr[] phIconLarge,
      IntPtr[] phIconSmall,
      int nIcons);

    [DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint = "DestroyIcon", SetLastError = true)]
    private static unsafe extern int DestroyIcon(IntPtr hIcon);

    public static Icon ExtractIconFromExe(string file, bool large)
    {
      unsafe
      {
        int readIconCount = 0;
        IntPtr[] hDummy = new IntPtr[1] { IntPtr.Zero };
        IntPtr[] hIconEx = new IntPtr[1] { IntPtr.Zero };

        try
        {
          if (large)
            readIconCount = ExtractIconEx(file, 0, hIconEx, hDummy, 1);
          else
            readIconCount = ExtractIconEx(file, 0, hDummy, hIconEx, 1);

          if (readIconCount > 0 && hIconEx[0] != IntPtr.Zero)
          {
            // GET FIRST EXTRACTED ICON
            Icon extractedIcon = (Icon)Icon.FromHandle(hIconEx[0]).Clone();

            return extractedIcon;
          }
          else // NO ICONS READ
            return null;
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
          /* EXTRACT ICON ERROR */

          // BUBBLE UP
          throw new ApplicationException("Could not extract icon", ex);
        }
        finally
        {
          // RELEASE RESOURCES
          foreach (IntPtr ptr in hIconEx)
            if (ptr != IntPtr.Zero)
              DestroyIcon(ptr);

          foreach (IntPtr ptr in hDummy)
            if (ptr != IntPtr.Zero)
              DestroyIcon(ptr);
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

If there's any concern, please feel free to let me know.

Have a nice day!

Mike [MSFT]
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