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Microsoft Visual C++ Express does not include the built-in resource editor that comes with the professional versions. Are there any good, free, alternatives out there that let you visually edit those .rc files?

Note: I am talking about the resource script source files used by Visual C++ to compile the resources, not the compiled resources themselves (i.e. the program would need to be able to visually edit menus and dialogs in a similar way as MSVC++ does it).

Anders Sandvig
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4 Answers4

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ResEdit used to be available here: www.resedit.net

However, it seems to contain malware at this time. Please look for mirrors or scan it before use.

ResEdit is a free Resource Editor for Win32 programs. You can use it if you want to use dialogs, icon, version information or other types of resources. Output files can be compiled by any Win32 compiler, like MinGW and Microsoft Visual C++. To open a file which uses Win32 API symbolic constants, you will also need Win32 header files (usually coming with you compiler).

flederwiesel
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alexandrul
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  • It's not the greatest tool, but it does its job. I had to manually edit the .rc file to put an #include in, and it crashed on occasion. – vividos May 25 '10 at 12:23
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    If it is not the greatest tool: which one is greater? – René Nyffenegger Dec 29 '10 at 23:24
  • @vividos: I know it's an old thread, sorry. I'm stuck trying to find a visual editor for .rc files. I just spent an hour adding #includes to that ResEdit only to have it crash and totally mess up my .rc file when I tried to save my edits... and that is on a test run :) Just curious, if the OP was able to find a better solution? – c00000fd Feb 06 '13 at 08:53
  • I think that there were several versions of ResEdit, including unicode and ansi builds, and some of them crashed for me, too. I'm checking which version I used successfully. – vividos Feb 08 '13 at 10:25
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    As of writing, ResEdit's installer is classified as PUA by [many antivirus scanners](https://www.virustotal.com/hu/file/69ee0ed58e28eadcf218c237d8e1053ffaaaee00f730d6d0b4e32d47e8a92175/analysis/). You risk getting some nasty adware. (Mailed the author, hopefully it will be fixed soon.) – Calmarius Dec 25 '14 at 22:53
  • The author does not respond to any emails. – Lothar Feb 26 '16 at 13:21
  • @Lothar it's a small miracle that the site it's still up and running. – alexandrul Feb 26 '16 at 13:26
  • ResEdit 1.6.6 (ResEdit-win32.7z, ResEdit-x64.7z) currently seems to only have 1 hit ("AutoShun") of 70 on VirusTotal. It autochecks for updates by default, which however can be disabled in the settings / .xml. Maybe that was/is the cause.. – kxr Nov 06 '19 at 19:03
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Resource Hacker is free, has a nice GUI and no adware and is fully functional and is light and tight at a download size of 2.7 MB. If you are looking to edit resource files or an .exe and just want a stock resource editor it works great.

http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/#download

I've tried 3 resource editors and this one was the smallest and fastest with the simplest interface, but may not have some of the advanced features of the other suggestions.

B. Nadolson
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4

I use XN Resource Editor and am quite happy with it.

Scott W
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  • Sorry, my mistake. I meant .rc, not .res. The program you linked to does not seem to be able to edit resource scripts (text format). – Anders Sandvig Dec 19 '08 at 19:31
  • From the website: "the latest version of my popular Resource Editor - brought up to date with XP Manifest, Accelerator table and .RC file support." -- haven't tried it myself, did you give it a shot? – Scott W Dec 21 '08 at 03:56
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    Yes, I tried version 3.0.0.1--which supports importing .rc files--but it does not seem to provide a visual/graphical environment for creating or editing dialog resources, etc. – Anders Sandvig Dec 28 '08 at 15:40
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    The download links on the linked page are no longer working - a portable version of XN Resource Editor can be found at http://sourceforge.net/projects/portableapps/files/XN%20Resource%20Editor%20Portable/ – Frank Schmitt May 06 '14 at 08:29
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Microsoft eVC++4 (googlable, currently at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=1DACDB3D-50D1-41B2-A107-FA75AE960856) is free, and comes with a built in resource editor. You can certainly create .rc (etc) files for MSVC++6 and onward (e.g., MSVC++2005e,2008e) with it. Using it to edit existing MSVC++6 (etc) files is not always as easy, as eVC is intended for Windows CE, which doesn't define all of the styles VC++6 uses (e.g., SS_SUNKEN), but you can always manually add them to your resource.h file (the appropriate values are searchable by looking in the .h's that come with MSVC++, and once you've done it once it should "just work".

Edit: I have found that it is better to just remove incompatible VC++6 styles (e.g., using a text editor), as some of the absent styles cause the window containing them to fail to display.