How to set the Windows explorer icon for an f# application

Question

How do I create a simple f# netcoreapp using .NET Core 3.0 or 3.1. and have an application icon show up when viewed in Windows explorer?

This is like a question posed before but the solutions doesn't seem to be working for an application built using .NET Core 3.0 or 3.1 sdks.

I have created a resource file and attempt to compile the application and add the icon resource using the the command line:

fsc Program.fs --win32res:AppIcon.res --target:exe

In this case the application compiles but I don't get a Windows explorer icon.

I've also tried to build and publish using the dotnet cli with the fsproj file below (dotnet publish ConsoleApp1.fsproj -c Release --self-contained -r win7-x64 -o publish)

In this case the project does not compile and I get an error "error MSB4018: The "CreateAppHost" task failed unexpectedly".

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>WinExe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>netcoreapp3.0</TargetFramework>
    <Win32Resource></Win32Resource>
  </PropertyGroup>
 
  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|AnyCPU'">
    <OtherFlags>--win32res:AppIcon.res</OtherFlags>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <EmbeddedResource Include="Resources\rebalance.ico" />
    <Resource Include="AppIcon.res">
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>Always</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </Resource>
    <Compile Include="Program.fs" />
  </ItemGroup>
</Project>

SNC19030 · Answer 1 · 2019-10-29T04:09:29.777

Looks like I was able to figure out the issue. I went back and looked at the resource file in Visual Studio and found out that there appeared to be and issue with the file?

I had used "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.18362.0\x64\rc.exe" /v AppIcon.rc to generate the res file. Maybe it got corrupted? I was still able to view the ico in Visual Studio even in this state. In any event, I deleted the corrupted ico file from the res and then added it back through Visual Studio manually. This time it appeared that Visual Studio recognized the file.

I used this res file to continue with my efforts. I re-ran the command line dotnet publish TestIconRes.fsproj -c Release --self-contained -r win7-x64 -o publish and this time the application icon was visible from Windows explorer.

fsc Program.fs --win32res:AppIcon.res also works.

The final fsproj file is below:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  
  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>WinExe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>netcoreapp3.0</TargetFramework>
    <Win32Resource></Win32Resource>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|AnyCPU'">
    <OtherFlags>--win32res:AppIcon.res</OtherFlags>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <Compile Include="Program.fs" />
  </ItemGroup>
</Project>

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 29 '19 at 02:11

1

Try this (with the .ico file in your project folder):

  <PropertyGroup>
    <ApplicationIcon>rebalance.ico</ApplicationIcon>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="rebalance.ico">
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </Content>
  </ItemGroup>

answered Oct 29 '19 at 02:11

Scott Hutchinson

1,703
12
22

Thanks very much for your suggestion Scott. I wasn't able to get this version of the project file to add an icon that shows up in Windows explorer. It looks like there was an undiscovered issue at the time I posted my question that was causing the problem (see my answer below) – SNC19030 Oct 29 '19 at 04:26

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 07 '19 at 21:37

0

I discovered this issue as well and filed an issue in .NET Core for the PropertyGroup as Scott Hutchinson suggested as the solution.

https://github.com/dotnet/core/issues/3771

answered Nov 07 '19 at 21:37

nickybaby

1
2

How to set the Windows explorer icon for an f# application

3 Answers3