🚀 go-pugleaf

Hi,

for making animated cursors you can try Microsofts free AniEdit
together with your favorite graphics editor. I forgot the original
Microsoft URL but this site has the files, look out for AniEdit:
http://freepctech.com/pc/002/files003.shtml

I then put my animated cursor into the resources of my exe but loading
the cursor from resource didn't work. I finally stored the cursor as a
file resource (RT_DATA). Then on startup of my program I created the
cursor as a file from the resource and loaded it from that file. That
worked. If you need some code let me know.

Hope this helps,
Nick

"nicolasr" <nicolasrNOSPAMATSIGNgmx.net> wrote:
> you can try Microsofts free AniEdit

Free is good ;-)

> [...] finally stored the cursor as a file resource (RT_DATA).
> Then on startup of my program I created the cursor as a file
> from the resource and loaded it from that file. That worked.
> If you need some code let me know.

Code is always nice - especially when you don't know what
you're doing so ... if it wouldn't be too much trouble please.

> Hope this helps

Bunches already. Thanks Nick

~ JD

Hi,

I tried to setup the code in a simple test application.
Assuming you have a new project and a cursor file
MyAniCursor.ani in the project directory:

Add a resource file to the project (f.e. resource.rc) and add this
line to the file:

MyAniCursor RCDATA "MyAniCursor.ani"


then add this function to your project:

#define crMyAniCursor 1

void LoadMyAniCursor()
{
   //build the filename for the cursor file
   AnsiString fileName = ExtractFilePath(Application->ExeName) +
"MyAniCursor.ani";

   //locate the cursor resource,
   //you should add some error checking on the return values...
   HRSRC ResourceHandle = FindResource(HInstance, "MyAniCursor",
RT_RCDATA);
   HGLOBAL GlobalHandle = LoadResource(HInstance, ResourceHandle);
   PVOID Data = LockResource(GlobalHandle);

   //create the empty cursor file
   int FileHandle = FileCreate(fileName);

   //write the data from the resource to the file
   FileWrite
   (
      FileHandle,
      Data,
      SizeofResource(HInstance, ResourceHandle)
   );

   FileClose(FileHandle);

   //finally load the cursor from the file
   //and add it to the default cursors.
   //The default cursor constants are all negative, custom
   //cursors should have positive constants
   HCURSOR h = LoadCursorFromFile(fileName.c_str());
   if(h)
      Screen->Cursors[crMyAniCursor] = h;
}


//this example constructor initializes the cursor
//and sets the current cursor to your animated cursor

__fastcall TForm1::TForm1(TComponent* Owner)
        : TForm(Owner)
{
   LoadMyAniCursor();
   Screen->Cursor = crMyAniCursor;
}


regards,
Nick

"nicolasr" <nicolasrNOSPAMATSIGNgmx.net> wrote:
> Add a resource file to the project (f.e. resource.rc) and add
> this line to the file:
>
>             MyAniCursor RCDATA "MyAniCursor.ani"

Your code looks complete and easy to read. Many Thanks. I still
have one question though. I have only ever used .res files. How
would I create a .rc file? Is it just a text file?

~ JD

"JD" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:
>
> How would I create a .rc file?

I googled to some instructions - simple.

Thanks again.

~ JD

nicolasr wrote:

> I tried to setup the code in a simple test application.
> Assuming you have a new project and a cursor file
> MyAniCursor.ani in the project directory:
>
> Add a resource file to the project (f.e. resource.rc) and add this
> line to the file:
>
> MyAniCursor RCDATA "MyAniCursor.ani"
>
>
> then add this function to your project:
>
> #define crMyAniCursor 1
>
> void LoadMyAniCursor()

 <snip>

That probably works fine, but you might rather do
something like this instead:

HICON LoadMyAniCursor()
{
  HICON icon_error = reinterpret_cast<HICON>(-1);
  HRSRC hrsrcicon = FindResource(HInstance, "MyAniCursor", RT_RCDATA);
      if(!hrsrcicon) return icon_error;
  DWORD rsrcsize = SizeofResource(HInstance, hrsrcicon);
      if(!rsrcsize) return icon_error;
  HGLOBAL hglobal = LoadResource(HInstance, hrsrcicon);
      if(!hglobal) return icon_error;
  PVOID pvoid = LockResource(hglobal);
      if(!pvoid) return icon_error;
  HICON hIcon = CreateIconFromResource(static_cast<PBYTE>(pvoid),
                             rsrcsize, TRUE, 0x00030000);
      if(!hIcon) return icon_error;
  return hIcon;
}


__fastcall TForm1::TForm1(TComponent* Owner)
        : TForm(Owner)
{
 HICON icon = LoadMyAniCursor();
 if(icon != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE )
    Screen->Cursors[crMyAniCursor] = icon;
}


void __fastcall TForm1::Button1Click(TObject *Sender)
{
  Screen->Cursor = crMyAniCursor;
}