How to use Qt resource files in Visual Studio without a Qt project?

Question

I want to use Qt's resource system for my program. Visual Studio's resource system is giving me headaches while loading non text based files like .png, .bmp, .jpeg, etc. I have read a bit about Qt and it seems very interesting. I would like to use its resource system. I have downloaded the Qt Visual Studio Tool extension. I have also made a resource file containing the files that I would like to embed in the executable (NOT Qt's executable). I have made a Visual Studio Project, NOT a Qt Project. The only reason I installed the extension is to embed the resources in my executable and access them. Also, if possible I would like to include Qt's headers in my non-Qt Project, so I can easily register and read those resources. So, in a nutshell, this is what I want to do:

1. Use Qt to embed my resources in the executable.
2. Access those files in my program.

Something like this:

#include <Qtheaderfiles>

struct FileData {
    unsigned char* bytes;
    unsigned int size;
};

FileData loadFromResource(const std::string& res) {
    QtFile file(res);

    //get all the data from the file and return it in bytes.
    return FileData { fileBytes, fileSize };
}

I expect the above code to compile even when there is no actual file in the directory "res", because all of the resources have been embedded into the executable.

Answer 1

Skimming the Qt documentation on resources :

1. Create a .qrc file that contains a list of the resources you would like to include
2. Create a custom build step that invokes rcc on that file ( documentation )
3. Compile and link the resulting cpp source file into your program.