Error During C++ Compilation With Resource Files

Question

All right so I created a C++ Win32 program that worked fine. Then I wanted to use a custom icon so I created a "resource.h" file and a "resource.rc" file and I #include 'd them both in my C++ source file. However on compilation I get the following error for line 3:

expected unqualified-id before numeric constant

What am I doing wrong? Am I forgetting something?

My resource.h file:

#define IDI_MYICON 201

My resource.rc file:

#include "resource.h"

IDI_MYICON ICON "star.ico"

Finally the first three line (the ones with the problem) of my C++ Win32 file:

#include <windows.h>
#include "resource.h"
#include "resource.rc"

Answer 1

You are not supposed to include the .rc file into your source code, just the .h file. You are supposed to compile the .rc file separately into a .res file using your development environment's resource compiler, and then link the .res file into the final executable.

Answer 2

You don't include .RC files into C++ files. You compile them with RC.EXE (the resource compiler). This generates a .RES file that you give to the linker along with your other .OBJ files.